Hottest weekend so far and air con doesnt work! argh!

[Teamllama]

Afternoon!

This is the first car I've owned with air con/climate control so im not sure how to diagnose problems with the system.

I set temperature to 21C and put it on auto and let it do its business.

Not much in the way of cold air comes out though. Its only just a bit colder than the air that comes out the vents when im using the fan only.

The temperature in the car didn't ever get down to 21C.

Im also getting a bit of a bad egg smell from the vents when i press the recirculate button. it stops smelling again when i switch it back to sucking in fresh air.

Does it just need a service or regassing? Is it something i can sort or will i need to get a company to sort it.

Can anyone recommend someone in the Portsmouth/Southampton area who is good with air con?

Cheers
Mike

[Nick Mann]

Turn it down as low as it will go. If the air isn't coming out cold, then re-gassing is the next step. You should be able to find someone to regas in the locality for under £50, maybe under £40

[crazyken76]

thats funny went out in my car yesterday and i was roasting plus leatherb seats dont help and was driving along and me girlfriend was moaning as expected as she will be due the baby in the next two weeks , so i said dont worry ill put the aircon on hmmm found out it doesnt work so will need to get mine re gassed as well :)

[Davezj]

to cure the egg smell which will probably be coming from the bacteria build up in the evaporator.
1. get a can of detox surface and room spray (aerosol type).
2. put air con on recirc so it suck in from the foot wells and blows out the dash temp set to min.
3. make sure all the windows are up.
4. tape the nozzle of the detox aerosol can down so it is spaying continuously and tape it to the floor in the foot well with the spray pointing up to the air intake.
close the door and leave it for 10mins or until the can is empty.

the detox will kill the bacteria in the evaporator and kill the smell.

you can buy cans of similar stuff from halfords but i found detox works well and is cheap.

[Kieran]

This weekend highlighted that I need to attend to my WaftenWagen in the not too distant future. Preferably before I melt out of the drivers seat into the footwell. /pan

Not only is my A/C inoperative, but the pollen filter is blocked and the heater solenoid valves are sticky. This meant that on a drive around this weekend, I had a choice of hot, hot or hot from the dual zone system. /pan I suppose the one good thing is that because the pollen filter is so bunged up, only a fraction of the toasty hot air makes it into the cabin... /pan /pan

[Scanny]

this is my 4th car with air con and its the first time i have actually had it working. the supra turbo didnt work and neither did my previous 2 galants. this is the only one that feels like i am eating a fridge

[Teamllama]

Well, had it checked out today.

Turns out there is a split in the short pipe that goes from the condenser to the dryer, at least thats what i think he said! Going to cost £30 for the new pipe, £50 for re-gassing and some labour on top.

It wont be dont till next week though which is a bugger as i have a 600 mile round trip to do this weekend so i think i might be getting a bit warm!

[elnevio]

Result, I say! At least no new condensor or pump is required!

[Teamllama]

yeah, not having to buy any of the expensive bits is good!

He said there may be other leaks that didnt show up on the test as the one he has found is so big. Apparently to test it he has to presure it up to 250-300 psi with nitrogen and leave for an hour. my aircon couldnt even hold 25 psi!

we shall see what happens next week when they replace the pipe.