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Been suffering with failed Aircon which in this heat is getting insufferable in a black hatchback. Garage couldn't find any leaks, recharged it but within 6wks it was gone again - looks like you can use some sort of sealant but reviews seem to be of the don't touch it with a barge pole variety. Even then I don't fancy doing it myself - is it something an Aircon specialist would do as I'm too stingy to fork out £1500 for a new compressor/condenser which may or may not solve the problem 🥵
Can they trace the problem now it's leaked? IIRC it's mandatory to put UV dye in on all refills here, but if not they should be able to add dye and then look with a UV light and see where it's leaking after a while. Better than just randomly firing the parts cannon and then finding it was a 5p valve core...
You'd be unlucky to need a condensor and a compressor. I had a 2020 Nissan condensor replaced by an air-conditioning specialist in Cardiff for about £250 (with gas, service etc).
A slow leak can be trickier to find - if it holds pressure for half an hour it's OK 90% of the time...but occasionally you get unlucky as I did.
A good garage will pull a vacuum on the AC system to check for leaks, did yours do this? Next step is to fill it up but pop in a UV reactive dye, basically looks like predators blood. Then if there are leaks they're easier to spot. My car has a really slow small leak in the condenser. I keep meaning to change it but a re-gas lasts about 2 years....
I'd be cautious of any sealant as they will gum up everything. So what could be an easy fix e.g. condenser, could result in a bigger bill. Well to my mind anyway.
Garage claimed to have tested for leaks, didn't find any so recharged with gas - I'd already told them last recharge didn't last long 😕 think I need to find a proper specialist.
I'd be cautious of any sealant as they will gum up everything.
That was my thoughts too.
I had ours tested then recharged, but it failed again after a week or so. Bought the sealant and gas kit off Thompsons. Refilled with the sealant and then found a leak where one of the sensors was screwed to the a/c pipes - you could see the sealant bubbling out. Nipped this up and then topped up with the replacement gas. Been working perfectly last three years.
Take it to a proper air-con specialist rather than a normal garage.
They’re generally much better than a garage and often know any common faults on your type of vehicle. The one I use is far cheaper than any local garage or main dealer as well.
I've just bought a kit for mine as it happens... Just gas not with sealent
Hopefully it will do the job but if you're losing pressure you have a leak somewhere, simple as that.
I'm hoping my leaks so slow to not care about it for another year or so.
I'm not sure using sealent in the system is a wise choice though?
They do work if you have a pinhole leak that takes weeks to go down. I have used it and I'm pretty sure garages do. As for gumming up - the manufacturers have obviously thought of that and they'd be sued to the moon if they put gummy bears in your aircon. The sealant reacts with moisture and air to harden, which isn't present in your aircon system.
As for finding the leak - aircon gas contains lubricants so even a small leak makes a hell of a greasy oily mess. One garage said they couldn't find my leak, so I took the undertray off and had a look, took me 2 mins to find a suspicious greasy mark. I popped open the cover under the condenser and found a huge mess by the lower joint.
Take it to a proper air-con specialist rather than a normal garage.
They’re generally much better than a garage
Generally good advice however I went to one to have them fix the above condenser (which they did nicely) but they reckoned that there was gas detectable inside the car, which meant the evaporator was leaking. They even showed me the detector going off. They wouldn't do the work either since it's far too difficult to remove the dash in a premium car and it never goes back together properly. They told me to take it to Merc which I did and they pressure tested it and found no issue. That was 2 years ago, I checked it about a year back and found a slight pressure drop so I topped up and added sealant, it's been fine since (touch wood!)
We had an old fabia (not worth much) that had a leak not long after we got hold of it. Took about two weeks to empty the system when we first tired recharging it. After that it was just left as dead for a couple of years before I figured if it was dead then trying some sealant and a degas might be worth it. It certainly couldn’t get any worse and it wasn’t worth paying to sort professionally.
To my surprise the sealant sorted it right out and it was still going strong a year or so later when some drunk **** wrote it off while it was parked in the street.