Climate control problem

[simsto123]

I've got a v50 2010 model with duel zone automatic climate control.

Recently has the air con serviced and regassed by halfords and everything was working perfectly for a few weeks.

Now the passenger side is fine and blows out freezing cold air but the drivers side blows out cool air but it doesnt feel "air conditioned" if that makes sense.

I have tried going through all the settings and turning one side up and one side down and Visa versa but it doesnt make any difference.

The air con service was from halfords mobile expert and I witnessed all the work he done and I even got a print out of how much old gas was removed and how much new gas went in and I also got the same for oil in the compressor. Then there was a full leak test with UV dye and no leaks were detected. But like I said the passenger side of the car works perfectly with cold air going down to 1.3 degrees C from the vents.

Could anyone shed any light on this please?

Many thanks.

[Welton]

1.3 degs?

That sounds very cold to me almost at risk of the evaporator icing over although there's a sensor fitted to disable the compressor if that happens, normally air temps of between 5 and 8 deg C is a good benchmark.

Have you tried slowly taking both sides down to 'lo' and then back up to 'hi' to see if that resets the dampers that regulate the temperature?

Also check the pollen filter is clean to help airflow.

[T5R92011]

I am by no means an Aircon engineer or specialist, however when I regassed my own S60 using a recharge kit, I found that if the refrigerant/pressure was too low, only one side of the dual climate would blow cold (with the engine sat at idle).

If I hold the revs at around 2000rpm while stationary (gets the compressor spinning faster, pressure increases) I found that the other side then begins to blow cold.

Topped up the refrigerant in small increments until both sides consistently blew cold for 10 minutes while idling and had no problems since.

You do need to be pretty careful with using DIY recharge kits though so I don't recommend using one to troubleshoot your situation. It does sound like they've done it properly, so may be an issue with your climate vents. Is the temperature mismatch the same when the heat is turned up?

[RPB]

Just had the very same issue this year with my v50.
Regassed, and the drivers side is now cold from start-up and as cold as the passenger side

[phil1968]

The symptoms are indeed indicative of an undercharged system, if it were me I 'd take it to an aircon specialist that does a proper pressure leak test with nitrogen. The garages with plug in machines pull a vacuum which is nowhere near satisfactory as a leak test. BTW T5R92011, using those recharge cans, first of all a vacuum hasn't been pulled to evacuate any moisture present in the system & also the charge weight is a complete guess, you can end up with either an under or overcharged system, more likely under. Not only that most of them contain a leak sealant which can cause all manner of problems. And lastly they cost the same or maybe 10 quid less than having it recharged (with the correct amount of refrigerant) at a garage.

[T5R92011]

Originally Posted by phil1968

The symptoms are indeed indicative of an undercharged system, if it were me I 'd take it to an aircon specialist that does a proper pressure leak test with nitrogen. The garages with plug in machines pull a vacuum which is nowhere near satisfactory as a leak test. BTW T5R92011, using those recharge cans, first of all a vacuum hasn't been pulled to evacuate any moisture present in the system & also the charge weight is a complete guess, you can end up with either an under or overcharged system, more likely under. Not only that most of them contain a leak sealant which can cause all manner of problems. And lastly they cost the same or maybe 10 quid less than having it recharged (with the correct amount of refrigerant) at a garage.

This is good knowledge to be aware of.

I'm definitely not advising people to go and use a recharge can as I agree it is a bit of a guess, though my described scenario when one side of the Dual Zone was blowing unchilled air (with engine idling), but chilled air would return when idle raised to a steady 2,000rpm suggested to me that the system was undercharged so may be a pointer for the OP. Adding more from the magic can did effectively fix this, but as you say it's guess work and with possible long term repercussions etc.

I would echo that people should invest money in having air con specialist to work on their system and not Halfords/Kwikfit etc.

Infact, the main reason why I went ahead and used a recharge kit is due to Kwikfit telling me that it was a main dealer task to recharge the AC on my S60 2.0T because they claimed their connector didn't fit. This immediately made me question the level of competence at these places as my AC was still cold, just not as cold as it could have been (car was 10 years old at the time so seemingly would need a small topup). I would have expected this scenario to be easy money for the Kwikfit team but they werent interested for some reason.

[Welton]

Originally Posted by T5R92011

I would have expected this scenario to be easy money for the Kwikfit team but they werent interested for some reason.

They probably sussed that you knew about such things and wouldn't be an off-the-street pushover....

I've used and sacked-off four independent a/c "specialists" in the last 15 years and have learnt a lot in the process. The guy I use now is an expert and I trust him fully, he's now mostly working as a commercial sub-contractor for the local Merc/BMW dealerships but still see's me as a private customer because I get on with him so well.