General Leaking Air Con

[Peat]

Has anyone had any experience of their air con leaking?

I had an 'expert' of the mobile variety come out to examine my '02 JTD 110 when it wouldn't get cold at the beginning of the hot weather. He relieved me of £60 and informed me that I had leaks in the condensor.

I bought a new condensor -£90 - and fitted it myself and had the system recharged -£40. It lasted less than 12 hours! So much for the leaking condensor and the 'expert'.

I then bought an A/C Leak Stop & refill kit at £ 50. As I put the Leak Stop in I could see the compessor clutch kick in so I then refilled the system which got cold, but Lo & behold it didn't last too long!

This brings me to the conclusion that it is likely a pipe has corroded and I wonder if anyone has had a similar problem or has ideas for a solution before I throw more money away.

I might add here that I am an advocate of running the A/C through the winter months to keep the seals oiled and help prevent leaks.

TIA
Peat

 

[beau]

take it to a proper air con place, they will fill with pressure and dye and actually find the problem.

 

[MultiPa]

Fixing the aircon is on my to-do list too. Any updates Peat? How easy is it to get the condenser off to see if the clutch is engaging? I have no idea about a/c, but sounds like this is something fairly easy to check? I think most of mine is shot, so it'd be good to replace the obvious bits myself, or at least know what works and what doesn't before I take it to a garage ...

 

[Peat]

Had another more thorough look around today for signs of a leak with a UV light but nothing found. I had thought that it may be the dehydrator underneath the air box but could not see any signs of dye. Or on any of the the other visible piping. I also examined, as best I could without actually dismantling, the compressor clutch assembly. It is possible for seal on the shaft to leak.

As to your questions :-

The compressor clutch can be seen easily just by lifting the bonnet and looking down to the left. It is the most forward pulley on the serpentine/auxilliary belt and if working properly the whole pulley will rotate, if not the outer(LH) parts will remain stationary. The clutch also makes a fairly loud clack when A/C is engaged.

The condensor sits to the front of & 'piggy backs' the coolant radiator. It is held in place by four 10mm screws and I would suggest a liberal soaking of 'liquid spanner' on these and on the 2 A/C pipe outlet screws, also 10mm, before attempting to remove.

First take off the air intake running along the top of the radiator, two cross headed screws, to enable easy access. Then remove the inlet & outlet to the condensor. I covered them with rubber gloves to stop ingress of grot. Next the four screws holding the condensor. Followed by the two screws on the front panel holding the radiator.

The next part is a little finnicky and having a second pair of hands helps. Lift the rad to clear the spigots in the valance at the bottom & muddle it toward the engine to enable the second pair of hands to remove the condensor. Sounds easy but is awkward.

Before replacing I bought some of the small diamond shaped mesh and attached it to the condensor to ensure that stones would not puncture the new condensor. Reverse procedure to re-assemble.

Best of luck.

Peat

 

[jwmultipla]

Hi,
Just before you strip down your a/c compressor, do as someone suggested and take it to a proper outfit who will actually test and find the leak. With A/C the refrigerant gas will leak from the smallest of holes. When filled it sits at around 5bar of pressure. when used the 'high side' can go to 10 or 15 bar. what I do at work is evacuate the car of refrigerant and then when empty charge the A/C system with 10bar of Nitrogen which is a safe environmentaly freindly gas, will cause your skin no harm and also inert. With the system charged fully at 10 bar the nitrogen guages are monitored for a drop in pressure, also we spray soapy water over all of the A/C pipes to see if any bubbles occur, this shows the leak very effectivley. hopefully the leak can be detected and repaired. Another bonus of nitrogen is that it also dries the system of moisture. Far too often these mobile A/C guys come out and charge peoples A/C take your money and run. He should have fully tested for leaks before he left and if none foud which is sometimes the case he should have given you a guarantee or offered to rectify if it failed again, especially so soon. Also he should have used a UV dye to assist with later diagnostics. My old multi seemed to leak from the oil seal behind the compressor clutch this was found as the dye was visible as astain on the front of the compressor. Hope this helps

 

[matt8772]

like the guy above says, take it to a proper garage who will check for leaks with nitrogen. once theyve found and fixed the leak, insist that they vacuum the system down for at least 45 mins. its not necessarily the amount of gas in a system that dictates how efficient it is, more the moisture content. the more you vac a system down the more moisture you will burn away. also insist they use tracer dye when they regas the system so that any further leaks can be easi;y found.

 

[MultiPa]

How much would you be looking it for leak detection, vacuuming down and re-gassing with tracer dye, out of interest? Obviously the cost of any replacement parts would beed to be added on, I just have no idea how much the basic fault finding would be!

 

[matt8772]

i think our place charges 69.99. its a toyota garage though so probably more on the pricier side!

thats for the regas. probably an hours labour at around 80+vat for leak detection. depends where the leak is. my last leak turned out to be a pinhole in a condensor, so that was bumper off to confirm.

and 9 times out of 10 whether the garage has the right equipment to find the leak dictates how long you take to find it!