Technical Leaking climate gas

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Technical Leaking climate gas

HONESTJOE

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Warm weather is upon once again and so its time for my climate to stop working. Had the Multiwagon from a mere 6 months old on 52 plate and every summer since had to have it re-gassed although when checking they cant find a leak, SO WHERE THE FOOK DOES IT GO......!:mad:
 
Have you used your aircon during the winter months? If not, then the gas would have escaped from the contraction of the o-rings, which seal the pipes.

The o-rings are a rubber compound and contract in cold weather.
 
The manual recommends to run your aircon for 10 minutes per month to prevent leakage.
 
Cheers but yes i run it all year round, unfortunatley this doesnt help.
 
is this an air con specialist or just a re fill garage?. You will probally better off getting a expert to look at it as the ones in tire garages wouldnt spot a leak even if there was a massive arrow saying LEAK HERE on the car. You will probally re coup the cost after a couple of years with the amount of re fills you have had.
I know the stilo is prone to having cracked plastic pipes on the system, these are pretty easy to find on the car, it maybe worth checking these out, and maybe getting the soapy water out once the things been presurised.
roy
 
Fiat refilled mine with colorized gas, which is traceable with some special lamp. But it never leaked again. The car had been stored for a year before I bought it and all gas had vaporized or something.

Morten.
 
My MW on a 52 plate has also lost it's aircon gas.... I run it all year round also. However this is the first time I've needed a re-gas in 4 years so can't complain (y)

At last something that has lasted for more than the manufactirers warranty :D
 
Cheers all for the advice, and your JTD is the same spec as my MW 1.6 petrol so good luck !(y)
 
There aren't many air con systems that are totally gas tight, a bit like tyres, a lot of them have very slow leaks and when you're talking years then that's a very slow leak indeed.

Even if it is gas tight (and some systems I know can last a lifetime without leaks or need topping up) the thing is, it could really do with a drain down and refill as otherwise it's the same oil going around the system year after year and that's counter productive and costly in the long run as there's a compressor in there working hard with little pistons going up and down like the clappers

So, having an annual system check, drain down and refill is well worthwhile and can make a big difference to efficiency otherwise the compressor is working twice as hard all the time
 
Got mine booked in for a service and re-gas on Friday, £67 inclusive. As I'm taking it to the garage and not being done at home I'll get a discount off that price too. :D

Found the company online www.coolcaraircon.co.uk based in Solihull and will do home calls within a 30 min radius of Solihull....I'm just outside that radius :cry: so taking it to them hence discount (y)

I'll let you know what I think when it's done.
 
Had the air con looked at, gas was fine, turned out it was a blown fuse... then came the next problem..... the fuses in the battery compartment are corroded into place :bang: ...I managed to break the air con fuse getting it out and then spent the best part of 2 hours trying to get the broken part out :bang: .... did manage it in the end, replaced the fuse and hey presto the air con now works. (y)

coolcaraircon.co.uk only charged £25 for the top up of gas, it had lost a bit but not enough to stop the aircon working.
 
ursabear,

which fuse number was it? i may check mine later as i'd assumed it was empty.

cheers

It's fuse F19 in the engine battery box, 7.5 amp mini blade fuse.

sorry I didn't answer sooner, been away on holiday in Scotland, done over 1000 miles in a week with fully working climate control :slayer:
 
how low is 'LO'? does anybody know how cold the AC is meant to get? the last temperature before 'LO' is 16 deg C which isn't that cold at all. my gf's clio get's absolutely freezing (well, more like 8 to 10 deg C) when the AC is on full...
 
An A/C system doesn't have to lose all its gas to stop working. There's a pressure switch in the system which prevents the compressor running if there is too much or too little gas. Stilo's hold around 500g of gas and I've known even a healthy system to lose 100g over the course of a year through natural seepage.

An easy place to check for leaks is the A/C rad (condensor) in the front grille- usually stone damage to the thin pipes running horizontaly.

To see if the system is working, start the engine and switch on the A/C, you should hear a click as the compressor kicks-in. Locate the shiny alloy pipes for the A/C- one with a larger valve than the other (both with a black cap). With the system running, the pipe with the large valve will be warm, the pipe with the small valve will be cold.

Any place that services A/C should add a special dye that shows up under UV light to trace leaks.(y)
 
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