My car is in the shop.....

[electra225]

About a month ago, I took my Mini into a local shop we have used before to get the oil changed and have them look at the AC. It wasn't cooling like I thought it should be. I figured a top off of refrigerant and it would be back to normal. They checked it out, then gave me the bad news. The compressor had failed. In all the years I have been driving and owning cars and trucks, I have never had a compressor fail on my equipment, not even in semis. My Buick still runs its original compressor. The Tahoe has almost 200,000 miles on its original compressor. I put millions of miles on Macks running the original A6. The Mini has a scroll, variable displacement compressor made by Nippendenso (Denso). Long story very short, four compressors and $2000 later, the AC works exactly like it did when I asked them to check it. Now, it's on its way to the Mini dealer, 45 miles away. I am not going to drive a black car in 115 degree heat with no AC, so the service writer at the shop is going to take it to the dealer and the shop is going to pay whatever it takes to fix my car at the dealer. In fairness, I couldn't ask the shop to do more than they have. Every shop in the world should have the integrity these guys have shown thus far working with this mess. Experience tells me there was at least a partial mis-diagnosis in this case. My guess is that the answer is something simple. They have replaced everything else. They have had my car for two weeks, going on three weeks. It's time for another set of eyes on this thing. I should have taken it to the dealer to start with. My wife doesn't drive anymore, so I had no way home from the dealer. They are 45 miles away, the local shop is next door to where I work. They have done work for us in the past quite satisfactorily. They said they could work on the Mini no problem. They had an Audi and a Volkswagen in the shop for AC work, so I knew they did European cars. I got lazy and am paying for that. In the future, regardless of inconvenience and cost, it goes to the dealer for anything more than inflating the tires or adding gas........

[Doug]

I have a jeep Cherokee that compressor went out 2nd time
It's a 2002. 1st they had a recall and replaced the compressor.few years later went out again.just back up car
I think they had issues so I didn't bother again
Even in new home systems they r having issues
The Tubing they use now is not holding up

[electra225]

Apparently, the Harrison Division of GM does not exist. I'm told my Mini uses the same compressor as a Chevrolet, only the Mini is built by BMW and they use a unique-pattern serpentine belt, so the pulley is different on my car than on a Chevrolet. I'm also told that the days of the compressor outlasting the vehicle are history. They make the components so small so as to increase fuel economy and decrease weight that they just aren't as rugged as they once were. The compressor on my car is so tiny, I'm surprised it works at all. The thing will turn your knuckles purple if the system is working right. The theory is that the compressor is being "slugged" by liquid refrigerant for some reason. The compressor is especially crabby being subjected to liquid refrigerant. I'm wondering if there isn't some extra heat being fed to the evaporator somehow. A scan of the electronics has revealed that the blend doors are operating correctly. This scan would not necessarily reveal if something was holding a blend door open partially. With ambient temps above 110 or if heat from the heater core was added to the outlet air, it would be warmer and the low side pressure would be higher, since the refrigerant would be boiled off before it got a chance to absorb heat. It wouldn't take much to hold a blend door open enough to cause an issue.