Reviews of OEM BMW AC compressor

I was lucky as no metal contamination was found in my system. $3100 of replacement later and I'm back on the road with the latest generation of compressor. Yay!

I bought a 2003 E46 a few months ago with a similar mindset. Don't need my car to commute, only for leisure. And wanted something more fun to drive and to work on.

Best decision I've made car related for a while. It's an absolute joy to drive. And not too bad on the wallet. I just completed a 1000 mole road trip to Scotland and averaged 41mpg across the whole trip (I have the 2.2L M54 engine so you're unlikely to beat that, but I'd think 30+ would be achievable). I found a gem on Facebook marketplace for a bargain. I've spent about £1k since but thenl vast majority of that was getting the AC compressor replaced to have that working again.

I would say that these older BMWs need a lot of love and preventative maintenance. That's fine if you want to do it yourself, but if not it will add up fast at a garage. Rust is definitely the main deterrent for a running car. Thankfully the wings can be easily replaced. More serious rust underneath would put me off.

For that price I'd want one with minimal work required in the immediate and serious rust free. But it's a great car and engine. Definitely take your time to find the right one

My AC compressor went out at around 85k miles.

2015 BMWi3 owner here. I’m in the second phase of the dreaded A/C compressor failure repair with the BIG ticket cost of $6500.

Less than a year ago I paid over $4000. to replace the compressor. So the total is now right around $10500 to run the A/C system to keep this car’s battery cool enough to not set the car on fire! And I was told this by the service department when I asked how necessary the repairs are. He said the battery will overheat and be a fire hazard! This is catastrophic for an EV so I took further action to report this.

I reported this to the BMW North America Concierge supervisor and he stated “it was normal wear and tear” for an 8 year old car with 80K miles?! I reported this was a major safety problem and should be researched for a possible recall. He did not agree! Wow!

I then took out an official report with National Highway Safety Admin (who govern recalls).

The file is under review as of today.

This is not just an expensive defect, it could prove deadly. I’m researching as much as I can about this.

Any feedback would really be appreciated!

On my e36 it's a lot. It's a belt driven compressor (maybe that's how it is in all cars, idk) and it squeaks until I shoot it with wd40 being careful not to sit the belt. I've gotten through 5 years like this but holy shit, when I turn on the ac the rpms drop dramatically. Everything starts rattling. It doesn't stall but you can feel the lost power. It's a not insignificant number.

I have just experienced the exact same issue with my BMW i3 air conditioning system, except .... the local dealer called and said the repair job would cost $17,000. I took it in to the dealer because the air didn't seem to be cooling normally. The dealer called back and said there were valves that needed replacing and the cost of the repair would be $1400. The valves were not in stock so they were ordered and after they arrived, the repair started. That's when the dealer said there were apparently metal shavings in the system and, while the compressor did not show any faults during testing, the entire AC system would have to be replaced. So now my 2015 i3, which cost $18,000 used in 2017 with 10K miles on it, has been totaled by a faulty AC system. Time to drive with the windows down and flap my arms.

Ran into similar issue here- dealer thought it was a defective valve ($1200) then after fixing that they said I need a new compressor ($3k). My biggest fear was this- what if replacing compressor isn't going to solve the issue? They could come back with another $8k bill as they have done to you. I think this approach is underhanded and not comprehensive at all.

So I decided $1200 was enough and sold it. Even with broken AC, the market is paying damn well for the EVs now. I'd take advantage of it if you can and get another car. I'm definitely staying away from BMW.

I have a similar problem coming up, my OBD dongle mentioned a pressure-discrepancy in the aircon system, and it is simply not blowing cold air anymore. It also makes a 'tikking' sound when it is enabled. (from the left-rear-wheel-well) Sounds like I might have the same problem. I have a 2014 REx with 60k miles.

My take on the whole thing: BMW dropped the ball here. Replace it now if you have a 2014/2015 i3, and you have not replaced it yet.On BMW's advice of basically replacing the whole system (incl the loops in the battery), I don't quite agree with this, because when you replace the compressor, you should also replace the drier, which (if I'm not mistaken) contains a filter. Which would filter any metal particles.

Add me to the club of owners who are being hit with $8K+ repair bills because of the faulty ac compressors in the 2014-2015 i3.

Recently, a random sound started after I turned on the a/c, so I immediately turned it off. No warnings or notifications came up about anything malfunctioning. I took my car in for a diagnostic test and nothing came back. They checked off that the a/c was working properly.

Not satisfied, I eventually took it to another dealership and they said that they couldn’t reproduce the problem. I finally was able to take it to another BMW dealership when the sound came up recently . The service attendant immediately noted that it sounded like the compressor was going out.

The next business day, I took it to my normal BMW service center and they set it up to be looked at. After I explained the problem with the compressor they quoted a diagnostic charge of $170. They connected it to a diagnostic code reading device and saw codes for the compressor. First, they quoted me $3,200 to replace the compressor and parts (labor included), but then after I approved the service they called me back a few hours later and told me they needed to look further into the problem, and that it would cost an additional $600.

They concluded that metal broke off of the compressor and contaminated the connecting parts.

The new repair total was now $8K, with over $4K for labor. The compressor, condenser, and HV battery accumulator need to be replaced. A flush is also needed. How was none of this discovered before I told them what to look at. Eventually they will need dedicated EV specialist.

I immediately called BMW’s EV department for assistance with this issue. This is clearly a known issue. How did they not catch this before it was even a $3K issue, my car has had multiple diagnostic test run.

A few years ago, my last car (C-Max) had an issue with the transmission, but the manufacturer replaced it at no cost because they acknowledged the problem with that particular model. I didn’t have to call them at all. They even gave me a loaner car. I have loved driving my 2015 i3 for the last 3 years. After this, I think I may be a “one and done” BMW owner.

If you are currently thinking about purchasing an i3, refrain from purchasing any i3 model with this common problem.