Aircon Puzzle: 54 Plate T2

[windy1]

Aircon on my 2.25yr old Avensis was very weak. Local dealer says this item is not even checked at any service, major or minor and everything to do with it is extra cost starting at £99.99.

Had it serviced by an independent garage who confirmed the refrigerant was down to 110gms. They regassed it up to 480gms and it now works OK, with the compressor kicking in and out just like it should. They put in a dye and saw no obvious leaks, but suggested a further check with their UK spectacles after a few weeks as some leaks can be slow. They also commented that it was unusual to find the qty down to a quarter: if there is a leak, its usually all gone.

It is a non-climate system and it seemed to perform OK in last year's hot weather and yes - I do run it for a few minutes every other week regardless of the outside temp just to keep the seals etc lubricated. My old Nisan Primera never needed any attention to aircon in 7 years I had it from new, so I do suspect a problem here.

Any ideas and where I could look for more clues?

The KOOLKARE print out says:

recovered 0.11kg

charged 0.48 kg

vauum time 30mins

BLUE probe: present 27.2, min 13.6, max 41.2deg

RED probe: present 18.0, min 14.4, max 44.5 deg

air temp 18.1

tank 4.05kg

tank 16.3deg

tank 5.4bar

purge OK

Filter/Dryer 89%

Any aircon engginners out there like to comment on what these readings mean?

Thanks

[uumode]

I'm not an air con engineer.

Dye I'm told is not the easiest thing to spot, so they could have missed the leak beyond the 'obvious'.

I had dye in my old Audi and the air con engineers could not spot the leak even after running UV light over the place. They resorted to good old fashioned washing up liquid solution which they sprayed over the air con pipes and then spotted the bubbling where the leak was.