Air Con

Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:31 am

Why does everyone go crazy over Air Con?
Personally I don't see anything wrong with the hot/cold blower thingy or an open window with a nice breeze on your skin.

My E30 hasn't yet seen much use, but in my previous cars, which have been a lot newer, I've not once used the AC, guess this comes down to personal preference.

Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:52 am

In the middle of summer, when it's boiling hot.. I've not yet come across a car with a hot/cold blower that blows out cold.

Mon Jun 23, 2014 6:01 am

Sunroof is always quite nice at motorway speeds - not too noisy, but then my neck starts to get burnt so aircon comes in handy! I find its also a lot more effective at demissting aswell, since its drying the air...

All that aside I'm sure I could live without it!

Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:00 am

Cannot live without air con where I live in the East of South Africa....even in mid-winter!

Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:05 am

A black car with black leather seats gets unpleasantly sticky between March and October. Couple that with highway speeds and a girlfriend with down-to-her-arse hair, and the windows-down sunroof-open idea just doesn't work. It's even better in standstill traffic, where the alternative is to wind the windows down to suck in everyone else's exhausts.

I fitted my aircon last July, and it's the best 300 quid I ever spent.

Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:31 am

You mentioning sat in traffic with your aircon on has got me thinking... When I got my car I was told the usual "the aircon works but just needs re-gassing" story. To my suprise after a re-gas it has been working very well for getting on a year now. The only issue being the auxiliary fan dosn't seen to come on, which I'm assuming could lead to the system overheating and dumping the fluid when there is no forward motion.

The fan itself works fine when powered directly although the only switching to it I can see is via the temp sensor/switch on the top of the radiator. Since the coolant rarely creeps over halfway on the temp guage, the fan doesn't come on, regardless of the temperature increasing in the aircon system.

With this worry in mind I never sit stationary with the aircon on for more than a couple of mins. Does anyone have any suggestions/answers regarding this?

Many thanks in advance!

Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:25 pm

The fan should run regardless; it has a hi/lo switch in the rad so that it should run at low speed all the time, and switch to high speed if the temp creeps up.

You've got two fuses and two relays to control this, so you need to check those first. Generally bridging the pins on the relays should make the fan spin up, so that's an easy way to test.

Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:44 pm

My melting point is around 17-18 degrees, So yea! I like Air con, otherwise I'd be a puddle.

The only person I have met that despises air con was a former boss. Would become a weapon grade vagina if you turned it on. Lowered his MPG

Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:55 pm

Yeah getting into a car with black leather seats after its been sat in the sun for a while is nasty. Exhaust fumes are tasty.

I've seen some old pictures of my E30 with air con installed, don't ask me where its gone though. Perhaps there are still some useable remnants of it lurking inside the car.

Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:38 pm

Maxtek wrote:Why does everyone go crazy over Air Con?
Personally I don't see anything wrong with the hot/cold blower thingy or an open window with a nice breeze on your skin.

My E30 hasn't yet seen much use, but in my previous cars, which have been a lot newer, I've not once used the AC, guess this comes down to personal preference.

try living in australia,last summer we had 12 days of 40c or more,open window is like a heater blowing in your face