Help required from a Skoda Master Tech -Tech1e, Sherlocks vRS, Andy Mod etc.

I had noisy aircon so suspected it had lost a little gas - about 21 months since last regassed when a new compressor was fitted by Farmers, the supplying dealer.

So, checked with VCDS and an intermittent 00229 was logged. Cleared the code and in 2 days didn't come back. Aircon still noisy, which could be triggered by coming in and out of ECON - it sounded like the gas expanding and boling in the matrix behind the dash. It was blowing cold air, but not ice cold.

Booked in to Simpsons, Colne for the full Aircon service at £69 which included the clean or whatever they do on top of a regas.

After 2 hours I was told they had regassed, but as the machine could only get 400g of refrigerant in and not the full 500 odd it wouldn't go onto the cleaning cycle.

They have diagnosed a faulty valve and/or pipe in the AC system as being the cause, and say I need to replace this pipe and the drier at a cost of about £455! The AC is working at the moment with 400g of refrigerant in there.

The pipe seemed to be, from the ETKA diagram they showed me, to come from the compressor over to the near side of the car and had one of the filling valves on it. They were not 100% sure this pipe was at fault, but they reckoned it needed replacing. It was labelled 4 on the ETKA diagram.

So guys - what do you think? Ever come across this before? Is it likely to be this pipe causing the issue, given that I must have had a slow leak for the pressure to drop in the first place?

Do you know the part number for this pipe as I am tempted to get one from TPS and a Drier and get a local AC specialist to fit it - the pipe can't be that much can it???

All advice welcome, but the advice of a Skoda Tech who has come across anything like this before would be appreciated. I have never come across a regas where less than the full amount can be put it before??? Usually the opposite and more is squeezed in for extra iciness!

Willing to PM you reg no and/or chassis number if that helps you look anything up on Skoda's systems?

Thanks

Andy

Just had a look under the bonnet and my description of which pipe it is in the post above is a load of rubbish.

I wish I had asked for the part number, but I THINK it is the pipe that goes downwards off of the compressor, but if anyone can post a picture from the parts catalogue I can identify it. Pretty sure it wasn't the one with the G65 valve on it.

Difficult to say without looking at the car.

Why was the compressor changed?

Depending on what condenser is fitted you might not be able to change the drier without replacing the condenser to, some can seperate, some can't.

Because it was goosed - the aircon wasn't working at all after a regas - they diagnosed it as a faulty compressor. That was September 2010 time. It seems the rad fans were faulty as well so at a guess the compressor had overheated?

It has been absolutely fine since, only noticed the noise of the gas in the last couple of weeks. I can PM you a chassis number if that helps?

Have you ever come across one that won't accept a full charge of gas before?

Seeing as it is working I might leave it a couple of weeks then get an automotive air con specialist to look at it and see what they think.

Thanks for your advice.

I'd be going to an A/C specialist for a second opinion...

I reckon so as well - it could just be a faulty filling valve.

My wife used to have a Corsa that lost most of its gas in a matter of months. If anyone did a leak check it held pressure fine. Turned out it was the valve itself that was slowly leaking - all it needed was tightening up slightly. Whenever they did a leak check the hoses are left connected to the valves so nothing leaked!

AC specialist it will be in a week or so as it is nice and icy for now.

The reason I ask about the compressor is depending on what went wrong with the compressor did they flush the system before the compressor was connected up and did they add/subtract the correct amount of oil from the new unit?

As it was Farmers Skoda in Leicester I should hope they did the job to the correct standard. I don't have any invoices for it as they were paying for the work as they had just sold the car to me. The AC worked fine for about 10 minutes then started blowing hot, so on a test drive it seemed to be working fine.

The car didn't have a Skoda warranty on it as the mileage was too high, so it was self warrantied by Farmers for 3 months.

A new LP valve is about £10. The only time to replace that pipe would be accident damage or a leak at the valve boss or end flange.

Another reason for not getting a complete fill would be a faulty TXV causing higher than normal pressure at the LP port, but this should have been obvious from the gauges on the a/c station. This would explain the noise at evaporator.

TXV ??

The noise at the evaporator seemed to be because of low refrigerant - I had 00229 as an intermittent fault, but it didn't come back after being cleared. It isn't noisy now it has been gassed.

Edit - Thermal Expansion Valve - the power of google!

Where is this and can I self diagnose a fault with the TXV?

TXV ??

The noise at the evaporator seemed to be because of low refrigerant - I had 00229 as an intermittent fault, but it didn't come back after being cleared. It isn't noisy now it has been gassed.

Edit - Thermal Expansion Valve - the power of google!

Where is this and can I self diagnose a fault with the TXV?

TXV - Thermal Expansion Valve

Upstream of the throttle in the TXV the refrigerant is warm and under high pressure. Downstream of the throttle the refrigerant is cold while under low pressure. The TXV atomizes and controls the flow of refrigerant so that it leaves the evaporator as a gas

A problem with the TXV should show up as incorrect pressures on the gauges of the a/c station or a manifold gauge set.

So in other words a half decent AC tech will be able to tell in about 5 minutes .....

I'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks seeing as it looks like the sun is coming out at last then get a second opinion from an AC specialist.

So in other words a half decent AC tech will be able to tell in about 5 minutes .....

I'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks seeing as it looks like the sun is coming out at last then get a second opinion from an AC specialist.

Yes. Putting it on another a/c machine will also exclude the possibility of the Dealer's a/c station being faulty - I've known that happen

I wouldn't wait to get a second opinion. You know you are low on refrigerant and you don't really know why.

Only problem is I am at work tomorrow, in central London on Friday, at home on Saturday but busy, Grantham on Sunday, Great Yarmouth Monday etc.

It isn't making any noise now, is blowing ice cold and has more refrigerant in than it did before. I am sure there are plenty out there with less than 400g in them and the owners being none the wiser.

I might give Drury Lane in Oldham a call, as they know their stuff, and see if I can get in first thing Saturday as it is the only chance I will have for a while.

Thanks for your advice, appreciated.

Spoke to Drury Lane and duly booked in. Paul has said he will get to the bottom of it and give the system a thorough going over plus a leak test with Nitrogen and even Hydrogen if needs be!

He didn't seem to think the pipe or filling valve would be the issue, if there is an issue at all other than a very slow leak.

Well, after a visit to Drury Lane my A/C is ice cold. It didn't need any replacement parts at all, just someone who knew what they were doing to service the system, vac it out properly, test for leaks, refill and do the anti-bacterial bit as well.

So, if I was an ordinary joe punter I would have spent over £500 at a main dealer unnecessarily. Not impressed at all with the blatant attempt at daylight robbery whilst smiling nicely.

Yet again, can't thank Paul at Drury Lane enough.

I'm glad all it needed was a service.

I have to say that I wouldn't be impressed if this had happened to me. I think it's more likely to have been a lack of common sense. Recommending the replacement of the hard pipe sounds like something the (mis)guided diagnostics would come up with as a last resort.

Yep - Paul at Drury Lane reckoned they hadn't vacced it out properly. all the readings on the gauges were fine when refilling, which is good news. He couldn't find any leaks and had it hooked up to the machine for almost 3 hours to give it a good vaccing out and test.

What didn't fill me with confidence at Simpsons was they recommended a £455 repair but couldn't guarantee that that was the problem!

Hi Andy only just seen this thread, glad you got it sorted. Not sure how the dealer could come up with that diagnosis. Although a fair few years back I did work with a guy who recovered and then vac a system without winding down the taps?. He just could not understand why hardly any gas was going in?.

Hi Andy only just seen this thread, glad you got it sorted. Not sure how the dealer could come up with that diagnosis. Although a fair few years back I did work with a guy who recovered and then vac a system without winding down the taps?. He just could not understand why hardly any gas was going in?.

Thanks Andy, good to hear from you.

I don't know what they were up to but it was a complete waste of my time and money. It is all sorted now - I'll just see how it runs over then next 12 months, but Drury Lane couldn't find anything wrong with it all!