Technical Air con issue

[Highside1100]

Hey,




Have a 09 GP 1.3 multijet , my brother gave it to me and has had it since new.

He said he only ever used the aircon about 6-7 times since he had it

I brought it to halfords for a recharge , but when I drove off and put the A/C on I could here hissing, then it would stop for 5-6 seconds and start again.

Sounds like a leak right? I didnt notice any temprature changes inside when it was doing that so it didnt make it to the cabin I assume.




Just find it strange with so little use that it doesnt work


Is there anything I can check before bringing to a garage?

 

[AndyRKett]

Always worth a quick search on the forum before posting, this was only a day or so ago...https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/460028-grande-punto-07-ac-hissing-sound.html

You won’t hear the gas leaking out while driving, leaks are usually tiny and can only be heard if it’s very quiet, if it’s hissing as you describe, see the link above.

I’d question if they have put the right weight of refrigerant in, given the air con has not been used hardly at all over the years, it’s quite likely that there will be leaks in the system, if Halfords just plugged it in and charged the system, without doing any proper tests then you won’t know.

They should do a 30 vacuum test to make sure that the system will hold pressure before putting the refrigeratant in, if they’ve not done that, then they have 1. Been irresponsible 2. Possibly broken the law 3. Wasted your money as you’ll need any leaks fixing and the system gassing up again.