General Help! Air Conditioning not working.

[J4MALD1N]

Hi everyone, I recently purchased a 2010 Fiat Punto Evo after my MK2 was rear ended. Unfortunately, the air conditioning was not working and I'm trying to troubleshoot the issue.
Previous owner had apparently regassed the system. I've checked the relay and switched it out with a functional one (High Beam Relay R11) and no luck. I've hooked up a multimeter to the connector on the compressor and no voltage.

Does anyone know what else I can check? I cannot find a fuse so if anyone knows the fuse location do let me know.

Also, the compressor makes this noise when the car is running, could it need replacing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeImwosjphs

Thankfully, winter is almost here and I won't need AC for a good while now however I'd like to get to the bottom of this. For anyone wondering, my car has the knob style climate control rather than the display/button style.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

How long ago was the regas done? If there's a serious leak it doesn't take long for the pressure to drop enough to disable the system. Hopefully the person who did the regas will have tested for leaks - a legal requirement I think? - but you never know.

As to the pulley noise. My boy's 2012 Punto easy has a very similar looking compressor pulley and it runs quite quietly. with the aircon disengaged that pulley simply spins on a sealed bearing - much like an idler, might be that? Does it look as if it's wobbling at all?

 

[J4MALD1N]

Doesn't seem to be wobbling. Forgot when the guy had it regassed. As far as I remember, he did mention that it still never worked after the refill.

 

[Balak]

To rule out the obvious (just in case)... Are you turning the AC on by pressing the middle button on the controls?

 

[J4MALD1N]

Yep.

 

[varesecrazy]

Yep.

Have you plugged into the OBD port and attempted to check what the car 'thinks' is amiss ?

You will get to see system pressure

Operate the controlling systems

MultiECUScan should do this well

 

[J4MALD1N]

Might just have to admit defeat and take it down my local garage to get it diagnosed. My experience with MultiECUScan in the past hasn't been great

 

[J4MALD1N]

Stupidly late follow up but I thought I'd explain the complexity of this issue and a questionable service at my local garage.

Compressor was shot, had a local garage replace it
Regassed the system - Leaked out
Garage admitted fault and replaced the compressor seal
Regassed the system - Leaked out
Garage added a leak sealer
Regassed the system - Leaked out
Condenser replaced after hole magically appears
Regassed the system - Garage adds too much refrigerant
Excess refrigerant removed - too much removed and system no longer ice cold

On the plus side, the gas leak is finally fixed

 

[gordon havercroft]

Thank you BEN for accepting me to your forum. In the family we have Punto 04 plate. Air con not working, the compressor is not spinning, seems the clutch is not engageing is there a fix four this? Gordon.

 

[The Panda Nut]

The clutch wont engage if the system is low on gas. Some of the Fiat condenser / rads are very poor quality and become rather porous sooner than you might expect, You can check the air con relay is working with MES and see the system pressure as stated above and its one of the easy things, even I can do it.... or just use the switch adn listen for a relay click. Not at all easy if the engine is running. You could check for voltage at the compressor when the air con is switched on. With my Panda my local garage man said he could get a new clutch for the compressor but the whole part was available reasonably priced. A pressure check should not break the bank. Sometimes leak sealant can work but its not guaranteed and I was told its £40 a shot. On my mothers old car I decided to give it a try as a gamble and it paid off sealing a leak that would have required the dash out to tighten up a fitting One of our Pandas was making noises and I liberally soaked the compressor with all sorts of lubricants which did eventually silence it without any issues but I may just have been lucky. If you are certain it has full gas pressure then start looking at the electrics, Fuse first, then power check, then relay and switch. Hopefully you will find the problem early. A proper check by a specialist may be more cost effective than you expect. Good luck.

 

[AndyRKett]

Stupidly late follow up but I thought I'd explain the complexity of this issue and a questionable service at my local garage.

Compressor was shot, had a local garage replace it
Regassed the system - Leaked out
Garage admitted fault and replaced the compressor seal
Regassed the system - Leaked out
Garage added a leak sealer
Regassed the system - Leaked out
Condenser replaced after hole magically appears
Regassed the system - Garage adds too much refrigerant
Excess refrigerant removed - too much removed and system no longer ice cold

On the plus side, the gas leak is finally fixed

If the system has been offline a while, it can get badly corroded and as soon as you put gas in all might look well but it blows holes in the corrosion after a few minutes/hours/days of cycling the pressure. Also the seals can go in between the pipes, they may have got the junior to put the new compressor on and not told him to change the seals but then the new compressor usually comes with new o-rings so it may have not been cleaned up properly on the mating faces of the connections. So yeah holes do magically appear once a system is brought back into use. Adding too much refrigerant is easily done too as it seems modern cars (mainly fiat) don’t always have the aircon gas dose on a sticker on the slam panel like a lot of other/older cars do

 

[AndyRKett]

Thank you BEN for accepting me to your forum. In the family we have Punto 04 plate. Air con not working, the compressor is not spinning, seems the clutch is not engageing is there a fix four this? Gordon.

At the very least you’ll need to get the system checked to see if there is any gas In it, if not the next search is for why there is no gas. If the system is fully gassed then the clutch or compressor are usually at fault Or something electrical but you need to know that there is gas in the system at the right pressure before doing anything else

 

[The Panda Nut]

Our troubles with mothers car started when it was left parked for months. Concensus of opinionthen, was its important to run the system regulalry to ensure the lubricant in the refrigerant gas is both mixed and circulated. Allowing the system to stay unused can lead to drying out and leaks that are costly to fix. I have the aircon on all the time unless its the same temperature outside and I have the window open when occsionally its switched off. APart from leaks caused by road debris damaging condensers, and one condenser rotting I have not had any trouble. May be luck but its worth making sure the systems run most of the time especially if the car is little used to reduce the risk of failure.

 

[J4MALD1N]

It was an interesting experience. The problems are far from over as now the compressor whines and seems to nick all the power from the engine. Pulling away from traffic lights can stall the engine unless you rev the nuts off the car. Let’s not even talk about how fast the car accelerates.

It’ll definitely need a new compressor. It does hold gas well and despite the above issues, does still provide some chill air. I can only assume they’d forgotten to or had added insufficient oil to the system.

If the system has been offline a while, it can get badly corroded and as soon as you put gas in all might look well but it blows holes in the corrosion after a few minutes/hours/days of cycling the pressure. Also the seals can go in between the pipes, they may have got the junior to put the new compressor on and not told him to change the seals but then the new compressor usually comes with new o-rings so it may have not been cleaned up properly on the mating faces of the connections. So yeah holes do magically appear once a system is brought back into use. Adding too much refrigerant is easily done too as it seems modern cars (mainly fiat) don’t always have the aircon gas dose on a sticker on the slam panel like a lot of other/older cars do

 

[AndyRKett]

It was an interesting experience. The problems are far from over as now the compressor whines and seems to nick all the power from the engine. Pulling away from traffic lights can stall the engine unless you rev the nuts off the car. Let’s not even talk about how fast the car accelerates.

It’ll definitely need a new compressor. It does hold gas well and despite the above issues, does still provide some chill air. I can only assume they’d forgotten to or had added insufficient oil to the system.

If it’s the 1.2 there isn’t a lot of power in the engine to begin with, which is why a lot of small cars never had aircon in the first place. The compressor will switch off on wide open throttle which is why you find you have to rev it hard to get it going.
changing the compressor will mean a whole new regas, if it’s working id just put up with it being slow till the compressor definitely does need replacement, or the gas finds another route out.

 

[J4MALD1N]

If it’s the 1.2 there isn’t a lot of power in the engine to begin with, which is why a lot of small cars never had aircon in the first place. The compressor will switch off on wide open throttle which is why you find you have to rev it hard to get it going.
changing the compressor will mean a whole new regas, if it’s working id just put up with it being slow till the compressor definitely does need replacement, or the gas finds another route out.

It's the 1.4. It was fine when it was first replaced however seems to just get worse. Turning the fan speed or radio up does work well in silencing the compressor whine

I'll likely replace it for a brand new one it once it decides to fully give up. Turning the AC off before fast roundabouts or traffic lights is the only way forward