Hi All!

Partner took her '16 Fabia Mk3 (1.2 Petrol) to KwikFit to get a regas. I don't love KwikFit but she likes them and there's one rated 4.7 on Google which I'm always surprised by.

They did the regas for £75 and it worked for a day or so (without noticing any bad noise) and now when turned on makes a loud version of that fridge/aircon kind of sound - a high pitched fan/fridge noise that I associate with AC in cars and doesn't blow cold at all. There's also a smell which I would say smells like air blowing through old rubber tubes, like the smell of inner tube rubber.

Things I'm trying to work out are: any possible diagnoses or partial diagnoses of what might be up, or known issues with this car? Anything else I can do to diagnose. I am oil-change level of ability and handy so can check basics, could also read the codes if it helps.

What to do next? Is it a case of finding a place with specialist aircon equipment?

And if anyone knows a good place for taking a Fabia for aircon work in Sheffield recommendations much appreciated.

Thanks!

ob

I'd think that the re-gas that you got would have done the minimum by law to check for leaks, and just regassed it - but there is a small leak and you now using that AC system in this current heat wave is lifting the fridge gas pressure up enough to force it out of that small leak where ever it is, though I hate to say this, if you are getting a "different" smell inside the car, it might just have an evaporator leak - that part is inside the passenger cabin and is quite expensive for ant repair place to get access to!

My wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI, does have a leak in its AC system, I've paid to have it recharged maybe 4 years in a row - hot weather only exists up here in Scotland for a few weeks a year, so getting it recharged at the start of the hot period typically had it staying working for 3 months! For the past maybe 3 years I've not done that as and the pessimist in me "says it is a leak in the evaporator" - I've bought the evaporator and new O-ring seals, but not got round to that job yet.

Cooler weather tomorrow hopefully up here in Scotland - or using it tomorrow in rush hour traffic will be - challenging!!

Edit:- if you have a fully VAG compliant scan tool, then you can find the AC stored fault code which should be "low pressure" - or any other AC fault codes that might assist you or a fixer to sort this out - but I'd reckon that it will have lost its fridge gas charge, or at least enough of it - through a system leak.

Edited 26 May26 May by rum4mo
extra content

I'm just going through this today.
Took the car to a local independent VAG specialist this morning for a regas as it suddenly started to make hissing sounds and odd noises when first swiching on. Also an alarming squeal at one point.
When i demonstarted mine to the Skoda tech (we were out on a test drive for other issues...) he suggested a regas but said they couldn't actually do the new type of refrigerant that their site! Suggested i took it elsewhere...
I guess you have the older type of refrigerant as on my 2019 mk3 its around £140.
They should of done a pressure test first to check for leaks as mine did, who didn't find a leak and it all looked good.
He went to regas it and it refused to continue due to a leak somewhere, not sure why that would happen if it didn't detect anything initially. Tried the UV die but couldn't see anything.
So now looking at replacing the condensor which apparently is a common issue as can take a hit from a stone or something. Thats an almost a £500 job...
As for the squealing sound, probably the clutch on the compressor which you can't replace separately so that would be a compressor change, another £500....
Luckily they didn't charge me for today, which was great of them really.
You are probably going to have to take it somewhere due to the specialist equipment required.

2 hours ago, Gonzini said:

They should of done a pressure test first to check for leaks as mine did, who didn't find a leak and it all looked good.
He went to regas it and it refused to continue due to a leak somewhere, not sure why that would happen if it didn't detect anything initially.

There is a low pressure side which most AC machines will check that it holds a vacumn.

If it passes this test it will let you re-gas the car.

This normally won't test the high pressure side of the system.

So the machine will let you refill the AC gas without checking the high pressure side.

A good clue that you have a leak is to see how much gas came out. The AC machine should record this.

If there was no/very little gas in the system then unless it has not been checked for many years, get it checked for a leak in the hight pressure side as well.

HTH.

Thanks. AG Falco

Just to make it clear, when these systems are not running, the system pressure will equalise round the system, there is no "Hi side" and "Lo side" when the system is not running - when running, the Hi side is the compressor output side and the Lo side the compressor suction side, so when empty or after being emptied/recovered, a vacuum is applied to both sides maybe even, if configured that way, to both sides at the same time to speed up pulling a vacuum - ie connecting both ports to a vacuum pump via the recovery/filling machine.

4 hours ago, AGFalco said:

There is a low pressure side which most AC machines will check that it holds a vacumn.

If it passes this test it will let you re-gas the car.

This normally won't test the high pressure side of the system.

So the machine will let you refill the AC gas without checking the high pressure side.

A good clue that you have a leak is to see how much gas came out. The AC machine should record this.

If there was no/very little gas in the system then unless it has not been checked for many years, get it checked for a leak in the hight pressure side as well.

HTH.

Thanks. AG Falco

Not sure what happen with mine now I've looked a bit more into it all.
It sounded like it was already to go and it refused. I think its been discharged at the moment as it won't turn on. No idea how much gas was dumped as no mention about that.
There's a possiblity the components might be covered on the extended warranty on mine having spoke to Skoda, if the condenser is damaged by a stone then not as to be expected.

@oldbloke Sent you a PM.

On 26/05/2026 at 10:57, rum4mo said:

I'd think that the re-gas that you got would have done the minimum by law to check for leaks, and just regassed it - but there is a small leak and you now using that AC system in this current heat wave is lifting the fridge gas pressure up enough to force it out of that small leak where ever it is, though I hate to say this, if you are getting a "different" smell inside the car, it might just have an evaporator leak - that part is inside the passenger cabin and is quite expensive for ant repair place to get access to!

My wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI, does have a leak in its AC system, I've paid to have it recharged maybe 4 years in a row - hot weather only exists up here in Scotland for a few weeks a year, so getting it recharged at the start of the hot period typically had it staying working for 3 months! For the past maybe 3 years I've not done that as and the pessimist in me "says it is a leak in the evaporator" - I've bought the evaporator and new O-ring seals, but not got round to that job yet.

Cooler weather tomorrow hopefully up here in Scotland - or using it tomorrow in rush hour traffic will be - challenging!!

Edit:- if you have a fully VAG compliant scan tool, then you can find the AC stored fault code which should be "low pressure" - or any other AC fault codes that might assist you or a fixer to sort this out - but I'd reckon that it will have lost its fridge gas charge, or at least enough of it - through a system leak.

You can see from the R-1234YF tables that a ambient temp of 15C results in a pressure of 5.1 bar and the pressure is still 3.2 bar at 0C, not sure if those pressures are absolute but even if they are the gauge pressures are still 4.1bar and 2.2bar, included are a few readings from my 2026 Polo (manual A/C) just after switch on this morning. The pressure was ~ 6.2 bar before switching in the A/C.

IDE00021 Engine speed 1003 /min

IDE00198 Refrigerant pressure 11.0 bar

IDE00967 Compressor current: specified value 0.415 A

IDE00968 Compressor speed 1200 /min

IDE00970 Coolant fan activation: actual value 37.2 %

IDE00971 Coolant fan activation: specified value 36.0 %

IDE00973 Outside temperature 19.5 °C

IDE00974 Outside air temperature internally calculated 18.0 °C

IDE00982 Temperature downstream of evaporator 1.8 °C

IDE00987 Blower voltage: specified value 13.6 V (Full Speed, 4)

IDE00989 Blower status active

Refigerant Chart 2026 Polo.pdf

Edited 27 May27 May by Johngerard

On 26/05/2026 at 10:57, rum4mo said:

I'd think that the re-gas that you got would have done the minimum by law to check for leaks, and just regassed it - but there is a small leak and you now using that AC system in this current heat wave is lifting the fridge gas pressure up enough to force it out of that small leak where ever it is, though I hate to say this, if you are getting a "different" smell inside the car, it might just have an evaporator leak - that part is inside the passenger cabin and is quite expensive for ant repair place to get access to!

My wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI, does have a leak in its AC system, I've paid to have it recharged maybe 4 years in a row - hot weather only exists up here in Scotland for a few weeks a year, so getting it recharged at the start of the hot period typically had it staying working for 3 months! For the past maybe 3 years I've not done that as and the pessimist in me "says it is a leak in the evaporator" - I've bought the evaporator and new O-ring seals, but not got round to that job

Yeah based on info from elsewhere it sounds like a huge job. You're thinking of doing it yourself?

Do you have any insight into if it's possible to properly isolate and test the evaporator? It seems like this is a crucial piece of information that people don't get - like how is it possible that condensors get replaced without the workshop having diagnosed that that's where the issue is? I'm wondering why it's not done, or is hard to do?

I think that a proper AC or just "fridge" workshop should be able to sniff the air coming out of the vents and confirm if there is any of that car's fridge gas in the air, and so condemn the evaporator - but I'd think that to be 90>100% sure about that, they would need to use a tuneable sniffer like a mass spectrometer, they do exist for this type of use, but I'd think 9 times out of 10 it will be up to the proper fridge workshop checking the accessible areas of the system first using a dye nitrogen, or even that with a small quantity of the actual fridge gas used in that system so that they could include their normal pumped sniffer and looking for the dye - ie belt and braces.

I've been thinking about digging deeper into fixing my wife's Polo's AC for years, I really have carried out what I'd hope is extensive sniffing with a pumped sniffer and looking for localised damp areas where system oil has been escaping - doing this days after getting the system recharged - and failed to find any leak sites. So, I am currently dragging my heels over asking a local AC place to locate the leak for me - then I'll tackle fixing it before handing it back to them for vac'ng out etc and back filling with fridge gas.