Can air conditioning be recovered after leaking?

[Mysterae_]

A few months back I tried to get the aircon of my 2012 640D regassed but the bloke doing it did a leak test with a sniffer first and it was deemed pointless as it was leaking everywhere; under the dashboard and various places in the engine bay.

Apparently if it's left too long the seals dry out and can't be recovered. I was told it was uneconomical to fix as all the seals would need to be replaced - dashboard out etc. So I left it.

I have been wondering though, how true is this? Is there a chemical that can be added to seal the leaks and has anybody had any success with it?

 

[Mysterae_]

He was a mobile aircon bloke with a van and had the kit and seemed to be knowledgeable. He didn't charge me for the diagnosis and I did see him with the sniffer wand detecting the leakage, plus he showed me where the UV dye was visible at certain places in the engine. He convinced me, so I just decided to let it be.

It's annoying not having aircon though but I don't want to spend a lot on getting it fixed, being such an old car. Maybe I'll try some snake oil or more likely a specialist garage that only does AC for a second opinion like has been suggested.

 

[Mysterae_]

Funny you mention it being such an old car, I was just reading your post and thinking that it was too new a car to be leaking from so many different areas. It's entirely possible that one or two components have failed but it would be unusual to need to replace so many components on a 2012 car.

That's what I started to think, and previously I ran the aircon almost 99%. It system started to get weaker after I had ****-Fit do the aircon while I was in for some tyres. I guess that was my punishment.

 

[Mysterae_]

as an indication of seal state, had they told you how much gas was left in when they pumped it out.
(do any car system have a pressure monitor, since I doubt I'd notice if it degraded and was engaging clutch for longer periods)

He said it was zero pressure so probably empty. I've had the AC switched off for a while as it stinks when it's on.

There was an error code when I last scanned it with Carly but can't remember what it was (Carly is crap btw!).

 

[Mysterae_]

Thanks for that @Armageus.

I'm wondering if I should take it to BMW as they have the proper diagnostics and will know if it needs oil or not. An independent AC specialist may not. At least I'll know the bottom line what it'll cost and if it's worthwhile.

Thanks folks.

 

[Mysterae_]

We won't touch any ac system thats had leak solution in it as it completely trashed one of our ac machines when we recovered the gas from a car that had it in it.

That's good to know. I'll get it booked in with a specialist then and find out for sure if it's worthwhile.