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Air Conditioning - any weak points in the system that could cause trouble?

ChrisC78

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Location
Northumberland
Car
6th Gen 2.0 LS Auto
The Air-Con isn't working in my car at the moment. Before I bought it it was standing around for about 2 years, only covering about 1000 miles a year.

The condition under the bonnet for a 15yr old car is very impressive and all the components look to be in good condition and I'm suspecting all that's happened is that the gas has leaked out, so I'm looking to book it in for a simple leak test & re-gas.

However... Are there any common nasties with these cars and the Aircon, or are they usually pretty reliable?

Cheers for any help.
 
Never come across any common or major faults with the air con system (apart from some rare reports about the u shape pipe popping off), if its not been used in 2 years then you can have a good bet that the gas is all gone, air con systems need to be run i thinnk at least once a weak for 10 mins to keep it going, so probably just needs regas.
 
Thanks for your reply. I got the system re-gassed and anti-bacteria treated today and it's now ice-cold!

For info, if anyone is interested there is 700g gas in the system (someone was asking in an old post)
 
The discharge hose is the most common pipe to leak on these. The pipe from compressor to condenser.
 
Well it turns out the gas only lasted about 3 days before disappearing!

Had to go to a specialist for a pressure test because the local garage I'd initially gone to couldn't do a Nitrogen fill. They found a leak on the drier inlet connection. Replaced the seal and went back to the local garage for a free re-gas and now all is well.

Just need to wait for a decently warm day to see how effective it is. Since I had it fixed the weather has been grim! Typical.

I'd recommend going straight to a specialist though. I could have got the whole lot done in one go instead of trying to blag it.
Thanks to Advanced Radiators in Newcastle Upon Tyne - very helpful.
 
Turns out in the end the condenser was shot, despite appearing to be in good condition. Ah well. It's arctic inside now!
 
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