C30 AC : A/C possible leak?

[SteEnt]

Hi Guys,

I got my air con regassed yesterday as it hasn't been working very well since I bought the car.
Initially it was wonderfully cool, however i noticed after turning the engine off that there was a faint hissing sound coming from the vents.
When I've got in the car today, it is just as it was before.

So I imagine the hissing sound was refrigerant gas leaking out.
Is there a way that i can diagnose and repair this myself?
I'm absolutely livid that I have just wasted money on this and this has now happened.
Also shouldn't the garage have checked the system for leaks first?

[The Thong]

Hate to ruin it for you but V50/C70/S40/C30 suffer from AC failures. The condensers either get holed or rot through. I’d take it back to em and complain but my money is on the condenser.
You’ll have to take it to a specialist because of environmental reasons. There should be a dye in it do they can detect leaks but in the meantime I’d go back to the garage.

TT

[SteEnt]

How much for a new condenser unit?
I've been looking online and a lot of people are saying that the clutch on the compressor is a common issue on these, also, in which case you can get away with removing a washer from the clutch to reduce the clearance between the clutch and compressor.

[phil1968]

I would take it back to the place where you got it re-gassed & ask for either a refund or they find where the leak is, which they should've done in the first place. Odds are that they plugged in a machine that isn't really satisfactory for finding leaks as all it does is pull a vacuum for a set length of time & then if the vacuum is still present it deems the system leak tight, then re-charges with gas. To carry out a proper leak check entails pressurising the system to a few hundred PSI with nitrogen, which a vehicle aircon specialist will do. You can get pattern condensers for circa 100 quid. If you're reasonably handy with the spanners it's an afternoon's work to replace, then you'll have to take it somewhere to get it re-gassed.

[Thassos]

As the thong says these def have problems that a simple regas often wont fix, had exactly that problem with a C30 07 (around the ford era), which turned into a aircon wild goose chase, sensor replaced, then the condenser, then an eruption of green gas coming from behind the drivers side headlight where the pipework joint is, finally the compressor replaced and it was fixed thankfully done by the garage the car bought from but would have been a very expensive repair at a main dealer.

Did you buy the car from the same garage doing the work?, and what year and engine version is yours?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by SteEnt

Hi Guys,

I got my air con regassed yesterday as it hasn't been working very well since I bought the car.
Initially it was wonderfully cool, however i noticed after turning the engine off that there was a faint hissing sound coming from the vents.
When I've got in the car today, it is just as it was before.

So I imagine the hissing sound was refrigerant gas leaking out.
Is there a way that i can diagnose and repair this myself?
I'm absolutely livid that I have just wasted money on this and this has now happened.
Also shouldn't the garage have checked the system for leaks first?

was this a qualified AC engineer ? It is illegal to work on AC systems without a valid AC Mobile certificate and yes , as it was empty he was obliged to do a leak pressure test by putting nitrogen gas in and finding a leak … if he found a leak then it was illegal to refill without finding and repairing the leak , he is liable for a max fine of £40,000 for knowingly letting AC gas escape .

Leak tests done by the filling machine are not satisfactory as they use vacuum to do the test , yes it will find a hole but not a crack as the vacuum will close up the crack , that is why they must do a nitrogen pressure check ..

[Clan]

Originally Posted by SteEnt

How much for a new condenser unit?
I've been looking online and a lot of people are saying that the clutch on the compressor is a common issue on these, also, in which case you can get away with removing a washer from the clutch to reduce the clearance between the clutch and compressor.

if you heard a hissing sound from the vents it isn't going to be the condenser is it , that is at the front by the radiator !

[SteEnt]

The garage gave me my money back no argument.
Probably want to avoid trouble and admitted that they just let the machine do a vacuum test for leaks so I'll be going to an air con specialist to get it checked.

[Thassos]

That sounds very fair, good luck with your mission - mobile aircon people seem to be flat out in the summer, and probably out of a job in the winter..

The garage had it a week, on the C30 aircon wild goose chase, the compressor is not cheap at around £500 from volvo, but you can get oe ones (probably same as on ford/focus engines) for around £200 from memory. Hopefully yours is an easier fix.

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by Clan

was this a qualified AC engineer ? It is illegal to work on AC systems without a valid AC Mobile certificate and yes , as it was empty he was obliged to do a leak pressure test by putting nitrogen gas in and finding a leak … if he found a leak then it was illegal to refill without finding and repairing the leak , he is liable for a max fine of £40,000 for knowingly letting AC gas escape.

Under F-Gas legislation the ridiculous thing is that you are not obliged to carry out a leak pressure test if the system has a gas charge of less than 3 kilograms (car aircon systems generally have a charge of around 600 grams). It is, however, as you said, illegal to recharge a system knowing that it has a leak.