A/C gas all gone. 2014 13.3 only 29k miles

[Tintaglia]

Does anyone know of any common places for leaks?  I know it's all gone since when I carefully (gloved hand and eye protection) pressed the valve, all I got was a slight sigh.  I have looked all around with a torch and there is no signs of oil staining anywhere including all the pipework from the compressor I can see and the condenser radiator.  I haven't jacked it up yet nor checked under the dash.  It was perfect one day and not working the next so I presume it must be a pretty drastic leak.  I'm guessing it's the rad but I can't see anything obvious.

  I'd like to do any work myself (retired mechanic) but by no means an A/C specialist.  Would one of the mobile guys come and do a leak test do you think? 

[Stivino]

They will leak test it but expect to pay at £60 for it.

Nine times out of ten it is the condenser or a pipe. 
Look and look again.

[Tintaglia]

Thanks for the reply.   👍  When it stops raining I will jack it up and take the all the plastic shrouds off and try and see a bit more.  Do you know how the condenser comes out?  It looks a bit awkward from the top.  

[bathtub tom]

3 hours ago, Tintaglia said:

 I know it's all gone since when I carefully (gloved hand and eye protection) pressed the valve, all I got was a slight sigh.

That would suggest to me it's probably not a leak. Did you test the high or low pressure side? I've a '14 model and it's the poorest A/C on any car I've ever owned. It's been re-gassed (with less than 10% per year loss) and a comment that it's probably the worst performing A/C on any car.

[Tintaglia]

Thanks Tom.  It was fine.  When it was working, if you put it on the coldest it would get about as cold as my VW or any other car I have had in the past. 

I'm not an A/C guy so I just felt the slightly larger of the two hoses on the O/S and it felt a bit squishy so I tried the obvious valve.  Once it had done its little weak sigh I could push the valve all the way in and it spoke no more.  I could tell just by pressing the valve in the first place that there almost zero pressure there.  I should say that although mine is a 2014 it is the very last of the old model so the later ones could be different.   

Just went out and took a photo and noticed the large H on the cap!  I guess it was the HP side.. 😄

Looking at the pic it's shocking how much surface rust 8 years by the sea causes.  Look at those bolts and that engine mounting.  Time for some dismantling and painting I think!

[Stivino]

I’ve never done a Yaris but every one I have done has come out from the top.

Maybe there will be a video on You tube?

[Stivino]

The low pressure side pipes are the large ones, the narrow pipes are high pressure.

If the gas isn’t on the inside, it must be on the outside.  It can only be on the outside because it has leaked out, i.e. you have a leak of some kind.

[Tintaglia]

10 minutes ago, Stivino said:

 

If the gas isn’t on the inside, it must be on the outside.  It can only be on the outside because it has leaked out, i.e. you have a leak of some kind.

Yes I get that but from what I've read gas leaks are not always visible unless there are oil stains around the leak and I can't seen any so far.  I will have to get it UV dye or pressure tested if I can't track it down.  

[corradovr6]

like you i'm not really an aircon guy - unless its absolutely necessary.  The problem is that not using an a/c is the worst thing for it.  Seal will dry up and leak.  Not sure if you can get a self recharge can with a dye to check for leaks? Otherwise, i would assume a good aircon garage can check it for you, and hopefully not too expensive!

I think that there is also a leak repair solution available - not sure how effective though.  Perhaps worth looking into?

[Madasafish]

I would expect most seals will have failed due to lack of use/and /or you have a hole in the condenser. Aircon is not a DIY job

"Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the deliberate release of refrigerant into the atmosphere is illegal. The use of R12 is now banned in the UK. for 'de-gassing' of air-conditioning systems."

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg349.pdf

[Stivino]

2 hours ago, Madasafish said:

I would expect most seals will have failed due to lack of use/and /or you have a hole in the condenser. Aircon is not a DIY job

"Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the deliberate release of refrigerant into the atmosphere is illegal. The use of R12 is now banned in the UK. for 'de-gassing' of air-conditioning systems."

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg349.pdf

No cars use R12 these days, the Op's car will be R134a and you can buy that in Halfords for D.I.Y.

[Tintaglia]

I don't fancy diy topping up.  Looks a bit haphazard to me.  I spent years in the motor trade before I retired so I always want to be in charge of any dismantling that goes on with my cars.  The gas has already escaped so I will find out where, fix it if I can and have the correct weight, pressure and oil added by a specialist afterwards.  🙂

In my day we sent out A/C work or had cars de-gassed and re-gassed after our work was complete. 

I don't keep the A/C permanently on like others but I do deliberately put it on every few days including in winter, plus the car 'selects' it fairly regularly depending what heating/defrosting combo is selected.

[Cyker]

In my Mk1 I used to turn it on if I wanted to slow the car down slightly faster  

 

[Tintaglia]

On 6/6/2022 at 6:49 PM, Cyker said:

In my Mk1 I used to turn it on if I wanted to slow the car down slightly faster  

 

😄  My daughter still has her old MK 1 Spirit but it is a 1.3 so it's pretty good!  (And her A/C is still perfect too even after 19 years!)

Got to look at mine today and had it jacked up and I followed all the pipes in all directions with a big bright LED light.  I even checked underneath the dash and carpet for any marks of oil or any other kind and it is all pristine.  Except for this pipe from the compressor to the driver's side of the condenser.  It has a dark mark showing on it.  I don't think I have moved it about much although it looks a bit like I have.  There is also a single blue mark but that looks more like dry coolant to me.  Does anyone recognise this as a classic A/C leak? 

I unbolted the condenser end of the pipe to get the pic because the mark is facing downwards.  It certainly did have zero gas in it as I had already checked.  

 

     

[Tintaglia]

Finally got round to finding the leak.  The mobile A/C could only find one small leak from the the drier plug which comes with the new condenser, you actually can buy just a new drier but you can't get the nylon plug out because it's glued in!  I ordered a new condenser (aftermarket) and it arrived roughly the shape of a cucumber!  So I'll get another and get the system tested and gassed back up.

The condenser does come out from the top but it comes out complete with the coolant rad which is held in place by four plastic pegs.  Two of these pegs go through a lower cross member and the top two poke up through the slam panel.  So it is effectively sandwiched between the two.  You have to undo two of the headlamp bolts each side and then the four slightly awkward bolts of the slam panel.  This allows you to lift the slam panel slightly to release the top pegs.  The fan/wiring and top and bottom hoses needs to come off before anything else of course but that's all easy.

Here is the dodgy Chinese condenser!