Technical bravo air con fault

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Technical bravo air con fault

Joined
May 31, 2007
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Drumsurn N. Ireland
hi everybody have been reading through the threads but there doesnt seem to be an answer to my problem

i have a 1999 hgt with defective air con there is a leak in the sysem some where but dispite putting the leak detecting die through it the aircon guys were unable to find the leak

it looses the pressure after about half an hour. their best guess is ther is a leak around the evaporator

any one had a similar problem and if so how did you cure it?

thanx
 
Don't tell people to posting another section cos then there is two indentical posts in the forum and for users who use 'new posts' it looks confusing hit the button and a mod will move it to the right place.

Liam
 
welcome to the bravo section :)

an aircon leak should be found using a UV light gun. the dye is not visible to the naked eye.

since your system is depressurised after only half an hour, that tells you there is a fairly large leak, certainly large enough to spot easily. did the garage try to spot the leak using a UV light gun during the first half an hour (when it was still leaking). surely they would be able to spot a leak that large with ease.

i suggest you try a different garage ;)
 
hi and thanks jug

yes they did use they uv dye and light and as the guy doin it is a good friend of a friend i assume he was doing right. what he thought was that the dye was leaking out into the heater box, from the evaporator, where he couldnt see the leak is this plausable? ive had a look on the fiat workshop manual and it doesnt seem to give to much help in solving problems with the evaporator. i am gettin the test repeated today at another garage so will let you know.
 
what he thought was that the dye was leaking out into the heater box, from the evaporator, where he couldnt see the leak is this plausable?

the evaporator core is a very common place for a leak, but its also usually very easy to determine that the leak is there.
 
well the second aircon guy couldnt pin point the leak but he is sure it is form the evaporator so my next job will be to dismantle the heater box. i have the official fiat manual but has any one tried this repair before? and are there any things to look out for?

i know the easy thing to do would be to forget about it but i hate to have anything on my car that doesnt work
 
i havent done this on a bravo before so cant help, but the manual should keep you right. personally i'd live with it, who really needs A/C in the UK?
 
yer i agree with you mountainman and im in the fortunate position that this is my second car so i can work on it at my own pace, if yours only needs regassed you should get it done its only about forty quid and it will keep the whole system healthy you dont want the seals to dry out cus then you could have a big bill to leave it right
 
hi everybody have been reading through the threads but there doesnt seem to be an answer to my problem

i have a 1999 hgt with defective air con there is a leak in the sysem some where but dispite putting the leak detecting die through it the aircon guys were unable to find the leak

it looses the pressure after about half an hour. their best guess is ther is a leak around the evaporator

any one had a similar problem and if so how did you cure it?

thanx


Hi ,
Yep , they told you right.
Same thing on my Bravo,
they put the uv leak detector in, and after a week, no ac, nor any visible leaks. Cheesed off after spendin out onna new filter+fitting+recharge.
So it'll be the evaporator thingy which is somewhere behind the dash !
Nasty job , I really can't be arssed with it no more as its just not worth the aggro.
Lets face it , how many days in a year will you really need to use ur ac !?

Have tried the 'ac in a can' as it 'claims' to have the relevant lubricating oils AND some chemicle that is supposed to seal minor leaks , such as perrished/worn 'o'rings etc. B**loks does it ! .

Best advice open the window!
 
well i fixed it! i was quite lucky being a firefighter we get old cars in to cut up to practise for rtc's so i couldn't believe my luck when a marea 155 came in. unfortunately i missed a few of the bits as they had cut it up before i could get to it. but anyway we took the heater box out (not an easy job but we were fairly brutal and used a petrol saw!)
i took a chance that the evaporator was ok and didn't test it.

so the job of taking the dashboard out of my bravo. its not that difficult but it is a big job and some of the instructions in the fiat manual are not correct so be careful with what you force. (my manual seems to refer to the 147 bhp bravo) One tip take photographs of each section then you will Know where all the bits go when you come to put them back. There is however one big headache and that is taking off the two water feed pipes to the heater matrix, the manual says go at it from below but this is nearly impossible. If you remove the power steering reservoir you can get at them but you will skin your arms! but it is possible.

with the dash out its then fairly straight forward to change the evaporator and then i had it tested and charged before i put the dash back. Its in a week and everyone seems to be working ok.

so yes as i said a big job but if you can get the parts cheap or in my case free the whole job cost me £40 a bargain!

if you have any questions about this job id be happy to try and answer them
[email protected]
 
well done for taking the dash out without losing your patience and setting fire to the car :)

whenever i've been asked to replace a leaking heater matrix in the past i've respectfully declined because i know how much of a sod it is taking a dash apart, and its hard to explain where all the spare parts have come from when you finish putting it back together :eek:
 
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