[Nushibo]

So I think my AC compressor seized or something inside of it did. Skip to tl;dr if you dont want to hear my rational.

I was sitting in a parking lot chatting with a friend and the car was idle now the windows were down and the AC off. I decided its time to leave and turn the AC back on and finish my chat while the car cools off. All of a sudden I get a burning rubber smell and Battery Charge warning. Immediate reaction is to turn of the car and leave it for like 5 minutes.

I check under the hood nothing broken or ripped to shreds.

After a few more minutes and as my friend is leaving I turn on the car and back out and Power Steering is gone and exact thought is " followed by F**K MY POWER STEERING PUMP SIEZED or died" so I drove it without power steering on my way home. I drove a circle in the parking lot to get used to turning and all of a sudden the power steering was restored so i figured it fixed itself. On my way home the windows were down i figured i could vent the AC so i turn it back on and all the smell of burning rubber comes through and the Battery Charge light goes off.

So i turn off the AC off and now im here typing this post.

tl;dr

Went to chat with a friend and idle a bit too long. Turn the AC on and boom loss of all power steering and a charge warning along with some burning rubber. Drive off with no AC and power steering comes on. Turn AC back on and battery charge warning comes up, Car smells like its on fire. Get home and check the pulleys and everything is turning and nothing seems stopped so i guess my AC compressor is donzo?

Anyone else ever experience this? Also should I replace the serpentine belt just in case? I''m at 80k miles.

[sp1tfire]

Replace serpentine belt, right after you find origin of problem. Check all pullies. Id guess its alternator pull seizing or belt, but you are saying belt looks fine.

[Nushibo]

Originally Posted by sp1tfire

Replace serpentine belt. Check all pullies. Id guess its alternator pullie or belt, but you are saying belt looks fine.

I looked at all the ones i could see every and everyone seems to be spinning fine. Hopefully i didn't damage a powersteering pump or anything thats my biggest worry.

With the AC not active the AC belt attached to the crank moves fine, the main serpentine spins. Hopefully they don't charge me an arm and a leg.


I'll be dropping it off to the dealer to see what they say since im still within my 7/100k warranty. If i get a new AC compressor ill be happy seems the AC clutch is toast or seized. Just a PSA for anyone as well.

[sp1tfire]

Originally Posted by Nushibo

I looked at all the ones i could see every and everyone seems to be spinning fine. Hopefully i didn't damage a powersteering pump or anything thats my biggest worry.

With the AC not active the AC belt attached to the crank moves fine, the main serpentine spins. Hopefully they don't charge me an arm and a leg.


I'll be dropping it off to the dealer to see what they say since im still within my 7/100k warranty. If i get a new AC compressor ill be happy seems the AC clutch is toast or seized. Just a PSA for anyone as well.

The Alternator pullie has to be checked in special manner (stick screwdriver to block alternator from rotating and spin pullie, it has to move one direction and lock the other. It shouldn't be able to damage anything unless the belt shreds and start whipping around.

Im not sure about 335d and in 335i the A/c uses clutch pullie so that would be a possible origin of problem, since it acts differently when off/on.

Great that you have warranty, just be careful while getting it to dealer, maybe use a tow if its more then a short drive away.

[Nushibo]

Originally Posted by sp1tfire

The Alternator pullie has to be checked in special manner (stick screwdriver to block alternator from rotating and spin pullie, it has to move one direction and lock the other. It shouldn't be able to damage anything unless the belt shreds and start whipping around.

Im not sure about 335d and in 335i the A/c uses clutch pullie so that would be a possible origin of problem, since it acts differently when off/on.

Great that you have warranty, just be careful while getting it to dealer, maybe use a tow if its more then a short drive away.

Alternator looks good, I'm looking at the A/C now I assume its seized. Like you said its a clutch type so with it off and the clutch disengaged everything turns normally. Now when its on I think it locks up most of my serpentine belt hence, bye bye power steering and hello battery warning. I dont want to test it too much I.E. Turn it on and run to the engine bay as if it explodes my belt somehow i'm going to end up with a larger bill and maybe a new face lol.

Ill see what the dealer diagnoses, in the mean time its cool here in Florida at the moment so hopefully i can live long enough without A/C until I can drop it off Wednesday. Good timing too my SES is on and Carly says "your engine needs help"

[BB_cuda]

Power steering pump normally wouldn't hard fail all of a sudden. Alternator would just stop charging and I've never heard if one seizing up. I gave for a fact had a compressor lock up and the clutch failed too with it being engaged. I thought the starter was bad and changed it. With new starter, truck still wouldn't turn over. I noticed the fan blade would barely turn when it was trying to turn over. Just as a test, j pulled the serpentine belt off and it started right up. I learned the compressor was not letting the engine turn over. This was bizarre but true. 1991 Ford F-150 w 5.0L

You can see that I would quickly vote for the compressor being locked up.

To explain your data, when you turned Ac on, all accessories stopped turning but crank pulley kept going. The burning rubber smell was slippage between belt and crank pulley. When you turn Ac off, all other accessories could run again and light went off and steering worked again.

You could possibly jumper 12v to Ac clutch to get it to engage and show that pulley won't turn. This would be done with a loose battery and belt off of engine. Was Ac cooling okay? If it was low on 134a, it would also not be getting proper internal lubrication from the oil that's mixed into R134A

[montr]

It is a common failure for the 335d. Problem is the pulley. Mine failed at 66K miles.
Replaced 11-23-8-511-371 vibration damper and 2 belts.

[BB_cuda]

Originally Posted by montr

It is a common failure for the 335d. Problem is the pulley. Mine failed at 66K miles.
Replaced 11-23-8-511-371 vibration damper and 2 belts.

That would make perfect sense. The burning smell was from the inner part of harmonic balance still spinning and outer part not. Sorry for my war story about the Ford truck. Both failures would keep accessories from running.

[Nushibo]

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

That would make perfect sense. The burning smell was from the inner part of harmonic balance still spinning and outer part not. Sorry for my war story about the Ford truck. Both failures would keep accessories from running.

Agreed, I think its smart BMW starts the car with the A/C disengaged and turns it on a few seconds after, I'm sure most would. Your ford story is a good example of why they would do that and use a clutch compressor.
Well now I know not only is the A/C pulley belt an issue so is the pully lol as for the freon I should probably check that before I go in. The AC was working fine, except for once or twice a sporadic no A/C would blow but I didn't think it was the freon, it was blowing cold before.

[DSB335d]

Originally Posted by Nushibo

Agreed, I think its smart BMW starts the car with the A/C disengaged and turns it on a few seconds after, I'm sure most would. Your ford story is a good example of why they would do that and use a clutch compressor.
Well now I know not only is the A/C pulley belt an issue so is the pully lol as for the freon I should probably check that before I go in. The AC was working fine, except for once or twice a sporadic no A/C would blow but I didn't think it was the freon, it was blowing cold before.

Happened to me just a few weeks ago. Funny you are in West Palm Beach too.

[Nushibo]

Originally Posted by DSB335d

Happened to me just a few weeks ago. Funny you are in West Palm Beach too.

Looks like Braman has another on route lol, I feel a little more comfortable knowing it wasn't just me haha.

[Barmlot]

This exact same problem happened to me. In my case it was not the vibration damper as that had just been replaced under CPO, it was the AC that had seized as you guessed. At first my SA replaced something else and told me to come pick it up. The look on his face was priceless as he pulled my car around and the belt SQUEELED super loud. They replaced the compressor (for another $50, le sigh) and everything was fine. I was lucky that my Power steering worked fine as long as the AC was off. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Hoooper]

Did any of you notice a loss of or decrease in cooling before that happened? It would make sense that it seizes up if it runs out of refrigerant which would stop the oil from circulating, but to seize up while still full is surprising.

[Barmlot]

No noticeable decrease in cooling before it seized up, worked fine on my drive home. I smelled some burning rubber and it started blowing HOT air (hotter than outside temp which is rather hot in AZ) about an hour or two later when I went to leave. My refrigerant had been recharged (for another $50 service fee :/) a few months before the AC seized up.

[Nushibo]

Originally Posted by Hoooper

Did any of you notice a loss of or decrease in cooling before that happened? It would make sense that it seizes up if it runs out of refrigerant which would stop the oil from circulating, but to seize up while still full is surprising.

The AC ran fine before it went out. I did have a hiccup last year when the fan would blow and no A/C but that corrected itself. I checked the refrigerant and it seemed to be in order. Maybe I missed something, I couldn't exactly check now my fate is in the dealers hands.

[locolobo]

I am at 66,000 miles right now, but no sign of a problem yet. Is there any preventive maintenance or I just have to wait until it fails?

[Barmlot]

I think the idea of having the AC off when you start the car is a good one, remembering to turn it off before you get out is the hard part. Not sure if it helps or not but I can't imagine it hurting.

[Hoooper]

Originally Posted by locolobo

I am at 66,000 miles right now, but no sign of a problem yet. Is there any preventive maintenance or I just have to wait until it fails?

Theres really no PM to do on the AC system, the most likely cause of failure is a leak in the system (small or large) causing refrigerant to deplete and stop flowing. The refrigerant has oil in it to keep the compressor lubricated so once you lose the flow of refrigerant you will have the compressor seize up. Of course, you could also have other parts fail that arent AC specific, such as bearing failure on the pulley shaft.

[BB_cuda]

Originally Posted by Hoooper

Theres really no PM to do on the AC system, the most likely cause of failure is a leak in the system (small or large) causing refrigerant to deplete and stop flowing. The refrigerant has oil in it to keep the compressor lubricated so once you lose the flow of refrigerant you will have the compressor seize up. Of course, you could also have other parts fail that arent AC specific, such as bearing failure on the pulley shaft.

Old R12 systems used mineral oil (which you add in first prior to charging if new compressor going in). New R134a systems use synthetic oil. If system is charged, you can add in oil in to system in a method similar to adding more refrigerant (piercing can going into valved tube).

If you have a system that has a slight leak that you need to feed every 6 months or so, it is also a good idea to give it a little shot of proper oil too. my 2 cents

[Nushibo]

Originally Posted by locolobo

I am at 66,000 miles right now, but no sign of a problem yet. Is there any preventive maintenance or I just have to wait until it fails?

I am back! And the cars okay now lol.

When it fails, it fails really. You should be okay but do keep an eye on the vibration dampener. I got my car back today and according to the tech the dampener fell apart and cooked itself and part of crank pulley. According to the report they replaced the dampener and I was way over due for a battery lol it survived 6 years haha. Could of done it myself but meh diagnostic fees cost as much.

Doesn't look like they replaced the serpentine or the AC belt I think. The report just said vibration dampener

[BB_cuda]

Nushibo,
sounds like you need to add your name and miles to the following thread (please)? Cut and paste the list and add your info.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...light=harmonic

Other people report getting new belts.

The sneaky b$stard in me marks things secretly to know whether parts really get changed or not. Fuel filter was marked before I took it in. That said, it sort of hard to mark a belt but silver sharpy is worth a try. A little x a few places on the side so that it doesn't get worn off on top or bottom drive surfaces.

[Ricter55]

Originally Posted by locolobo

I am at 66,000 miles right now, but no sign of a problem yet. Is there any preventive maintenance or I just have to wait until it fails?

I have two theories: Living in Arizona is hard on A/C units. Spend the money to have it serviced every year. Why? Theory #1. I think that this compressor lock-up can be caused by low or high refrigerant levels. Mine has just failed for the 3rd time in 4.5 years. Since the last repair, I have left the A/C on Auto (never Max) and turn up the temp settings in winter so that the compressor regularly shuts down. Theory #2. In that same time period, I have had the harmonic balancer pulley replaced twice, and I think that its destruction is caused by not realizing the A/C compressor is the cause. Last night the battery charging warning came on, the power steering went but I had the sense to turn off all accessories almost immediately. That burned rubber smell... again! However, I have been able to drive just fine with the fan on but the A/C snowflake button OFF. Heading to my BMW service shop first thing this AM. I have Carshield, so it should only be a $100 deductible.