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      08-24-2016, 10:04 PM   #1
spyderbret
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A\C Function Issue 2015 X5 35d

So I have been dealing with this A\C issue for the last 2 months or so. For a little perspective I live in Las Vegas so the summers here kinda suck. None of this happened last summer and it was just as hot last year as it was this year.

Here is what is happening.... Under certain circumstances the A\C system will go into what I can only describe as "default" mode and turn the fan to the very lowest setting. The air coming out is cold but it's just barely there. I can press any button to change the airflow and nothing happens. Max A\C? Barely anything comes out. Full manual? Same thing... Try to move it to different vents? Nope, just a little cold air coming out the main vents. Sometimes when I get in the car and turn it on I can reach over and hit the Max A\C button and the fans will come on high like they are supposed to for about 10-15 seconds. Then "default" mode kicks in and the fans go to the slowest speed.

Here is when it is happening.... The ambient temperature usually needs to be over 100. Say I leave my house, drive 15 minutes to my destination, let's say lunch. I have my nice 45 minutes to an hour lunch and when I go back outside it's 104 and the car has been sitting in the sun. I have a window shade in the front window. I jump in the car and turn it on. I like to keep it cold so I have it set on auto at 65 which makes the fan spool up within 30 seconds or so under normal circumstances. Under these circumstances the fan starts to spool up and and then something happens and I hear a fan in the engine bay go crazy and sound like a jet plane and then the interior fan goes to "default" mode and barely blows any air. Now after about 3+ minutes of the no air in the cabin and the crazy jet fan in the engine things settle down, the engine fan calms down and the interior fans spool up and all the buttons work again. So weird. But also imagine sitting in a 140 degree car for 3 minutes and no A\C. My wife uses this car to drive our granddaughter around so imagine how well that's going over....

It happens almost every time under these conditions, as long as the ambient temperature is high enough. If it sits out for 90 minutes to 2 hours or longer the problem does not happen. I think the engine compartment gets cool enough over that length of time for the problem not to happen.

It seems to me that the computer sees something amiss and tries to protect the car until the problem resolves itself. It's definitely something to do with the A\C system. Not long after it started doing this there was an update for the car. I mentioned the funky A\C and we decided to see if the software update would fix it. No luck. I brought it back and they diagnosed something with the fan and replaced that. No luck again. It literally happened 2 hours after I picked the car up.

Today I picked it up after they had it for 2 days so some corporate tech could check it out. Of course today was cooler than necessary to re-create the issue and they probably didnt follow my instructions anyway so they gave it a clean bill of health. I'm sure it will happen again in the next few days and I will be documenting it. I also plan on contacting BMWNA to see what can be done. I built this car just the way I wanted and I feel like for a $1200 a month lease payment I should have a car that works. That's all I want... And considering the fact that these conditions are present about 4 months out of the year I find that unacceptable.

Here are some videos for your viewing pleasure, hopefully you will agree with me or let me know how to fix it! Thanks in advance!!!

(Wow this is long... thanks for hanging in there!)

Working morning: https://youtu.be/CqIYpcuCSFI

Working mid day: https://youtu.be/NZ6i-VaNOkk

Not working evening: https://youtu.be/OTiQwEIdUW0

Last edited by spyderbret; 08-24-2016 at 10:07 PM.. Reason: Added one more thought....
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      08-24-2016, 10:51 PM   #2
kobe81367
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Man I feel you, my AC blow up heat on the top and the bottom part, went to see SA for like the a month and they replace " something" and still have that issues after the car start up and drive for like 5 mins... I can have only use one to pull the AC so far, and will go back to dealership again tomorrow do another check up..
Not to metion when it blow out the cool air not balance on passage side and driver side (right next to window).

BMW have to work on their QC before the ship out the car:
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      08-29-2016, 10:11 AM   #3
stewy604
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That's definitely strange behavior from the HVAC...can't say I've seen this before. If you let the car idle for a bit, lets say 5-10 mins, does the operation resume back to normal, or is it stuck in this low air flow mode? Only thing mine does that similar to this is when I first get into the vehicle when its hot / cold ambient temps, the blower fan will not spin up to the set speed until the air is cool / warm. Nice feature to not blast hot air at the occupants when its 90 degrees out, vice versa during winter months.
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      08-29-2016, 05:10 PM   #4
spyderbret
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Sure, if I let the car sit and idle or drive it immediately the fans will come back up to speed after about 3 minutes. I know what you mean by the system not blowing hot or cold air for the first 30 seconds or so while the system is figuring stuff out. This is well beyond that normal operation. And it only does it when the ambient temperature is hot enough. For example, we were only in the 90's this weekend so we didn't have any issues. Same scenario (grab lunch, let the car sit), and when I go back to the car and turn it on everything works as normal. But the next few days will be in the 103-105 range so I expect it to happen once or twice. To me that's not acceptable for an $80k vehicle. There is no reason for me to expect to have to sit in a 130 degree car for 3 minutes while I wait for the AC system to figure itself out. I wont subject my wife or grandchildren to that on a regular basis and unfortunately in Las Vegas that's at least 5 months out of the year. If I cannot get this resolved by next summer I will be looking to get rid of the car and move to another brand. This would be very difficult for me because I am a big BMW fan and have had at least one in my garage for the last 10+ years. I even have a 1988 E30 M3 that I am getting ready to restore and I would hate for this experience to sour me on the brand.....
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      08-29-2016, 06:56 PM   #5
stewy604
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Completely agree man, totally unacceptable. Hope you can get it sorted out.
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      08-30-2016, 11:32 AM   #6
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After a 4hr golf round here in texas I get in and hit the max ac button right away pretty much. It takes some time to cool off but it blows out the hot air pretty quick then I dial it down after a few min. Have not had an issue yet but watching closely when I hear things like this
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      11-26-2020, 02:31 AM   #7
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Hi, just wondering if you every got this issue resolved?
I am having the exact same issue after eating your videos. Only started a week or so ago.
Cheers Matthew
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