Air con gas leaking?

[Conor-vRS]

On Friday night i was sitting in a car park with the car turning over. Next thing there was this noise which almost sounded like a belt slipping or something, really odd noise. It kept coming in two or three second intervals.

A steamy/smoky cloud then started emerging from under the bonnet. There were four of us in the car, and when the cloud came into the car (windows were down) it nearly choked us, was definetly a gas of some kind.

Anyway, turned the car off. Turned it back on and lifted the bonnet. Waited a few minutes and the noise and gas started again. Figured then that it had to be the air con if it was gas coming out. Turned it off and have had no bother since.

What the feck is wrong though? Absolutely nothing wrong with the car otherwise, but i'm a little worried about a gas leak into the car or something.

Any info advice appreciated.

[MoggyTech]

If it is aircon gas (R134a) and it was leaking that much, it will be all gone by now. The system only holds 550g of gas and oil. The gas itself is not toxic, unless heated by a naked flame or cigarette for example. It then gets very toxic.

This needs to be fixed ASAP or the aircon compressor will die. The compressor does not use the usual magnetic clutch, but runs all the time, even with aircon off, albeit at only 2% power, but the internals are always moving, and if it runs out of oil, it will seize.