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The BMW Range
3 Series
E36
e36 328 ownership experience
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<blockquote data-quote="Lee36328" data-source="post: 696724" data-attributes="member: 113"><p>Aircond Mystery</p><p></p><p>My dad's old W124 loses to my car on all fronts except one - aircond. The old faithful E-class' aircond is so freezer-strong, and I've always admired it.</p><p></p><p>As we know, the e36 aircond is not its strong point. I've been living with it so long I've learnt to accept it.</p><p></p><p>But after refurbishing my car, the aircond got worse. Every now and then, the aircond is not cold. Upon checking, I need to top up the gas. Sometimes, the aircond is not cold, but the gas is still sufficient. Often, after a spirited run, the aircond is noticeably less cooling.</p><p></p><p>The symptoms puzzled me. What is the cause? Went to our famous aircond guru, Naidu of course, to get to the bottom of it once and for all.</p><p></p><p>Here's what he found out.</p><p></p><p>My 'O'-ring seals were leaking. That's how the gas was slowly escaping. But it was a micro leak, which is why sometimes I need to top up the gas, but not always. Naidu asked, how long was it in the paint shop? If the car was sitting idle for a long time, this kind of issue is common. Ah, I learnt something new again.</p><p></p><p>So what's the other reason the aircond was not cool, if not entirely the gas? Turned out my air re-circulation flap was not closing fully. It remained partially open. Naidu confirmed that at high speed, the wind can also push it open. Interesting discovery number 2.</p><p></p><p>Thirdly, my relay was faulty. The aircond fan should operate in two modes - low speed and high speed. Sometimes my fan was not moving at all, no speed, because of the faulty relay. I used to think that was normal. Discovery number 3.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the filter was really old and blocked. The air flow was restricted as a result.</p><p></p><p>So, changed the 'O' ring, temporarily sorted out the air re-circulation flaps, put in a new relay, popped in a new air filter.... and turned my car into a moving freezer.</p><p></p><p>All in all, took only slightly more than 2 hours to sort things out.</p><p></p><p>I was so impressed on the way back with how I was shivering, I gave Naidu a call to thank him profusely. Naidu's reputation is of course well-known. And well-deserved indeed.</p><p></p><p>Finally, I am no longer envious of the old Merc's aircond because I can freeze my rear-end off in mine just as well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lee36328, post: 696724, member: 113"] Aircond Mystery My dad's old W124 loses to my car on all fronts except one - aircond. The old faithful E-class' aircond is so freezer-strong, and I've always admired it. As we know, the e36 aircond is not its strong point. I've been living with it so long I've learnt to accept it. But after refurbishing my car, the aircond got worse. Every now and then, the aircond is not cold. Upon checking, I need to top up the gas. Sometimes, the aircond is not cold, but the gas is still sufficient. Often, after a spirited run, the aircond is noticeably less cooling. The symptoms puzzled me. What is the cause? Went to our famous aircond guru, Naidu of course, to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Here's what he found out. My 'O'-ring seals were leaking. That's how the gas was slowly escaping. But it was a micro leak, which is why sometimes I need to top up the gas, but not always. Naidu asked, how long was it in the paint shop? If the car was sitting idle for a long time, this kind of issue is common. Ah, I learnt something new again. So what's the other reason the aircond was not cool, if not entirely the gas? Turned out my air re-circulation flap was not closing fully. It remained partially open. Naidu confirmed that at high speed, the wind can also push it open. Interesting discovery number 2. Thirdly, my relay was faulty. The aircond fan should operate in two modes - low speed and high speed. Sometimes my fan was not moving at all, no speed, because of the faulty relay. I used to think that was normal. Discovery number 3. Finally, the filter was really old and blocked. The air flow was restricted as a result. So, changed the 'O' ring, temporarily sorted out the air re-circulation flaps, put in a new relay, popped in a new air filter.... and turned my car into a moving freezer. All in all, took only slightly more than 2 hours to sort things out. I was so impressed on the way back with how I was shivering, I gave Naidu a call to thank him profusely. Naidu's reputation is of course well-known. And well-deserved indeed. Finally, I am no longer envious of the old Merc's aircond because I can freeze my rear-end off in mine just as well. [/QUOTE]
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