Air Con Issue

[OEmery91]

I have recently discovered that my Fabia VRS has got an air con issue. When I turn on the air con there is a continuous noise best described like blowing up a balloon. Also, the air isn’t being cooled. Could this be a leak in the system? 

[JGrindel]

Best get an air con garage pressure test your system which will expose leaks if there is any. Also check to make sure your compressor is engaging when you press the AC (its the newer style not old fashioned clutch type so might be hard to hear)

 

[rum4mo]

As above, gas charge is now low so that needs looking into and recharging, at this age, it might just be "normal" acceptable leakage across/through rubber pipes and seals.

[mrgf]

Give "wechillanycar.com" A call or message. I am sure they will advise. I have heard only good things from them and plan on getting both mine and my daughters jam-jars re-gassed from them. They usually do a discount for multi vehicles and come to you...

[OEmery91]

Thanks all, booked in for an air con service and recharge. 

[mrgf]

Great... Give some feedback after its done. Was it value for money, price, where you got it done and if it was done well, etc. Nothing worse then someone getting a good job done and no-one else knows where to go or getting a poor service and no-one knowing who to avoid like the plague!

[Mattylad]

Looks like Groupon can offer a ATS recharge for under £30 if anyone is looking this weekend.

here

 

But im not sure if its the right gas, they say they only use R134A - Is that the right gas?

[rum4mo]

3 hours ago, Mattylad said:

Snip Snip ------

 

But im not sure if its the right gas, they say they only use R134A - Is that the right gas?

 

That is the correct gas for these cars, so no problems there.

[mrgf]

Good price, if you trust them.

[67Mark]

Yes this is the correct gas - had my 2012 Vrs re-gassed 2 weekends ago at my local garage. For this gas was £39, For the "F" gas I don't know the code, but it's allegedy for newer models it would have been £108. Needless to say, I was relieved when the bill was £39........Oh and it worked. Hope yours does too.

[rum4mo]

@67Mark, all these fridge gasses are "F" gasses, the new lower environmental impact replacement for R134A is called HFO 1234yf, I can't say if it is being used in electric vehicles as they seem to have a different set of rules to abide by.

 

Edit:- safety and pressure regulations aside, I think that anyone can now handle this new gas as it is so "good" - maybe as "good" for us as Gregg's Belgian Buns?

Edited 22 May, 2018 by rum4mo

[67Mark]

I can only go off what my garage was saying, but apparently the HFO 1234yf (thanks for the code Rum4mo), started being used in 2012 ish. Impact on the environment maybe less, but still 6 years later, impact on your wallet seems out of juxtapose at nearly 3 times the cost. I understand in the beginning, not all garages were equipped, trained etc. but surely by now most are. Is the gas itself really that much more?

[rum4mo]

Like all "new" things, the initial price per kilo is very high, but with time I'd expect it to drop back a bit - similarly the price of "still in use but being phased out" gasses tends to rise quite quickly as demand outstrips supply as normally its production has stopped in developed areas of the world.

The other effect of jacking the price up of older no longer produced gasses is to speed up the removal of them from the industry.

The smart money for those that use these older gases in a large scale, ie in industry, is to buy in stocks before the price rises start to take effect - in the car AC industry there will be no need to do that as it is only us, the customer that will be hit with extra charges.

[mrgf]

Great point... Not that long ago, it used to cost over a grand for a/c to be optioned, now its around half that, if not a standard feature. The more models they fit it to as standard, the lower the costing as it means less chop and change. Same thing with re-gassing. Used to be over a hundred beer tokens but now its usually around 60-70 of them and often cheaper, with vouchers, deals, etc. 

[Mattylad]

I could really do with not blowing out warm air when its on, however I could also do with the £50 it will cost so guess ill just put up with it for now.

[mrgf]

1 hour ago, Mattylad said:

I could really do with not blowing out warm air when its on, however I could also do with the £50 it will cost so guess ill just put up with it for now.

I had to replace my fan at a cost of around £500 (Dash out job, climatronic a/c). The drive out of the workshop, on a hot summers day, after being without any blown air at all, I said to myself, "That was worth every penny"!

[Mattylad]

OK, so yesterday I bought the groupon voucher, using a previously ungroupned email address so I also got a further 10% off and got the current £34 ish down to £29 ish.

Today I managed to get a timeslot to have it done- according to the ATS staff they have had an awful lot of groupon customers recently.

My AC now blows cold - YAY!

 

[mrgf]

Has a re-gas myself the other day. Couldn't get near the ATS people util mid August so got my MOT guy to do it. Paid more for the privilege, though! It had around 40g removed (Low) With 500g re-filled. Although it went cold, I am still struggling to keep it cold at lower driving speeds. It will cool but not get super-cold! Not sure if there was another issue but I will keep an eye on it. Not sure if it got overcharged, either as I read that this also prevents chilling, can't quite remember why.  Before, though, you could here a funny little noise like the system trying to suck gas that was not there, a little like when you finish a drink with a straw and try sucking the drips in the bottom of the container!

[rum4mo]

That does sound like it was quite low on fridge gas charge, though I'd be surprised if it would do any chilling at that 40grams weight.

 

My daughter's late 2009 Ibiza was very noisy and not doing much cooling when I got it to recharge, I only added about 100grams but that was enough to get it cooling and the running pressures were okay at an ambient of maybe 26C. No more complaints this summer - yet, I did mean to check its running pressures and air vent out let temperature this summer, maybe later if it is available!