Last summer my AC system appeared to quite quickly loose performance and eventually stopped working. After a quick look under the bonnet I noted that the AC pipe that goes off to the right under the air intake had come off its mounting and that the dust cap had recently been removed. A quick wiggle of that pipe also caused a hissing sound which sounded like a gas leaking out of the system under the air intake pipe. So I've got a couple of questions:

 

- Where does that pipe go, it looks like it goes into the AC radiator on the back of the coolant radiator?

- What's the general diagnostic process for an AC fault, does the refrigerant contain a UV dye?

- Based on peoples previous experience of AC failures, do you usually end up unable to repair?

 

Cheers.

Sounds like a seal has failed or you have a split hose/leak from somewhere on the system. Both are fixable.

 

Any good garage will have the kit required to pressure test the system and see where the leak is coming from. They won't add the refrigerant until the leak has been found and fixed as it's harmful to the atmosphere. 

 

Guess it depends on how much you use the air-con as to whether you think it's economical to repair it or not!