Air con

[Dizeee]

So I am sure that when I purchased my car from a Ford dealer last year, they re gassed the air con as part of handing over service. It certainly worked when I drove it away from the dealership. But of course I have had it set to hot air until yesterday, when I found out the system is totally fooked and doesn't work at all. This ties i with an intermittent sucking and hissing I have noticed from the front left of the car lately.

I suspect this will no doubt be a catastrophic failure like a faulty compressor - theres no way it can be simple like a re gas as that was done before so clearly a leak is involved.

 

I presume therefore that dye test and any replacement part linked into this will be crippling in cost? ( £300 / 500 ). I guess I will just leave it and make do, unless there happens to be a simple fix or known issue.

[flash22]

is it A/C or Auto A/C (climate) ?

 

[Dizeee]

Its the normal A/C so cold air aspect.Just blows room temperature. It was def ice cold when I purchased car in October as I tested it, but always had it hot since. I always leave it on as thats the best advice to stop seals perishing but have not asked for cold air until yesterday.

[Cyker]

Yeah I got done by a used car dealer for a similar thing in my Mk2; I reckon the previous owner never used it and all the gas had gone so when I bought it and found it didn't work, just took the dealer's word it just needed a regas.

That fixed it for a couple months but as I wasn't using it regularly I didn't realize the severity of the problem until we got those heatwaves.

Had the condenser replaced as there was a leak there, but that only fixed it for a few months again. Took it back, was told the whole system was leaking, looked for a second opinion, eventually got Toyota dealer to look at it, and they diagnosed the just the main pipes needed changing, did that, gas leaked out in less than a week, went back, they then said oh actually there is a leak in the condenser and the compressor is probably faulty too, at which point I had a massive go at them for saying it was just the pipes and wasting all my time and money replacing them for no reason.

I eventually got them to discount the cost of that from the Mk4 in addition to taking the Mk2 off me at maximum scrappage, so now I have the Mk4!

 

One thing with AC gas is it becomes acidic when mixed with water, so if the system has been 'ungassed' and leaking long enough for the drier to become saturated, there's a possibility that the whole system will be shot as the acid will have damaged all the pipes and the compressor. I suspect that's what happened with mine as the pipes were riddled with micro leaks, or so I was told, and why they thought that was the problem instead of checking further, but at least that's no longer my problem!

[flash22]

ok you will have to pull the codes with a reader/scan tool - otherwise get the system tested/vacuumed down

[Dizeee]

I don't mind having it looked at but wonder if the cost will be worth it. Will a simple leak down highlight the acidic issues from above?

[flash22]

When you put an A/C system under vacuum it boils any water in the system away, if the system has a leak it will not hold a vacuum or will degrade over 15-20 mins

[Cyker]

6 hours ago, Dizeee said:

I don't mind having it looked at but wonder if the cost will be worth it. Will a simple leak down highlight the acidic issues from above?

I feel like the vacuum test only works if there is a major leak in the system as it didn't find anything in my case - Supposedly the car is tested every time it's regassed, but every single time at a multitude of different places, the regas system reported the system was fine and blissfully re-pressurized the system. Even the original leak in the condenser wasn't picked up!

If you can find a specialist, they will have a special sniffer tool that is much better for finding leaks, but finding the specialist is the tricky part...

 

[PCM]

On 3/21/2023 at 11:22 AM, Dizeee said:

I don't mind having it looked at but wonder if the cost will be worth it. Will a simple leak down highlight the acidic issues from above?

Do you get it resolved?

( I know I could not live with no a/c now in a car. )

 

[Dizeee]

I'm amazed. All working - a simple seal apparently at fault.

So inspection, fault find, re  gas and fix of seal. £115.

Ice air comes through and I have made a point of leaving it on. Goes to show - not all issues are detrimental!

[PCM]

On 5/12/2023 at 12:05 AM, Dizeee said:

I'm amazed. All working - a simple seal apparently at fault.

So inspection, fault find, re  gas and fix of seal. £115.

Ice air comes through and I have made a point of leaving it on. Goes to show - not all issues are detrimental!

Brilliant - happy ( and cool ) days.