air con pump

[wizard-58]

Hi all ..has any body on here changed worked on aircon pump on E83 ..mine keeps throwing the belt and ive noticed iron filings on engine pan ..so thinking new/2nd hand pump but looking at garage costs ..silly money ...maybe i can change pump ??? get gas taken out 1st then replaced ?? how involved is removing/replacing pump ??cant find any thing on line ?? thanks in advance any ideas ??

[X5Sport]

You will need to do the following (this is the list for a 2.0D):

Caution!
In the event of a mechanical air conditioning compressor failure and the resulting ingress of chips into the refrigerant circuit, replace the following parts:
Air conditioning compressor
Air conditioning condenser
Replace desiccant insert
Line to the air conditioning condenser
Refrigerant oil

and……

Necessary preliminary tasks:
Drawing off, evacuating and refill the A/C system
Remove fluid reservoir for windscreen washer system
Remove fan cowl with electric fan
Remove pressure pipe
Remove A/C compressor drive belt
Remove front underbody protection

All openings must be sealed against dirt & dust.

Replacement pumps won’t be cheap, even for a reconditioned unit. BMW will of course want ridiculous sums for it. Depends upon how brave or competent with spanner’s etc you are. Have any of the local a/c shops got the ability to replace it?

It’s possible the a/c compressor is used on other vehicles as well - might be a cheaper option.

[wizard-58]

Hi and thanks for that Ive more or less worked out the process Im going to try and get a local aircon company to drain the gas .and ill do the mechanical side of it 2nd hand pumps and even new are quite available ..once ive swapped it out Ill get the same aircon agent to replenish the gas ..i just wondered if any body else had done the job on here ? any tips or advise before i start the job ..ive noted all that youve said and will go through it all as you say BMW will charge a small fortune .the car is a 2007 and done just short of 180,000 I want to get it to the 200,000 mark im 66 and it might be my last car so be good to try and keep it going ..

[wizard-58]

just been having a search on line getting things in sequence as it where and ive come across air compressor clutch ?? as my air con works perfectly up till the belt comes of i was wondering if this could be a better route .change the clutch ?? it appears to be where my problem is and it could be a cost saving ??? when the system was re-filled last year there was no reports of any faults so I think this could be worth doing has i havnt got to drain or strip evrything else ??

[X5Sport]

That would likely do it, but there’s no information in the Technical Instruction System for doing such. That usually means BMW will only replace, not repair (very common!). An AC shop might have the guidance. I think people have done it on the E53 so that might give you pointers.

[wizard-58]

hi ya have had a quick look and ordered the parts they arrived to day ..so im hopefully going to attempt the job this week i will take some photos of the process and post them Im not brilliant at editing but Ill do me best and it might help others in same predicament ..

[wizard-58]

well what a bloody nightmare spent a few hours over the weekend on this ..I managed to get plenty of clearance to get at the front bolt ..( t30 torq ) but its seized solid so bad it started to round off the hole so stopped before I damaged it too much ..next step Is to remove the whole pump and do it on the bench .. I have a local garage that will evacuate all the gas and put it back when finished ..mine is the M47 N2 engine ..pretty common or so I thought ?? I have searched for the last 3 days for information on removing the pump and there are literally 1000s of u tube videos etc ..for this ..but all with the compressor in a totally different location ..looking from the front the pump is mounted on the right hand side below the alternator?..and driven by the serpentine belt
Mine is on the left at the bottom behind the turbo aircooler pipe and driven by an auxiliary belt cant even see an adjuster ...I cant find any where even the slightest clue as to were all the mounts are and if its a top removal or underside ..if I didnt think differently from the norm I would say it cant be done without engine removal ..but I dont think that way ..there has to be a way ..any clues would be gratefully recieved ...

[wizard-58]

ok to add a bit more fun to the equation my AC had been working fine but was throwing the belt off ...replaced with new belt it through that as well ..AS I am researching trying to figure this out I come across some old posts which had similar problems ..but they cured it with a crankshaft pulley apparently these are a known fault could i be barking up wrong tree ..how do i test crank shaft pulley ????

[Greydog]

I suffered a failed Cranshaft Pulley on the X5 4.6 it was easy to see with the engine ticking over you could see the pulley moving wobbling around. Threw the AC belt plus the Serpantine belt was frayed on one side
Whole job was done fro below just had to fashion my own tool to hold the crank while undoing the bolts that hold Pulley in place worth checking the AC pulley isn't worn or loose though. I replaced the pulley both belts and the tensioners