E46 Air Conditioning Pressure tests and refill quantities

[Zound]

Here are some pics from Rheingold regarding pressure testing the AC system and interpreting the results as well as suggested refill quantities for the AC system. This is information provided for my E46 2001 330i (M54B30) and I am not sure which other cars this applies to, however I would believe that this covers the entire E46 range. Use at your own discretion/risk.

 

[Blert]

is your car sorted now?

 

[Zound]

is your car sorted now?

My car is with "Independent Car radio and Air Conditioning" right now.

I am fairly certain my AC system has a leak, so I need to have a professional take a look and hopefully they will end up conducting a leak detection test.

At the least I will have a correctly filled amount of AC refrigerant and oil, I am assuming they will evacuate the system first and then fill.

I doubt they will be able to identify the issue causing cold air to blow exclusively from the left hand side of the car (Passenger side South Africa) but I suppose one step at a time is going to be the necessary approach with my cars AC system.

 

[Zound]

is your car sorted now?

My car is with "Independent Car radio and Air Conditioning" right now.

I am fairly certain my AC system has a leak, so I need to have a professional take a look and hopefully they will end up conducting a leak detection test.

At the least I will have a correctly filled amount of AC refrigerant and oil, I am assuming they will evacuate the system first and then fill.

I doubt they will be able to identify the issue causing cold air to blow exclusively from the left hand side of the car (Passenger side South Africa) but I suppose one step at a time is going to be the necessary approach with my cars AC system.

Update: Just got car back and the car is sorted now. They evacuated the system and refilled the correct quantities of oil and refrigerant. Car blows ice cold air from all vents now. Very happy, to say the least.

Technician said that my car had most probably an air-lock and hence the system needed to be evacuated and re-filled. Will be taking the car back in two-weeks to check the pressure and ensure there are no leaks.

 

[kilotango]

keep watch over it for a few days. i know i had similar issues on mine where only one half of the car got cold. this is a symptom of a leak in your system (or low gas).
i had the system re-filled twice, and both times didnt last long.

turned out that i had two leaks:

one was from a shot o-ring on the drier (just below drivers side headlight) and the valves on both of the refill ports had a slow leak.