Aircon Problem

[buford_t_justice]

In the last three weeks or so I have noticed the aircon on my Gal to be a little warm even when below 21DegC.

 

This afternoon I set off in the car and with the aircon on could hear a kind of hissing type sound coming from the passenger footwell area. When I tried the aircon at LOW there was no real cold air coming out. The noise would disappear if I put the aircon into ECON mode or switched it off altogether.

 

Is it fair to assume a simple loss of gas over time (original gas since Oct 2003) or do you think it could be something more sinister??

 

Is the noise coming from the compressor?

[johnb80]

Most likely loss of gas, the high pressure line should be full of liquid when it comes up to the evaporator (inside bit), if it's short of gas it comes up as a gas and hence the hiss. The hissing sound is normal when a/c is first switched on because the gas needs to be collected from the low pressure side and compressed back into a liquid.

 

Whilst I personally wouldn't use them, top up kits are available from many sources (ebay, halfrauds etc) and many people on here have used them with success.

 

HTH

 

Regards - John

[buford_t_justice]

Thanks for your reply John.

 

Thought I would take a gamble on the DIY kit as the car is still under warranty so at least they would pick up the repair bill !!

 

I bought the kit from Halfords as previously described by MATT which comprises of a trigger device with pressure gauge and separate bottles of R134a.

 

I would agree with others that the pressure gauge is a little erratic at first :P but it soon settled down.

 

Anyway system now recharged and blowing out cool air.

 

Total cost

[rwtomkins]

I know next to nothing about aircon but even I know you shouldn't be losing gas at that rate in a nearly new vehicle. There is something wrong with your aircon and if I were in your shoes I'd get it fixed quick while the car's still under warranty.

[buford_t_justice]

So how long do you think it should last?

 

In my last car I also had the aircon re-gassed every two years (without any other problems) I just didn't hear the hissing noise like I did this time.

[johnb80]

I know next to nothing about aircon but even I know you shouldn't be losing gas at that rate in a nearly new vehicle. There is something wrong with your aircon and if I were in your shoes I'd get it fixed quick while the car's still under warranty.

How much gas was lost? what rate did it lose it at? As far as I can see we don't know how much was lost, nor do we know the manufacture date of thius vehicle and thus we can't really make the assumptions to panic ?

 

Regards - John

[buford_t_justice]

It's difficult to say how much gas it took as I only used one cannister and there's still more left in it.

 

The starting PSI was approx 15.

 

A cannister holds 385 gms.

[seatkid]

Soon be christmas anyway... :P