BMW AC Compressor

One of BMW’s best known slogans is “Sheer Driving Pleasure”. Indeed, BMW vehicles offer sheer driving pleasure for their drivers and owners. This pleasure is brought in part by the performance of BMW vehicles—that commendable performance by which BMW vehicles has always been praised for. But performance alone is not enough to make every BMW ride pleasurable. A part of this pleasure, therefore, is brought to it by the various amenities and components that make the simple act of sitting inside the BMW’s cabin a pleasure in itself. Among those components that bring forth such pleasure is the BMW AC compressor of the vehicle’s air conditioning system.

The AC compressor is a belt driven pump that is fastened to the engine. It is often referred to as the heart of the air conditioning system. Just as the human heart would pump blood through the circulatory system, so would the compressor pump refrigerant in a closed loop through the AC system. In particular, the inlet side of the compressor would suck in low pressure refrigerant gas from the AC system’s low pressure side, which is composed of the evaporator and the accumulator or receiver/drier. Inside the compressor, the refrigerant gas is compressed and converted into a high pressure and high temperature gas. This compressed gas would then be discharged to the system’s high pressure side (made up of the AC condenser and the expansion valve) for cooling.

The BMW AC compressor is an essential part of the BMW AC system for without it, there is just no way for the refrigerant to circulate and absorb heat inside the vehicle’s cabin. A damaged BMW AC compressor, therefore, must be replaced as soon as the damage is discovered. Finding the exact replacement, however, won’t be that easy, for there are actually three types of AC compressors commonly used in vehicle AC systems (the four cylinder radial type, six cylinder axial type and the two cylinder reciprocating piston type). Further, replacing the compressor can’t be done by the vehicle owner himself, for it requires a trained and certified mechanic to perform such complicated replacement jobs.