[dmitri]

Often, when I drive my 330xi with the A/C on, there is a loud CLICK that randomly happens as im driving. It is random and is loud enough to sound exactly like a rock hitting the winshield, but im positive its not. It would be hard to show a dealer because it happens randomly, yet often, sometimes 3-5 times while i drive places. Any ideas?
What to do?

[Ryan 330i]

mine does that too. for no rhyme or reason.

[Vice Consul]

The A/C on my 325xi apparently has the same annoying habit as the one on Dmitri's 330i: whenever it's on there's an audible pop or click or tick every 5/10/15 minutes -- not terribly frequently, but frequently enough to be irritating and make you wonder what the heck is going on. The sound is clearly emanating from the A/C (as opposed to the well-documented seat belt click) and can be heard only when it is on. I have no doubt, of course, that if I went to the dealer and asked him to have a listen the sound would disappear... Has anybody else experienced this? My first thought was that the heater's hot air was causing the plastic inside the unit to expand ever so slightly... POP... but I get the occasional click even when the unit is cooling the car, so go figure. Help!
Vice Consul

[meruyailir]

Originally Posted by dmitri

Often, when I drive my 330xi with the A/C on, there is a loud CLICK that randomly happens as im driving. It is random and is loud enough to sound exactly like a rock hitting the winshield, but im positive its not. It would be hard to show a dealer because it happens randomly, yet often, sometimes 3-5 times while i drive places. Any ideas?
What to do?

I had that too.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...board+snapping

I brought my car to the dealer and they heard the noise. I had the whole dashboard and windshield taken off, had it for a month there, got the issue escalated to BMW Indonesia, and got fixed mysteriously. They wouldn't tell me what's wrong, in fact they just said "Nothing wrong with your car" and we took quite a few rounds on different road condition and the noise never occurred again.

I think you'd better bring your car to the dealer. The noise is easily reproducible right?

[megatnh]

hi guys
my 320ise seems to emit a slight rattling/clicking sound at 2000-2500 rpm at 60-80 kph.I couldnt figure it out where the source from...it is running fine when it gets to 3000rpm and above. Wont hear it if I m driving in the city but once u r drivin thru a quiet area the sound is pretty audible..gosh the sounds is so annoying

[Greeney]

Originally Posted by dmitri

Often, when I drive my 330xi with the A/C on, there is a loud CLICK that randomly happens as im driving. It is random and is loud enough to sound exactly like a rock hitting the winshield, but im positive its not. It would be hard to show a dealer because it happens randomly, yet often, sometimes 3-5 times while i drive places. Any ideas?
What to do?

I heard the same thing yesterday with my brother in the car. It sounds as if your smashing a water bottle right? I think my car is going to have to go into the dealer. Im also having rattles behind the iDrive screen and in the door pillar.

[Vice Consul]

Originally Posted by Greeney

I heard the same thing yesterday with my brother in the car. It sounds as if your smashing a water bottle right? I think my car is going to have to go into the dealer. Im also having rattles behind the iDrive screen and in the door pillar.

Hmm, I don't know about smashing water bottles... it's really a "click" or "tick" or "pop" that happens when the A/C is on. I'm going to record it on my MD player for the dealer. Maybe I can use Toast to convert the recording to an audio file and upload here for the listening enjoyment of the E90 forum...

In any case, I'd be interested if anyone has resolved this WITHOUT having the dealer spend a month disassembling the dashboard and windshield like our colleague in Indonesia. I wouldn't trust a Polish mechanic to take apart my car and put it back together again. Couldn't they just swap out the A/C?

VC

[Greeney]

I Think im going to bring my car in, it did it more today.

[billgti]

my car has the slight clicking sound from the AC too from time to time. had it since new..it seems to be less frequent now.

[shadowcoder]

From what you guys describe it could be the A/C compressor pulley or a
faulty A/C compressor altogether. You should not have these noises. Take the
car to the dealer and have them check it out - they may have to replace
either the pulley or the compressor. Also when it happens keep a note of
the type of noise, where do you hear it from (if stationary get out and
check to see if you hear it from the engine compartment), at what speed
and A/C settings it occurs, how often and what's the temp outside.

[BK]

Greeney - sorry to hear this happens on your car. Yours is new like mine. I haven't heard this yet (knock on wood) so I figured it was an "early model" thing, but apparently not.