Air Con 'charging' question

S@njay · 11 May 2006 at 13:50

OllyM said:
It's likely that it's the condenser, to be honest.

Mine was recharged and pressure tested, it passed, but a month or so later, it dumped all the gas.

I'm about to get it fixed because I just can't stand not having it in this heat, but £200 + VAT for a condenser fitted

Oh

Well, i could go to AutoLec, i trust them, they said it would cost £75, but before they do anything they would test it (guess thats the pressure testing!).

Its £60 for the regass, and £10 for the dye, and vat on top.

can they tell if parts are broken just from the test?

OllyM · 11 May 2006 at 13:54

Well, mine was pressure tested and it was fine, it didn't leak or anything... they'll often just fail when they're actually in use.

The most common problem on a Mondeo if the air-con doesn't work is the condenser. Mine's dead, rG-tom's is dead, PeterNem's old mk2 was the same. Bad design unfortunately

S@njay · 11 May 2006 at 13:56

Oh, thats quite depressing, that means i cant be cool during the summer and have all my windows up!

I have to be like the "normal" drivers without air con

How old is your mondeo just wondering? Or is it a design fault throughout the production life?

OllyM · 11 May 2006 at 14:23

I believe it's the bracket that holds the condenser on that's the main problem, it rusts and takes the condenser with it...

Mine's a 97 R plate.

Steve · 11 May 2006 at 18:22

just got mine done 5 mins ago

Had very little gas in it but the car had been siting for a fair few months before I bought it.

Recharged and the compressor was cycling on and of due to a blockage in the condenser, he uses some equipment to suck the gas around (rather than it being pushed agains the blockage.

THis did the trick and now the car is cooling to 2 degrees at the vent and -2 to -4 at the evaporator which was better than he would aim to get, mmmmmm chilly

took 1 and a bit hours and cost £100 for cash

TheDogFather · 11 May 2006 at 19:01

I'm thinking of overclocking mine by putting a touch of propane in.

*Waits for various members to froth at the mouth, have a heart attack or proclaim the end of the world.*

TDF.

MrCake · 11 May 2006 at 20:20

S@njay said:
Oh, thats quite depressing, that means i cant be cool during the summer and have all my windows up!

I have to be like the "normal" drivers without air con

How old is your mondeo just wondering? Or is it a design fault throughout the production life?

My ST200 aircon decided to stop working this week so maybe it is a design fault

Worked fine about 4 weeks ago and this week it didnt really feel any colder with it on.

A friend has recommended someone that comes out to do a regass for £65.

OllyM · 11 May 2006 at 20:21

Yet another Mk2 with Aircon failure...

Join the club!

Steve · 11 May 2006 at 20:25

if you have a chilly willy near you they did mine and came out the next day after I called them.

they do £65 regas

Locky · 11 May 2006 at 20:46

my local garage does a regass @ 35quid my aircon mk2 mondeo

needs doing as its not as cold as it should be.

Ultra_Extreme · 12 May 2006 at 20:09

lordrobs said:
Well if nothing else Ultra, you have made me chuckle!

Seriously, if you hit the air con button on your 306 you don't notice the drop in revs (which is almost instantly compensated by the ecu) ? That is caused by an extra load on the engine. There is some sort of clutch mechanism that disengages it when its not in operation.

I see nothing change at all im afraid, i personally do not believe that on or off there is any difference to load on the aux drive i think the load is there either way none of this 'clutch' nonsense, but im no air-con engineer

manic_man · 12 May 2006 at 20:20

when my air con clicks on my revs drop by about 300 then slowly rise again as the vacuum rev thing works (technical eh). My manual states the air con uses around 5HP to operate.

1.9 Xanta TD.

And the "clutch nonesense" is absolutely correct. The belt for the compressor in mine is the one used by the auxiliary drive system which does the alternator, hydraulic compressor and air con compressor. The most common fault on my compressor is the clutch release bearing going wrong, if the compressor didn't have a clutch how could the compressor flywheel be spinning from the engines drive and not engaged when the air con is turned off??

Dogbreath · 12 May 2006 at 21:24

Ultra_Extreme said:
I see nothing change at all im afraid, i personally do not believe that on or off there is any difference to load on the aux drive i think the load is there either way none of this 'clutch' nonsense, but im no air-con engineer

And how exactly do you think the air con actualy get's switched off then? And I don't mean by the control on the dashboard...