I have a 1994 E500 and am underwhelmed by the A/C system. When traveling at fair speed, it stays cold, but at idle or when driving in moderate traffic around town, it's not as cold as I'd like. I'd like to compare notes with others that own this car. Mine has a black interior and that might be a factor, but my wife's 540 touring also has a black interior and it gets ice cold the second you start it up. It's so cold I have to turn the temp up and the blower down whereas on my E500 I must keep it on the coldest setting when the weather is over 90 degrees. Please tell me if this is normal for this car.

Do your aux. fans come on at low speed when the A/C is turned on? That could be your problem.

Turn the A/C on and see if the two fans are running at low speed. They should also come on at high speed when the engine's hot.

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2008 BMW 335i Coupe

I have a '94 E500 with a black interior and on two recent trips with 100+ degree weather the a/c had no trouble keeping us comfortable. And I like it cold

I haven't measured the temp at the vent but it feels very cold.

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

My experience is that the A/C on the W124's is not exactly robust, but it is adequate when it is running right. If it's not blowing cold, you might need a freon top-up. My wife's '93 300TE needs a recharge every few months, but the leak is, so far, too small to find. On the 500E, I find it best to start off with a blast - I set the fan to auto (even though I hate the racket) and the thermostat to coldest to cool it down, then roll off the temp after I'm comfortable.

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Mark Stetson
1995 E320 Wagon Moonstone Grey/Parchment 106K mi.
2007 E63 AMG Graphite/designo 75K mi

Aux fans work well and air is cool (not cold) when moving at speed.

The A/C in my '94 with black interior works extremely well even in Dallas. The only thing I've noticed is that after start-up, the car must be driven to get the system cold. If you pull out of a parking lot and then sit at a light for 2 minutes the system won't be very cold. Once moving and the system gets cold it remains cold until shut down. I will measure the temp at the vent and report back this PM.

Randy
'94 E500

Ditto to what Mark & Randy stated above. Either way I'm going to have mine checked for correct pressure, have to use this warranty at some point.

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Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd

I believe the factory has temp ranges (specs) to assist determining if a/c air out of the vents is within the proper operating/ design parameters.

I'd suggest enlisting the services of a qualified tech to perform a comprehensive diagnostic: temp reading out of the vents w/ warm motor, elec resistence-reading tests, review a/c pressure, addition of leak dye & sniffer, aux fans operations, compressor/clutch operation, blower motor operation, etc.

fwiw- '94 E500 (42.9k- Black Pearl/ Black) in blazing 100+ degree dry ambient temps- I set the temp wheel to '72' and depress the Auto fan button. The system works great... brings the interior temp down very quickly (even more quickly if the car is moving in this mode) and then backs off to keep it at around 72 degrees. The cold air exiting the the vent is very cold- - cold enough to make my hand overly cold (uncomfortable).

The E500's a/c performance appears to be on par with '02 C320 Wagon, '02 ML320, and '02 C240 Sedan (...though none of these systems appear to freeze the interior as my '92 300e w/ R12)


Hope this helps and let us know what turns out

-fad

My A/C has never been to my liking, from the day I bought my 1993 500E. Historically, it has run either too warm or too cold. On a warm/hot day, when there is not adequate freon in the system, running the A/C actually makes the interior of the vehicle hotter than the outside air. In fact, it can get uncomfortably muggy/humid under such conditions! For example, I was DYING in Templeton, CA, last weekend, at the 500E/E500 GTG (110 degrees)!!!

Currently, I have a freon leak, so I will be hiring a mobile technician to pin-point (no pun intended) it; when I fully charge my system with freon, I can hear a leak (if ambient noise levels are as quiet as possible ) by sticking my head under the hood, a-la lion tamer. My compressor, compressor clutch, and receiver/dryer unit are all less than 1 year old. The culprit will prove to be a hose... but I cannot divine which one.

I will post the results of my fix, ASAP. The average charge for an A/C technician to make a "house call" at one's home or office is $150.00 USD.

Scott- wondering if you've had the the a/c evaporator replaced yet?

If not, this may prove to be another leak source- this can be reviewed with dye & a sniffer.

I've been told in converation with a factory tech that our evaporator lifespan is recognized to be 10 years.

hope this helps and let us know what turns out.
-fad

I had my system charged last weekend and the tech found a loose valve of some sort near the clutch fan behind the grille. He put the dye in it so that should it leak again we will be able to find out from where. The system is clearly better but not where I am accustomed to. It does keep decent temp once I run it for a bit, but takes a while to get cold. Also, it's very humid where I live so that could explain why folks in the desert report different findings. I'll get the temp measured at the vents and post results.

I believe my evaporator was replaced when my compressor and compressor clutch were; I will check my records and post my findings, ASAP.

Doesn't impregnating the freon with dye cause the interior of one's car to fill up with a colorful cloud...
or are these tests ONLY performed with the A/C off (in the engine bay)?

Scott-

fyi- the a/c evaporator is buried deep in your dash and is a very labor intensive interior job to r/r (+20hours)...hopefully you've already taken care of it

there are a number of tests for a/c operations- not restricted to the engine bay location

RE: filling interior up
>depending on how excessive a leak(s) are....therein lies your ans. But- I've not observed an interior full of the dye in my limited experience

Would someone be so kind as to post the A/C evaporator part #, please?

Thank you,