Aircon Empty

[cancunia]

I had my aircon re-gassed last November, it was also tested for leaks at the time and passed. Tried the aircon today and it's not working. I checked via Lexia and the pressure is now 2Bar as opposed to 5Bar in Feb so it's obviously leaked somewhere. I've been putting the aircon on from time to time as recommended in the handbook.

I'm wondering if it's worth replacing the Schrader valves before seeing about getting it checked & gassed again. There are a few sets available on eBay but maybe it'll be cheaper to get the regas people to change them.

Has anyone tried this with success?

Thanks.

[Oi69]

I had my aircon re-gassed last November, it was also tested for leaks at the time and passed. Tried the aircon today and it's not working. I checked via Lexia and the pressure is now 2Bar as opposed to 5Bar in Feb so it's obviously leaked somewhere. I've been putting the aircon on from time to time as recommended in the handbook.

I'm wondering if it's worth replacing the Schrader valves before seeing about getting it checked & gassed again. There are a few sets available on eBay but maybe it'll be cheaper to get the regas people to change them.

Has anyone tried this with success?

Thanks.

when you had the re gas done did they put any dye in? if they have you can normally see where the leak is with a uv light and sometimes without depending on how big the leak is. But most of the time its 1 of 2 things aircon is dead or the big radiator thing has been hit by a stone and got a hole in it which if the dye is in there you can normally see it on a patch some where

[polar]

From time to time is not enough you need to use it all the time or your pressure will drop - maybe not that much but it is possible.

I use mine a minimum of every other day and for an hour journey time minimum. Obviously this is not always possible but i do use for most of the time i drive my van.

I can go 3 years without hardly any pressure drop.

[jj9]

From time to time is not enough you need to use it all the time or your pressure will drop - maybe not that much but it is possible.

I use mine a minimum of every other day and for an hour journey time minimum. Obviously this is not always possible but i do use for most of the time i drive my van.

I can go 3 years without hardly any pressure drop.

Yeah but you obviously don't have a leak !

Running the air con for 10 minutes every week should be enough to circulate the oil that keeps the O rings in good condition.

The re- gassing machines don't always pick up small leaks so  it's quite possible that you do have a small leak and yes it could be from the valves as that is quite common, it is also worth noting what Oi69 mentioned, a leak from the radiator (condenser) as that is very common also.


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[polar]

From time to time is not enough you need to use it all the time or your pressure will drop - maybe not that much but it is possible.

I use mine a minimum of every other day and for an hour journey time minimum. Obviously this is not always possible but i do use for most of the time i drive my van.

I can go 3 years without hardly any pressure drop.

Running the air con for 10 minutes every week should be enough to circulate the oil that keeps the O rings in good condition.


Yep that is what i used to do and every time my mate regased it is was well down on pressure. He said it was common and people dont realise you have to used the air con constantly or you will lose a lot pressure over the two - three year period. So i started to use mine all the time, when my mate did it three years later there was no pressure drop! I must admit i didn't think it would make that much difference but it does. 

[cancunia]

Thanks for the replies, I'll see about getting it tested & re-gassed again but also get the valves changed. You can get sets of valves on eBay for about £8-£10 so I'm thinking that the service station should be able to do 2 of them for a fiver at most.
On the subject of leaving the aircon on all the time, I had the aircon tested in Feb as I thought it wasn't working, but when I got to the garage it was fine, I later read in a couple of places that it won't work when the ambient temp is below 5C to prevent the system freezing. My previous 2.0HDi also had aircon which I used sparingly as it took 10MPG according to the trip computer & never had any problems with it.

[jj9]

I'll have to start running mine for longer than I do.


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