Nice cheap Air Con fix :)

[parallaxerr]

Only this week have I had the need to try out the air con in the S40 I bought late last year. Unfortunately there was very little cooling effect and I could hear a solenoid clicking, accompanied by a slight lurch on the overrun with air con selected on.

This lead me to think that the compressor was kicking in and out, which by all accounts is a safety measure to prevent the system running dry, i.e - there's no, or very little gas in there.

I've read about the condensers being a weak spot on these cars, frequently corroding through and leaking, however, the very small cooling effect I could feel gave me some hope that the system was in good shape.

Anyway a few phone calls to mobile air con guys and I wasn't going to get it done anytime soon and they all wanted to charge £100+. Nearest garage that can do it is just under £100 and I don't have the time to get there or leave the car with them. Then I stumbled across the DIY kits available from Halfords....

A quick stock check on line and the local store showed stock of the gas and charging hose/trigger so off I went. £49.99 for the gas and £19.99 for the charging gear but I have a trade card so it came in at £49, PLUS you get £10 back if you return the empty gads bottle! Bargain - £39 air con recharge.

Took all of 5minutes to do. Gas was low and as I charged it up with engine running, the compressor stopped kicking in and out and stayed engaged. By the time I'd finished I jumped in the car to turn it off and it was ice cold

I left the gauge attached for ten minutes and didn't observe any pressure drop so finger crossed it's fixed. Saying that, I barely used any gas so there's loads left in the bottle for top ups, happy days. Loves a cheap DIY fix, me!

[Welton]

Sorry but this is why a refrigeration engineer will carefully weigh the gas going into the system, it needs to be accurately measured to prevent under or over-gassing not to mention a full vacuum extraction first to remove any moisture and carefully measuring the correct type of oil to add to keep the compressor lubricated. And all of this after checking there's no leaks (which your's has) these DIY kits should be banned IMO there must be thousands of inexperienced DIY'ers recklessly polluting the environment to gain 2 or 3 days of a/c before they realise the system has a leak.

A correctly functioning compressor will cycle on and off based upon maintaining high pressure liquid refrigerant at the expansion valve in the evaporator. A healthy system will have regular 'rest' periods, if a compressor is running flat out there's a problem (low gas content) this makes it scavenge gas and accelerates wear.

I'm not trying to cause an argument, these kits are available, people will use them, but there's a reason why engineers have training and insurances to work responsibly and under the threat of hefty fines if they don't.

[parallaxerr]

Originally Posted by Welton

Sorry but this is why a refrigeration engineer will carefully weigh the gas going into the system, it needs to be accurately measured to prevent under or over-gassing not to mention a full vacuum extraction first to remove any moisture and carefully measuring the correct type of oil to add to keep the compressor lubricated. And all of this after checking there's no leaks (which your's has) these DIY kits should be banned IMO there must be thousands of inexperienced DIY'ers recklessly polluting the environment to gain 2 or 3 days of a/c before they realise the system has a leak.

How do you know it has a leak? It's 10yr old car that may have never had a recharge. Apparently new cars can lose up to 10% refrigerant/yr. There was some cooling effect before so there's obviously not a major open to atmosphere leak. The refrigerant and oil spec were checked and are correct for the car. Like I said, I'll check for pressure drop again tonight to confirm no leaks, I'm not being reckless.

A correctly functioning compressor will cycle on and off based upon maintaining high pressure liquid refrigerant at the expansion valve in the evaporator. A healthy system will have regular 'rest' periods, if a compressor is running flat out there's a problem (low gas content) this makes it scavenge gas and accelerates wear.

Agreed, but cycling every 2 seconds or so due to low gas is not normal and is a sign a recharge is required (subject to there being no leaks)

I'm not trying to cause an argument, these kits are available, people will use them, but there's a reason why engineers have training and insurances to work responsibly and under the threat of hefty fines if they don't.

Exactly, the kits are avaialable so there's obviously no legislation against them. Why shouyldn't I use it?

[volvoid]

Im glad it worked for you.

[AndyMcc]

Originally Posted by parallaxerr

Exactly, the kits are avaialable so there's obviously no legislation against them. Why shouyldn't I use it?

Hi.
You can use it however pound for a penny in time you'll be back to square one. The aircon system is sealed like the coolant system. If either require topping up then there's a leak.
Good luck

[parallaxerr]

Originally Posted by AndyMcc

Hi.
You can use it however pound for a penny in time you'll be back to square one. The aircon system is sealed like the coolant system. If either require topping up then there's a leak.
Good luck

I think "leak" needs to be defined/quantified. If it is known and accepted that serviceable ac systems lose x% of gas/yr, then clearly they are not as sealed as we are lead to believe???

Sure, time will tell. If I have a leak, sobeit, I will have to get it checked out, but I'm reasonably confident that the system is sound given that there was "some" cooling capacity beforehand. To me, leak means all gas is lost, that was not the case here.

[parallaxerr]

Riddle me this.....

If car air-con systems are supposed to be completely leak free, they would never need re-gassing. BUT, it is commonly advised that they are preiodically re-gassed because performance/efficiency can reduce with time.

Therefore, I can only assume that a healthy, what we assume to be non-leaking system, still loses gas over time.

I had a 2001 Audi A4 re-gassed a few years back by a specialist. Vac'd, UV leak checked and re-filled by weight. No leaks reported. Didn't get cold before, did get cold after...

What I'm saying is, I find it suprising that everyone immediately assumes there's a leak if a system needs recharging, but that (apparently) isn't the case.

[AndyMcc]

It is a sealed system. My understanding is that by law a garage cannot just refill without checking for a leak first. Then it's the method they use - If they use a suction type test then that can close up a leak giving the impression it's fine. It should be pressure tested and filled with UV dye to establish where it's coming from ( usually the crap Ford condensers on the V50 )
Mines a 2009 V50. 100,500 miles never topped up the coolant from new.
The condenser went at 3.5 yrs old, fine up to then. Replaced by Volvo as a good will gesture and never been topped up since.

[Bendolfc]

Thats not cheap, places doing air con regas are always on Groupon. The Last one I used in May 2016 was £24. Still ice cold.

The likes of KwikFit is usually about £50, all use the same machine that does it properly i.e. vacumes out the old gas and replaces with correct amount for the model in question.

ATS currently £30 on Groupon, claims to be 3KM from Caerleon.

[parallaxerr]

Well they ain't doing it for £50 now, apparently the price of gas has gone up. Anyway, it saved me a lot of valuable time.

Jesus, what a bunch of doom merchants.

I thought it would be nice to post something positive given that so many posts are about faults, with the usual reaction being "your car's shagged", "your gearbox is shagged", "your engine is shagged" etc.......

I'll just get my coat...No, hang on, it's too hot for a coat.....I'll go to the car, it's nice and cool in there

Mods please feel free to close this utterly useless, reckless & expensive thread!