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Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for MINI Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S(R56), and Cabrio (R57).
My wife loves Minis and we bought an 09 R55 JCW for her to beat up drive around for fun. I've never worked on a mini, and...well...oof. That N14 is a piece of work. I do all of my own work as I love cars, and love figuring out how to fix them. I'm drinking from the firehose here - and have a more basic question I hope some folks could help with. I've gone through the car and I've already replaced some parts. I blew the turbo in a bit 'spirited' driving - replaced that, replaced oil filter housing gaskets and all oil lines (and a bunch of stuff that seemed pertinent to replace while I had the car apart for the turbo replacement). Just started taking her out for some daily drives to see what else is broken. The AC is intermittent. I hooked up my HF gauge set and I saw that the low side was around 30 (85 degree day with 80% humidity), and high side was about 125. There does not appear to be a condenser leak (which is what I suspected). Pressures are holding steady over multiple days. I thought it may just be low on 134a, so I hooked up the gauge set and did a small fill. The high side was isolated on the manifold. The high side increased to 200 but the low side still hovered on 30. Full blower, lowest temp (manual not auto), and recirc was active in the car. I'm thinking that the expansion valve is wonky and would love a more educated opinion!
Please explain what you mean by "The AC is intermittent".
Your low and high side pressures may still be a bit low when you factor in 80% humidity.
Repeat your low and high side pressure measurements with the blower set to the highest speed, the recirculation OFF, both doors open, and the engine rpm held at 1500 rpm. Then use the generic temperature/pressure chart below to interpret the readings.
If your test results fail to reveal the problem, I would highly recommend taking you car to a reputable shop and ask them to recover the old R134a refrigerant and to recharge the system with the specified weight of refrigerant. When this is done, you'll know with certainty whether you have a refrigerant issue or a separate A/C system issue.
