Hi guys!
2009 r55 Clubman JCW. I am having A/C problems in SW Florida so ya I need to fix this asap. The temp coming out of the vent is a cool 79 degrees. My low side reads 100 and my high side reads 100. The compressor clutch seems to stay on and not disengage. I've never heard of this happening before. You think its the expansion valve or is the compressor shot? I was going to replace the expansion valve first as it's the cheaper first fix and the compressor second but I can not for the life of me find and threads on replacing an A/C compressor. Any thoughts on any of this will be very much appreciated!

 

Do you have the equipment to do these kinds of repairs? ie vacuum pump.. If not, I would take it someplace that does only auto AC repair..

 

Yes, I sure do.

 

A/C compressor is plug & play, much like an alternator. You should also replace the condenser and drier, plus the o-ring seals. Reman compressors with 1-yr. warranties (same as OEM) are around $100 on eBay; a condenser with integrated drier is another $60; evacuate/recharge will run you $90. You will need to put your car into Front End Service Mode (FESM, takes 30-40 mins. but you will also need a belt removal tool) to access everything but there is very little labor involved in the actual removal/replacement. I recently replaced all my components with eBay purchases and couldn't be happier with the results/performance.

 

did you check the freon?

compressor can be accessed from the bottom. I replaced mine without service mode. The upper bolt is tricky but you can gently bend the AC pipe just enough to insert a 13mm 1/4 short socket.

 

A couple pages prior to this, my post. went thru something almost exactly like this:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ired-tips.html

 

Thanks for all the great replies!
I found a kit that Pit Stop Auto sells online for $296. It comes with a compressor, expansion valve , condenser, oil and o-rings. I'm going to change it all. Figured why not since I'll have the front end apart.
Techman1- that sounds just like my problem. My first reaction was only the expansion valve but now thinking about it my compressor was making a racket for a few months. When engaging it was making a growling noise.
Anyway, I believe I can tackle this job on this car. I just don't have the belt removal tool. Do I need that or any other way to get around that?

Thanks!

 

I have a way around it, if you are strong and have an assistant. Possibly.
This is based on my daughters car, a little different than yours.

Lift up front, place on jackstands. Make sure it is secure.Do your other removal stuff in other DIY, ie remove wheel liner.

You should be able to look into the engine bay from above, and see the spring loaded tab that will hold the tension wheel in place, once it is lifted.

From below, look for the tab to take the tension off your water pump friction wheel. pull and secure. Next, from below, look up, and you should be able to see the pulley tension wheel. if you have a long wood dowel (Broom handle, cut down) about 2 ft long. Yep, it does require some careful placement, but it will work. Patience. If you are strong, you can push up the wheel and the assistant can push in the pin from above to lock it in place.
Experience, I an do it, but I have a lift. In reality, you might need a floor jack to carefully push up.

 

Suggestion: buy the belt removal tool. If you're going to keep the MINI, it's invaluable.

 

Never having the belt removal tool, I do not know.
How is it used? How to gain access to that area?

 

Just did one today in the shop and the belt tool is so a must have.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/belt-t...8-r60-r61.html

this allows you to do everything from underneath too.

 

Well my question still stands. My low side and high side stay at 100psi. All the fans work the clutch disengages when you turn the A/C button off in the cabin and turns on with the same button but stays on and never disengages. Just want to make sure I'm not replacing the expansion valve, condenser and compressor for no reason. Can it be something else? Pressure switch?

 

Based on the symptoms mine had and your descriptions.
You have either a bad compressor or expansion valve.
This is based on my direct experience but not a professional diagnosis.

 

The Gen 2 does not require a special tool for the belt tensioner, it only requires a shifting spanner or an exact sized spanner. To access, remove the slam panel but you'll be doing that to put it into service mode anyway. The Gen 1 required a special tool.

 

When I used this method it broke the edge off the tensioner wheel and had to replace the tensioner. Just use a spanner once the slam panel is off, no special tool required on the Gen 2 Mini.

 

If the edge of the wheel broke from using a wooden dowel on the center to lift it, there may have been problems with it beforehand.

 

Techman1,
I have my compressor, condenser and expansion valve kit coming this week and am concerned about the expansion valve replacement. You mentioned that once removed nothing is holding the other side on. Can you go into better detail of what needed to be done on this part? You also said the expansion valve tool was not needed. Can you expand on this?

One more thing. How much oil goes in the system?

Thanks in advance!

 

Oil. -My compressor came oil charged, and the service that charged it added a little. so...I did not measure it.

I will try to paint a picture with words, so please pardon the babbling:
After removing the expansion valve, you are left with two pipes sticking out. That whole area has a rubber gasket to seal off the passenger compartment, and really gets in the way.
The pipes each have a raised collar or circle, about 3/8" back. Resting behind them the is bracket the expansion valve was screwed into. The bracket is just resting on the two pipes. Replace the o-rings, and pop the new expansion valve on two pipes. Now is the problem if you do not have the tool. When you try to thread the two allen head bolts to hold it in place, the bracket that is resting on the two lines is pushed back, and the bolts can't catch. To remedy this, you have two options. Ahead of time, remove one of the bolts. Go to a hardware store, and get a bolt that matches the one you took out, but twice as long (a guess here, I did not know this ahead of time) and cut the head off the new bolt. You now have "The Tool". With the tool you can thread it into one of the holes on the bracket, slip the expansion valve in place,(sliding the tool in the proper hole) (No perverted comments!) seat it onto the two pipes, and use the tool to hold the bracket in place while you thread a bolt in the unused hole. Once it is secure, remove the tool and use the second bolt to secure the expansion valve.

Option two, no tool. Cut the cabin gasket at the 12:00 position. Fold it out and open. Slide the expansion onto the two pipes, with new o-rings. With the gasket peeled open, you can reach above and behind the expansion valve, and hold the bracket in place while you thread and tighten the two bolts. You now spend about 5-10 minutes folding, stuffing the cabin gasket back in place, but it is a tight area and sealed well for me.

 

Techman1,
Thats some great info. Exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks so very much!

 

Hi Techman1,
I figured you may know this answer. The new compressor I'm installing this weekend says it already has oil in it. Is that the only oil I need to worry about or do I need to add some ( and how much) into the lines or other components. The compressor kit came with an 8oz bottle.

 

I think you should be ok with the residual in the system and the oil in the system. If you did not flush the lines and inside evaporator.
When the ac recharge was done, they added about an ounce, in addition to what was in the compressor. They included a dye, just in case of a need in the future.

Where did you get your parts?

 

I got a kit from pit stop auto. Seems to be a pretty good deal.

https://pitstopauto.com/Catalog/Part...fSbe4BBs5eC%2f

BTW, I changed the expansion valve yesterday. Your idea for the threaded bolt worked like a charm. I got a 3" bolt. Once the bolt poked through I was able to pull it tighter and put a small vice grip on the bolt to hold the 2 pieces together. No need to cut the gasket. I have to admit it was quite tedious.

 

Glad it helped.

After you remove the condenser, compare it to the replacement. The top mounting tabs are a little larger on the replacement I had. I adjusted the plastic by clipping off material and they were able to fit on the new condenser.

 

Yes, I had to trim some plastic off as well. Not much though but fitment has to be somewhat perfect. Everything went well today. The only issue I had was that I left the bumper off and decided to fill the lines up and without putting all the cosmetics back together, just in case. The clutch wasn't engaging! Well the bumper has a temperature sensor that HAS to be wired in, in order for the clutch to engage. I wasted about an hour testing voltage and relays because of this. I layed the bumper next to the compressor and attached the temp sensor and BAM it engaged! I felt so dumb!! I'm getting about 46 degrees now out of the vents. Thank God! Florida is HOT!
Thanks for all the great info Techman1! My wife is very happy now!

 

Joy Florida, yep. In Orlando.

Very happy you now now have a cool cool car!