my A/C never blows super cold.....car is an '06. I just chalked it up to MINI not having a good system compared to our Infiniti that blows your hair off.

 

Great write up Ken.

 

yah, in my G, you can almost freeze icecream in there. lol

thanks. it's very easy once you know how to do it. almost as easy as
pressuring up your tires.

 

*facepalm*

I have to chime in here. I was totally unaware of this thread going on till now. Ken had PM'd me about his problem and I started a rather long, verbose exchange on how to go about checking and charging his system. Luckily, Ken succeeded in using at least some of my advice and fixed his a/c, and we also ended up with a decent little write-up as a bonus. Ken apparently thanked me in public (this thread) as well via PM. This thread was apparently a parallel dimension to my little PM universe that I was complete in the dark about.

Matt, feel free to relay that slap in the face to me if necessary.

 

Greatbear- that was no luck. your instructions were very thorough and
complete. I just put pictures for the added bonus for anyone else
who might want to try this on their own.

im glad i tried it.


edubledie- now it's your turn to try.

 

Nice write-up ken. Now if I ever need my A/C charged I am gonna ...
make you do it

 

well according to your write up i was correct in the manner i went about the recharge i did it correctly the first time i tried it about 2 weeks ago and the gauge was at a warning level and almost maxed out on the PSI scale ...im guesing i have a slightly if not way bigger issue ...not sure where to start as to what to test but i have my service appt. friday ..i just hope they wont keep my ride over the weekend because i have spring installs and stripes to install on saturday ...one thing i did find though was that the temp does change as far as hot to hotter when i change the actual temp to a higher temp it will get hotter ...but the LO temp setting is still blowing hot

 

thanks.... LOL!!!

 

that don't sound too good...

 

nope no good at all however two good points. fall time means windows down and then winter means heat soooooo in my va area i dont need ac really for the next several months lol ...also if its a part thats messed up then mini will cover the damage under the factory war.

 

Kenchan,

All this is interesting, but there hasn't been a post in the Detailing 101 forum in close to 14 hrs!!

Methinks you're needed over there to revive the place.

 

yah, honestly speaking (writing), i only use a/c maybe 3 times a year.
so not a big deal for me either... but if i was using this car on a daily basis
i would definitely not be happy without a/c... as i use a/c daily on my
commuters.


ok ok, let me get my butt over there and Hydro the place.

 

so good news all that didnt care really lol mini covered all my labor and part charges since apparently my compressor failed .....not sure what role the compressor does ...does it inject the refrigerant into the vents ?...i sound like a major newb please school me

 

http://www.id-usa.com/how_to_ac.asp

 

I know this is an old thread but i followed kenchan in terms of trying to recharge on my own. Bought the kit and it was fairly easy, I was on 15 psi to start with and filled it to 35psi. Only thing is i cant tell 100% if the AC is blowing cold air. If i remember correclty the AC wasnt that great even when it did work. Is the compressor on the passenger side sitting at the top, and did i read correctly that if its spinning then its not the compressor?

I dont know this Mini is scaring me with the squeaking clutch out of first and no AC cold air... 2003 S with 53k miles almost paid off. we have had it since 12k as second owners.

 

The compressor is on the passenger side, by the only belt on the mini (same one that runs the SC and alternator), look way down, and you will see it!
It is tuff to tell this time of year if it is working....but next time you use the defroster (When it rains, above freezing)....the AC does run at the same time...if the defroster works well, then it is most likely working, as the air is first sent through the AC coil to cool it, to dry it, then heated up, resulting in better performance (or just wait till spring!). While the MINI does not have a hugely cool AC unit, I have never had a problem getting my 05 s with a black roof, and a sunroof cool enough to fog my sunglasses when I get out...not quite beer cooler cold, but still pretty cool!!

 

We are in Seattle so defrost is a must and it works just fine. We just had that no cold air blowing issue. Hopefully this fixes it, today is a tough day to tell and again the AC on the Mini never really blew you away.