# Air conditioning system, servicing.

Servicing of the refrigerant system on any vehicle requires specialized equipment.

In the US, it also requires government certification to perform service work to a refrigerant system.

However, if your system requires component replacement, it is quite legal for you to have a certified technician recover the refrigerant from your system, allowing you to repair the system, and then return to have the system refilled by the certified technician.

Whenever a refrigerant system is open for more than 24 hours, the receiver drier should be replaced as it will no longer be capable of filtering moisture from the refrigerant. Once the receiver drier is no longer capable of absorbing water, its core begins to disintegrate, spreading particles through the system which will cause major problems with all components.

Always replace the valve cores on a refrigerant system before refilling. Cores are identical to short tire valve cores, except that they have refrigerant resistant seals which are generally clear, not red or black as in tire valve cores.

System capacity is provided on a red sticker, located on the back of the right headlight cover. |

E30 M3 Repair Manual V2.7. Copyright ©1999-2001 Koala Motorsport & Brett Anderson