Second failure today! :(

[swabyk]

Apart from the roof failing today I tried my air-con for the first time since having it re-gassed 2 weeks back as a decent substitute for a broken electric roof ........and it doesn't work!!!! GRRRR....

Im going to take it back to the garage in the week but I know they pressure tested the system before re-gassing, therefore is there anything else that would stop the air-con from being cold? I can see the garage blaming something else but wanted to understand what might be causing it?

Cheers fellas
Ken

[mrscalex]

Definitely. Like the compressor not pumping the gas. Or the condenser, receiver/dryer, fan or pressure switch.

Good explanation here to read-up on:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/air-conditioning/

In fairness these are old systems and if you hadn't been using it before the re-gas all sorts of strain may have been put on the components after they were asked to start working at a higher pressure again. If the system had got too low on gas previously then seals would have started to perish. So I would go in easy with the garage as they may not be at fault.

If it is the compressor a good useable one off ebay is about £30. Maybe an hour fitting (hopefully less) then another re-gas.

I'm no expert, I've just had a lot of agro with air con over the years on various cars. In fact I've just fixed the air con on my Z3 with the help of a very nice local (Swindon) mobile guy who diagnosed the problem for £15 and left me to fix it. I gave him £20 and told him to keep the change I was so chuffed. In my case the fan had seized. Nice easy job that one but it's on the dry side of the system not the wet side which will invariably be more labour and a re-gas.

[swabyk]

OK great, really good to know. Thanks bud

[handsomejackuk]

when i had mine gassed, the fella did a before and after test and checked for leaks before and after, to makesure his work was spot on he did a real thorough job and charged £50. also pulled out the old gas and recyled it and added fresh oil , weighed the refirgerant, and did a temperature test before and after.... this was on my saab though... but stilldoes the same service

Al

[therealdb1]

Depends how good the pressure test was when it was done. It needs to be more than a quick 5 minutes. My daily driver Volvo had a pressure test and was supposedly ok but after 4 days it was out of gas again. It was checked again and this time dye was added to the gas and when it packed up after another couple of days the UV light showed a slight leak on the condenser core. "That'll set you back about £500 fitted, sir" was the response despite my protestations that I had already spent close to £100 and specifically requested a pressure test for that very reason.
Consequently I still have no air con and miss it very much but it shall have to wait until I get a decent used condenser and fit it myself. I don't have to worry about releasing the gas it has all gone!

[pingu]

Get them to use the UV dye.

[mrscalex]

Get them to use the UV dye.

That might (don't know) involve spending money straight away on the basis there's a leak - which there may not be. It's certainly something I would expect them to do if needs be but I'd expect them to check if the pressure has dropped first of all. If it has they may be able to spot on inspection. Otherwise at that point they may want to use the UV dye.

If it hasn't dropped I'd expect them to then start an inspection of the system components in the name of giving a free quote for rectification.

Don't let them just re-gas it (particularly if they want money for it) and tell you worth trying again sir. It won't magically start working unless they didn't re-gas it properly in the first place, in which case they should do it at no cost.

[pingu]

I always use Kwik-Fit as they do a free check before they fill and they also do a dye test if they can't spot the leak by eye. It takes about an hour to do the test.

It does cost £49 if it's OK to fill, though - so they are not the cheapest.