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Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 08:35:23

Title: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 08:35:23
a) going out amongst human kind and others
b) having Halfords do an aircon diagnostic for £30

which is the bigger risk?

There is zero gas in there so must be a leak or compressor issue but compressor would not engage anyhow if no gas I think
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: biggriffin on 18 March 2020, 09:32:15
You would be better going to the local garage, they will evap the system, then pressure test, with a dalek, it's a better option than Halfords youff no1, plugging a can and gauge onto the thing.
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: amba on 18 March 2020, 09:35:48
Don't waste your £30 at Numpty Land...get somebody to do a proper pressure and leak test for no much more then you will know exactly what needs to be dealt with.

On option A...." You feeling Lucky,ah !! "
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 18 March 2020, 09:41:13
a) going out amongst human kind and others
b) having Halfords do an aircon diagnostic for £30

which is the bigger risk?

There is zero gas in there so must be a leak or compressor issue but compressor would not engage anyhow if no gas I think

Correct, there needs to be above a minimum pressure or below a maximum pressure, plus a demand, for the compressor to operate  :y

If there is zero gas then there is a leak
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 09:59:54
You would be better going to the local garage, they will evap the system, then pressure test, with a dalek, it's a better option than Halfords youff no1, plugging a can and gauge onto the thing.

Went to a local garage last year and they did not do the right thing - when I got a mobile chap round he said there is no way they could not have noticed such a massive leak - that was on the Phaeton. Thing is this is supposed to be a diagnostic check and not a re-gas so I am hoping it is the least cost option to tell me where the leak is
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 18 March 2020, 10:20:16
Went to a local garage last year and they did not do the right thing - when I got a mobile chap round he said there is no way they could not have noticed such a massive leak - that was on the Phaeton. Thing is this is supposed to be a diagnostic check and not a re-gas so I am hoping it is the least cost option to tell me where the leak is

Will be interesting to see what they do, it should be a visual check followed by a dry Nitrogen charge and some indicator dye...................trouble is I don't see Halfords doing that  :-\
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 10:55:38
Went to a local garage last year and they did not do the right thing - when I got a mobile chap round he said there is no way they could not have noticed such a massive leak - that was on the Phaeton. Thing is this is supposed to be a diagnostic check and not a re-gas so I am hoping it is the least cost option to tell me where the leak is

Will be interesting to see what they do, it should be a visual check followed by a dry Nitrogen charge and some indicator dye...................trouble is I don't see Halfords doing that  :-\

That is what they are supposed to do - they did a simple free of charge test with a gauge at a store yesterday to confirm there was no gas at all. Today I am at the Autocentre for the proper jobbie hopefully. VX want £80 just to look at it.
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: Bigron on 18 March 2020, 10:56:50
Groupon had a good offer a few months ago whereby I went to ATS Euromaster for a diagnosis and re-gas, on the understanding that if they could not re-gas the system, I would get my money back. They found a leak and I got my money back.
Check with Groupon as they could well be offering the same deal, especially as we are now entering the warmer weather.

Ron.
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: henryd on 18 March 2020, 11:12:30
Went to a local garage last year and they did not do the right thing - when I got a mobile chap round he said there is no way they could not have noticed such a massive leak - that was on the Phaeton. Thing is this is supposed to be a diagnostic check and not a re-gas so I am hoping it is the least cost option to tell me where the leak is

Will be interesting to see what they do, it should be a visual check followed by a dry Nitrogen charge and some indicator dye...................trouble is I don't see Halfords doing that :-\

I can't see Halfords having either of the above in the first place ::)
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 12:59:14
Went to a local garage last year and they did not do the right thing - when I got a mobile chap round he said there is no way they could not have noticed such a massive leak - that was on the Phaeton. Thing is this is supposed to be a diagnostic check and not a re-gas so I am hoping it is the least cost option to tell me where the leak is

Will be interesting to see what they do, it should be a visual check followed by a dry Nitrogen charge and some indicator dye...................trouble is I don't see Halfords doing that :-\

I can't see Halfords having either of the above in the first place ::)

When I dropped it off they said they would be doing a nitrogen test to avoid unnecessarily discharging aircon gas into atmosphere. They have just phoned to say that they cannot find any leak and given that I had it gassed less than 2 years ago there is no evidence of any dye having been used n the system at all. So they will re-gas and see how it goes - could be a very slow leak but dye will show this up.
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 18 March 2020, 14:12:57
Both cars should be under warranty. Start there ;)
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 14:22:19
Car is ready - they say that following the re-gas they have Vac tested it and nothing showing. Fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: Entwood on 18 March 2020, 18:02:33
A vac check is not sufficient as a test .. it works in totatally the "wrong" direction so can only detect major problems .. it cannot detect a small leak at a joint as it sucks the joint tight ... whereas normal pressure forces it apart ....... applying suction (Vac) to a system that runs at around 14bar is useless... which is why a PRESSURE check with dry nitrogen is the only thing that works..... not rocket science but appears to be beyond the numpties who try to sell it.. and often succeed .. :(
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: biggriffin on 18 March 2020, 19:48:54
A vac check is not sufficient as a test .. it works in totatally the "wrong" direction so can only detect major problems .. it cannot detect a small leak at a joint as it sucks the joint tight ... whereas normal pressure forces it apart ....... applying suction (Vac) to a system that runs at around 14bar is useless... which is why a PRESSURE check with dry nitrogen is the only thing that works..... not rocket science but appears to be beyond the numpties who try to sell it.. and often succeed .. :(


 Well said sir, but you can't tell some air-con specialist that.. about 5-8psi usually works, and if you've got no dye, a soapy solution using a spray bottle helps find leaks.
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: Sir Tigger KC on 18 March 2020, 19:56:10
Groupon had a good offer a few months ago whereby I went to ATS Euromaster for a diagnosis and re-gas, on the understanding that if they could not re-gas the system, I would get my money back. They found a leak and I got my money back.
Check with Groupon as they could well be offering the same deal, especially as we are now entering the warmer weather.

Ron.

Yes the Groupon/ATS aircon deal is always worth looking out for!  :y
Title: Re: Aircon - going to take a risk today
Post by: pscocoa on 18 March 2020, 21:14:49
A vac check is not sufficient as a test .. it works in totatally the "wrong" direction so can only detect major problems .. it cannot detect a small leak at a joint as it sucks the joint tight ... whereas normal pressure forces it apart ....... applying suction (Vac) to a system that runs at around 14bar is useless... which is why a PRESSURE check with dry nitrogen is the only thing that works..... not rocket science but appears to be beyond the numpties who try to sell it.. and often succeed .. :(

They did the nitrogen test first