Air con compressor not kicking in

[martin33100]

Hi guys, hope you are all well.
I have just been informed by the wife that tge air con in our 57 X5 has stopped blowing cold air.
All I have done so far is looked at the pump and the clutch is not kicking in when you hit the air con button.

Any views would be great on where to look next, my father in laws air con went on his 3 series but the pump was right in front of you and easy to get the plug off.
He was getting a 12v feed so it was the actual clutch that had gone on his.

[X5Sport]

Apart from the obvious fuse checks and function lights, have a look at the gas pressure as if it is too low the system will not run.  Slow leakage is common on systems that are not in use every day and you can lose up to 15%/yr.

My parents in law's car would not engage it's compressor clutch until the right gas quantity was present.

[martin33100]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Apart from the obvious fuse checks and function lights, have a look at the gas pressure as if it is too low the system will not run.  Slow leakage is common on systems that are not in use every day and you can lose up to 15%/yr.

My parents in law's car would not engage it's compressor clutch until the right gas quantity was present.
[/quote]thanks for the reply, do you know where the fuse would be?
When you say function lights the air con green light comes on when you press it.

[X5Sport]

So the light is OK.  That's the easiest check.

I think the fuse panel is located above the passenger side kick panel below the glovebox.  You have to take the panel off first.  Never gone looking for mine but I think that is its hiding place.  Should be a what fuse is what card too.

[noxid1969]

Had a similar issue on my X5 regassed twice, new compressor and pipework, turned out to be a relay in the wheel arch, luckily covered by warranty and I was allowed to keep all the new bits. Mine started as an intermittent problem and then just stopped blowing cold air

[Steamyrotter]

Gas presure is the most likely cause..
There is a pressure switch in teh system which detects good / bad pressures and stops the system from working if outside limits.

This protects it from Running dry or even over pressurising

[AVI-8]

Hi, had the same problem with mine when I bought the car, re-gassed the system and it solved the problem, steamyrotters explanation is correct, also an auxilliary fan fault can also stop the air con working, re-gas is the obvious first thing to check

[99ron]

Hi Martin33100,
                    I think you have the same age/model as me and I have just had the same problem. I got mine re-gassed but my Indie reported there was zero gas in system before hand. A leak test didn't show anything so re-gassed and working again. A week later the aircon stopped working again. Going back in to try and find the leak. A bit of googling suggests the evaporator is prone to leaking and they are not cheap. Will find out later this week. 

[Steamyrotter]

One known issue is leaves building up in front of the radiators and rotting them out..

I always pay attention to mine when cleaning

[99ron]

That sounds like good advice. My issue was a leaking condenser. Now fixed.