Leaking Aircon

[xavier]

Moving from a Mk2 to Mk3 I was looking forward to working aircon but it seems not to be! After the recent warm weather I took the new gal in for a gas recharge, but was told there's a leak. Typical!

 

Can anyone advise if there are any particular problem areas? The car is a Feb 2008 build and doesn't have the rear air-con, it does have climate control (which hasn't indicated any sort of problem). I'm pretty sure it was working when I got the car! Been trying to source a mobile aircon guy to take a look but it's now the 2 months of the year where they're all busy!

 

Thanks!

[splitrivet]

Likeliest place for the leak is the condensor which tends to go porous. The guy who recharged your system should have loaded a dye which shows under UV light so leak can be traced, most pro fridge engineers would have done this but garages dont.

The condensor is the radiator type bit of kit up by the radiator itself and involves a complete front end strip down. A friend who is a fridge engineer can arrange this he gets a garage to strip the car he fits the condensor vacs out the system recharges it tests it, the mechanic puts it back together cost is circa £200 ish I think its less but he will tell you for sure.

His website is http://www.frosty-wheels.co.uk/

Cheers,

Bob 

[xavier]

Thanks for your reply. I know the condenser is a weak point on the mk2 but didn't realise the mk3's were also succeptible. The garage I took her to didn't recharge the system as it wouldn't hold a vaccum. Thanks for the link, though I'm in Scotland so maybe a bit far away.

[BrianH]

Condensors are generally a weak point - they are exposed to all the airborne stones etc by where they are located to do their job unfortunately.

[xavier]

I picked up one of the galaxy haynes manuals and will have a look to see if there's a how-to for the condenser in there. Or maybe look at youtube, I seem to be picking up a lot of tips on car repair from there lately!

[BrianH]

i think you will find that anything to do with the aircon Haynes fall back on the "take to your dealer/specialist aircon" rather than giving any real info. Its worth a try though.