Need a second opinion here. Just picked up a 3 year old 1.2 Lounge today and need to ask a question. Is the air conditioning nice and cold in your cars or is it about as much use as a chocolate fireguard like ours appears to be. Am I expecting too much? I am used to an Artic chill blowing in my car The car has a 3 month warranty with it so may be taking it back to get it sorted. I have all the paperwork for it but can't see anything relating to the air conditioning being serviced or re gassed in its lifetime. Just wanted to gauge opinion from other owners before the dealer gets both barrels !!
Apart from that absolutely loving it's funky retro looks

Joe Dolce said:

Need a second opinion here. Just picked up a 3 year old 1.2 Lounge today and need to ask a question. Is the air conditioning nice and cold in your cars or is it about as much use as a chocolate fireguard like ours appears to be. Am I expecting too much? I am used to an Artic chill blowing in my car The car has a 3 month warranty with it so may be taking it back to get it sorted. I have all the paperwork for it but can't see anything relating to the air conditioning being serviced or re gassed in its lifetime. Just wanted to gauge opinion from other owners before the dealer gets both barrels !!
Apart from that absolutely loving it's funky retro looks

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Air conditioning should be cold. I have climate control in my Mk2b and it's chilly. On a hot summers day (not that we get many) it's nice and cool.

I have a Grande Punto with the climate control system, and it's very effective, pumping out very cold air!

Joe Dolce said:

Need a second opinion here. Just picked up a 3 year old 1.2 Lounge today and need to ask a question. Is the air conditioning nice and cold in your cars or is it about as much use as a chocolate fireguard like ours appears to be. Am I expecting too much? I am used to an Artic chill blowing in my car The car has a 3 month warranty with it so may be taking it back to get it sorted. I have all the paperwork for it but can't see anything relating to the air conditioning being serviced or re gassed in its lifetime. Just wanted to gauge opinion from other owners before the dealer gets both barrels !!
Apart from that absolutely loving it's funky retro looks

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Take the 500 to one of the national chains eg kwik fit,ats,halfords& f1 autocenters and they will check
the aircon performace free of charge.

The thing you need to understand about car aircon is, that it is quite often the most overlooked part of the car when it comes to servicing.

Many dealerships don't service/regas car aircon themselves, they contract it out because in order to have the equipment and operate it, you need people who have been on specialist courses and obtain the correct certification and of course there's the whole thing of keeping/storing refrigerant etc. Aircon servicing through dealer networks as part of a normal service, isn't from my own experience, really offered. Some dealerships idea of a aircon service, is to stick one of those air conditioning cans behind the rear passenger seat for ten minutes. I know, I've seen it done.

Most people, quite rightly, will switch on the aircon, if it's blowing cold, fair enough, to them there isn't a problem. However, from personal experience, any car once it is over three to five years old, the aircon sadly becomes one of those things that is just forgotten about. Over time, refrigerant leaks out naturally through hose joints and it is not uncommon, depending on the size of vehicle, for cars that are advancing in years, to lose up to 30 percent of refrigerant year on year isn't uncommon. My own car is a good example, I have the aircon serviced annually, ever since I had my condenser/dryer replaced. I use the aircon 100 percent of the time, daily when I'm out and about and over the course of last year, it lost 33 percent of refrigerant. I had the system degassed/vacuumed and refilled (costs £30) and the system is absolutely freezing. On top of this, you don't know if your condenser has a problem. A leak test will show this up. Also, if a condenser does need replacement, always replace the receiver/dryer at the same time.

From a health perspective, it is also very worth while having the aircon system serviced correctly anyway. It will keep harmful bacteria to a minimum and of course it will be far more efficient if it is running correctly. I realise there are folk on here who state they never, ever have their aircon serviced, well clearly that is up to them, but I think even they would be surprised if they actually had their own system serviced correctly at just how much more efficient it would be.

As for taking the car to the likes of the very well known High Street names already mentioned, yes, well, go for it, but don't forget, very rarely are things offered totally for free. There's generally a catch in there somewhere which will involve parting with money at some point, especially if they make a good enough case and say that the system is empty, in which case they'll want your business. That's the way it works. Personally, I'd use a specialist place that does only aircon. In the link below, is an example of a specialist aircon only place.

http://www.autokool.co.uk/

First car we ever owned with AC is our Clio. Had her since brand new in 2001 and she's done 95,000miles now.

The AC and vent system is fantastic. Cold as you can imagine, and as hot as you'd ever need. The AC button has been pressed ON during its whole life and had zero maintenance. The system is a manual one, just turning the knob to the temp you want and varying the direction of the air.

We now have a 500TA Lounge with automatic AC. The car has only done 18,000miles and we're her second owners. There is nothing wrong with the ACC but to be honest, it isn't a patch on the Clio's AC.

Yes, it gets cold, yes it gets hot, but the whole design is disappointing. It never gets cold enough or even hot enough, and the air direction system leaves much to be desired. You have to tap the temp control to vary the temp as the cabin temp varies with sunshine (or lack of it) The temp sensor samples the internal air temp, not the temp of the occupants. As the sun beams in, you get hot, so need the temp reducing to compensate ............... you may as well have a manual system with a knob to turn!

I've not tried it in manual mode, maybe I should, and see if it's any better.

Regards,
Mick.

Edited for typo. Clio is 2001, not 2011.

I've got an Abarth 500 with climate control and the AC is very good, starts blowing very cold air within a minute of starting it even on very hot days, it will give you brain freeze very quickly if you have a vent pointing at your face, other people have commented on it many times, my partner who mostly uses the DS4 (which has had an AC service this year) is a bit jealous of how quickly it gets cold, friends with new BMW's and Audi's have mentioned it etc. I have found with any car that if it is extremely hot, like we had a few months ago that no cars AC gets very cold when the engine is idling and use of the recirculation function is needed for a while (some cars do this automatically) and opening of windows\sunroof is needed for a few mins to clear out the hot air. I always keep the AC well serviced in my cars.

As for the climate control in the 500, yes it's not the most sophisticated system out there, the 500 is after all a small ‘budget‘ car but it's not the worst I have used, I have yet to drive or be in a car, regardless of price, that didn't need some manual overriding on days of extreme weather (hot or cold). For 90% of the time I leave it alone, but sometimes on really hot or cold days I do have adjust it, either the temp, fan or direction controls, really doesn't bother me.

I have to say, the aircon in our new Hyundai i10 is top banana, but then the car was only built in May this year and so it should be good! Seriously, the aircon in that is freezing on the coldest setting and although it isn't climate control, it's A/C system is much better than in our former TA.

This is the system I have in my Grande, and I have to say, I can't see how it could be improved tbh.

I always put the recirc on, so its chilling the air in the car, not the air coming in.Set the fan to full.If its still not cold then it looks like it needs some gas.

Thanks for all the responses. It has confirmed what I suspected that it has never been touched in 3 years and all the gas has done a runner. I think a call to the dealer is in order. Checked the warranty and it is covered so hopefully nothing majorly wrong with it and we get it sorted soon
Thanks

Joe Dolce said:

Thanks for all the responses. It has confirmed what I suspected that it has never been touched in 3 years and all the gas has done a runner. I think a call to the dealer is in order. Checked the warranty and it is covered so hopefully nothing majorly wrong with it and we get it sorted soon
Thanks

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I seriously hope they will fix it under warranty, but something somewhere tells me this is doubtful and I'd be surprised if they do it under warranty. They may well claim that it is part of 'wear and tear' as aircon systems are known for not keeping refrigerant indefinitely. Good luck with it, but a worst case scenario is you'll end up paying, but please don't get ripped off. As I stated earlier, it costs me just £29.99 a year, but in your case, you'd probably need a top level service and that shouldn't cost you any more than £60. Good luck with it!

frupi said:

..... it costs me just £29.99 a year ........

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As I said, our Clio is a 2001 baby and done 95,000miles and we've spent NOTHING on the air con and it works beautifully even now.

Mick.

Each to their own Mick, but for the health and comfort of myself and my passengers, well actually, mostly myself, I'd rather spend the cash and have a fully functioning and clean bacteria free system.

As I said earlier, most car aircon systems over time lose a percentage of gas. I'm sorry, but I cannot believe that your own A/C system is functioning 100 percent. It's a bit like the suspension system on cars, most people cannot tell that their shock absorbers are knackered after 80 or 90k miles, and believe me, a lot of them are at that mileage and I've lots of personal experience on that one. It comes on so gradual, people don't notice. All I'm saying is, your system may seem cold enough to you, but to someone else, it may be a different story. But hey, it's your car and you're entitled to keep your money in your wallet!

Well said!

Honestly, it works perfectly. As cold as you could imagine, and as hot as you want. Mrs Mick F wouldn't want it any other way than perfect as she is the main driver of her nowadays. The AC button is permanently ON, in both hot and cold situations. Just turn the temp knob to get the temp you want.

The cabin filter has been changed once or maybe twice, and last time I looked it at it, it was fine. It's a damned sight easier to get at than in a Fiat500 as it's in a unit under the bonnet under a cover removed by a single screw, and just lifted out. Five minute job, with the longest time being remembering how to open the bonnet and finding a screwdriver.

Honestly, it works perfectly. The 500TA works perfectly too, but it's a faff to alter the temp and the ventilation isn't variable at all in AUTO mode. As I said, I've not tried it manually, maybe I should, but the temp control is a faff to use as you have to tap buttons for UP or DOWN and it changes slowly. It would be better if you could turn a knob and alter the vent control. Auto is just that ....... automatic ........... and it's not intelligent at all.

Cheers,
Mick

If it works properly then the temperature at the vents on full cold and recirc should be around 4 degrees. A/C works best if used regularly otherwise pipes can corrode more quickly leading to leaks.

If you have climate control chances are it'll use the compressor intelligently I.e.disengaging it when not required to save fuel so there will be very little difference between on and off economy wise except in hot weather.

Good news All sorted.
Took the car back to the dealer today and it turns out that there was 50grams of refrigerant gas in it. It should have 500grams
The compressor won't kick in unless there is at least 150grams. They have regressed and oiled and added some dye and checked for leaks with a uv light and all is well. They also said that if the previous owner didn't use the Air Con the seals may have dried out but there are no leaks now so should be fine. Happy and relieved it was nothing major and it is all working ok

Quick one sort of related, is there a pollen filter on the 500?

500Silvio said:

Quick one sort of related, is there a pollen filter on the 500?

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Short answer; yes. May be dependent on whether you have A/C however.

Thanks mine has the digital climate control. Last car I had first thing I did was a full service including pollen filter, never seen so many different species of bugs!!!