Greetings.

 

Are there any AC experts/Experienced owners able to shed some light please?

 

2011 Mk II Super Combi 1.8 TSi : Last year started the car and the AC went pop and the refrigerant emptied itself through the vents into the cabin with about 15 mins of "Kettling" noise from the AC (if turned on) and of course eventually no more AC. ODBeleven reports: "Low Refrigerant Pressure", which is pretty much expected.  For various other reasons I wasn't able to deal with the problem, so  it's been "open" to a leak condition through the winter and for several months. 

 

According to the workshop manual, if the car is more than 5 years old the dessicant/fluid reservoir/dryer  should probably be changed.  Unfortunately, there appear to have been about 3 different condensers fitted to these cars and also the manual says to remove the front bumper headlights and "lock carrier" to get to it.

 

So, does anybody know if:

1.  it's possible to identify which condenser type is fitted prior to strip down?

2.  It's possible to replace this beasty without all the proper workshop protocol of removing the front half of the car?

 

Bonus Question:

 

Best guesses on the most likely source of the leak? or is it a lottery and only possible to identify with the machine and dye hooked up?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.   

On the 2.0 TDI I've gotten access to the pulley through the wheelarch (clutch appears to be dead on mine), and the label on the compressor was visible with the undertray dropped. Still a bit of effort but not as bad as disassembling the front end.

 

I'd probably let an aircon specialist track down the leak, but if you got refrigerant in through the vents, I'd imagine the heat exchanger in the ducting is cracked.

Thanks for that.

Anybody have any recommendations for AC specialist in East London/Essex?