1996 E36 318is Air Conditioner Not Cold Enough

[pitstop]

Hi fellow Bimmer owners. This is my first BMW so forgive me if i am asking a noob question but im from Melbourne, Australia and the last week has been absolutely freezing down here. I noticed when testing out my Aircon, my car has the digital display with the climate control features and such. Having just replaced the compressor belt because the old one had frayed, i went to test my aircon by turning off AUTO setting the air to blow on feet and head and turned the snowflake button on. I also had the temperature set to 16 degrees celcius the lowest option. The air had definately been cooler then when the heater was on but it was nowhere near icy cold enough to be an airconditioner at its lowest temperature not to mention the fan at full blast. As the temperature has not peaked over 20 degrees in the last few weeks here most of the times ive tested my aircon the temperature outside has been freezing. Does this play a role in why the air isnt cold enough, as in the temperature sensor isnt detecting a hot enough temp outside to put the aircon into its icy cold mode or is it just that i need to refill my R-134a.
also forgive me for asking a noob question but should the climate control on this car adjust the temperature aswell (while auto is on) or do i adjust the temperature and the car will adjust the fan to achieve this temperature.

Thanks in advance

[acp750]

hi, the "AUTO" setting isn't very good in these cars, but if you use it, it will adjust the fan speed and the air direction to achieve the set temperature on the screen.

also, your A/C could benefit from a new microfilter and a recharge, but don't expect it to be freezing because it's a poor factory design.

and the feeling of the A/C not being cold enough(which has happened to me) could be the weather and humidity because, when the summer arrives it does get cool(not good).... unless that, as you said there are different modes for the aircon that we can't control

[pitstop]

Thanks for the input acp750. Well i might wait till the weather gets a bit hotter and see if the aircon responds to this and manages to get cooler :P I dont expect it to be freezing... but enough to cool the car when outside temperature is 30+ degrees celcius. It gets very hot down here in summer. Maybe the aircon does have a mind of its own and will get cooler when the time comes but ill have to see once the temperature increases. Do you know if the bmw dealerships can refill and roughly how much?

[acp750]

yes, BMW dealers can refill, but It'll be a lot more expensive than an independent mechanic or A/C specialist.... the recharge gas and process is the same almost everywhere and in every car.

[pitstop]

Yeah i might just try the local mech or someone that works on BM's who can check it out with the gauges nd all that stuff. Can anyone else shed some light on the issue if your aircon seems to have a mind of its own?

[earthwormjim]

Originally Posted by pitstop

Yeah i might just try the local mech or someone that works on BM's who can check it out with the gauges nd all that stuff. Can anyone else shed some light on the issue if your aircon seems to have a mind of its own?

What do you mean have a mind of it's own?

Is your display going out? Is your fan turning on and off and ignoring the controls?

Quite honestly your posts are a little hard to read, so please elaborate on your problem a bit more.

[pitstop]

No what I'm trying to say is that I've noticed the air conditioner isnt as cold as it should be when the temperature is set to the lowest. It definately would seem that there is probably a leak in refrigerant and most likely will need to be regassed and the leak fixed. Like acp750 stated he experienced similar symptoms where his air conditioner would seem less cooler on several occasions. Ive tested out the air conditioner on mostly cold days as it has been quite cold here in the last few weeks so the feeling of it not being cold enough may relate to the weather outside and humidity as acp750 said.
When i say mind of its own, do these aircons have functions we cant control (for example even though it is cold outside, should the aircon operate much cooler or would it base its temperature and airflow on the colder outside temp picked up by the thermometer and try to warm the car up even when AUTO is set to off. I have yet to try the aircon in hot weather as there hasnt been any recently so im intrigued as to know whether it will appear cooler then.