Wondered if you guys could give me a steer on this:

The air con performance in the car has dropped of a cliff in the last few weeks culminating in a hissing sound behind the dash, and now the air con switch doesn't even affect the engine revs suggesting the system isn't starting up.

Is this indicative of a leak or just that the car needs a re gas?

I also had a look under the bonnet at the air con recharge values. The right hand valve appears to have recently lost its dust cap and the rubber mount has come away from where it should be bolted down to the back of the radiator. When you move the right hand pipe around you can hear a hiss from underneath the air intake, does anyone know which ac component that pipe connects to?

I'm thinking of taking the car down to F1 Autocentres and get them to recharge it and see what happens.

Any advice? Cheers.

The air con compressor runs all the time anyway from my understanding...the fact it has dropped off suddenly does (to me) indicate a leak somewhere! 

 

You say a valve under the bonnet has recently lost a cap, does this tie in with a visit to a garage at all??!! Service or other "under the bonnet" job??

 

 

 

Mine does still work very well but I ensure it is used once a week all year round (on hot in winter as a good dehumidifier/demister) but when turned off, it does produce a very strong smell, not an unpleasant one just strong!

 

Strange!

It did have an MOT last week but I can't see why that'd be liked to the AC.

Mine didnt work so took it to my mate who regassed it and it worked but made a weird hissing from behind the dash as described, ive searched on the forum and this suggests it needs a regas and as mine has only just been done would probably mean that we both have leaks somewhere!