Air Conditioning Regas questions?

Belenus

BMW 116i Series1 F20. Ten years old, 40,000 miles.

I have owned it since almost new and never had anything done to the Air Conditioning in ten years. The Air Con has stopped working. It normally blows very cold air, today it doesn't chill the air at all. It was a sudden change overnight and not a gradual fall off over time.

Hopefully it just needs a regas and not repairs or replacements for the hardware.

As far as I can ascertain my car uses R134a gas.

Should I take it to my normal usually reliable service centre who have quoted me about £85 for R134a gas or £125 if it needs R1234yf gas, or should I try somewhere like Formula One who have quoted £59 for R134a? I think Formula One are a franchise so perhaps they vary from site to site.

Formula One suggests I should also have an Air Conditioning clean for £19. Is that unnecessary or is it worth doing?

My instincts are to go with my usual place, even if they are pricier as they have an excellent reputation. They will do it on site and not sub the work elsewhere.

Advice and comments please. I am near Chichester in West Sussex.

facade

If it was blowing icy cold yesterday, and not working today, chances are there is a leak that has  suddenly opened up and lost the gas. The "normal/usual/expected" gradual loss of gas over time causes it to lose efficiency before it eventually stops working altogether.

When you take it for a recharge the machine will test for a leak and they won't attempt to fill it if there is one.

I wouldn't pay £19 for an air con clean, but I'd take a £59 regas over an £89 one.

There should be a sticker under the bonnet somewhere that gives the type of gas and the capacity, a 10 year old BMW could be on super expensive R1234yf.

m0bov

Needs pressure testing, it's got a leak. 

Goudy

When you take it for a regas they should try to recover any gas still in there.
To do this they plug the machine onto the system and use it to create a vacuum inside the system.

If the system holds a vacuum, it's ok to regas.
If it can't pull down and hold a vacuum, there's a leak in the system that needs identifying and repairing.

A few quick fit type places might not charge you if they can't regas it due to a leak, but it can get expensive trying to identifying and repairing the leak.

Before you go rushing off, is the belt that turns the compressor still intact?
That's the best place to start before getting the system checked.

And as far as cleaning, you can do it yourself with an "air con bomb" for around a fiver.
This is just an aerosol sanitiser that you set off in the car with the air con running.

Another neat trick to liven up the smell inside your car is raid your Mrs's essential oils.
Pull the cabin filter out and dribble some of that on the filter and refit.   

oldagetraveller1

"Before you go rushing off, is the belt that turns the compressor still intact?"

Or, if the compressor has a clutch, is that engaging? The can usually be determined visually.

droopsnoot

As above, check other related items. I paid to have my car (2000 Audi) re-gassed because it wasn't blowing cold air, but it made no difference. It turned out that the fans weren't turning, and on that car if the fans don't turn, there's no cold air into the cabin. Replacing the fuse and cleaning the connections got the fans running and cold air was the result.

paul_c123

But don't just guess and throw parts at it. Especially since a lot of air conditioning parts are expensive and multiple re-gassings are not only expensive but bad for the environment if it leaks away.

Mildly_Miffed

Aircon basically works until it doesn't. One of the reasons it doesn't is that the pressure is low enough that the compressor clutch won't be engaged to save it from damage. There may be other reasons - a full fault-code read will tell you why.

If it is the pressure, then it may be just a little bit too low, due to gradual leaks from seals, or it may be zero due to a major leak such as stone damage to the condenser behind the bumper.

Any reputable place will actually do the diagnostic before shoving more gas in, since the gas is environmentally terrible.

Goudy

oldagetraveller1 said:

"Before you go rushing off, is the belt that turns the compressor still intact?"

Or, if the compressor has a clutch, is that engaging? The can usually be determined visually.

The clutch on the air con compressor won't engage if the gas is too low.
There is a pressure switch that inhibits the clutch.

The belt will turn the pulley still on the air con compressor, just the electro magnetic clutch on the pulley won't engage the compressor.
 
So it doesn't mean the clutch or compressor is knackered if it doesn't engage.
It could be low on gas or there's another fault (like the fan on the condenser fails) 

rca779

I have a similar issue with my Jaguar XF. I believe that the air con is working because the auto stop/start will not switch the engine off when the A/C is on, but the A/C isn't blowing cold air, especially in this hot weather. I was going to start with a regas, but does anyone have any other suggestions?

daveyjp

As above.  It may just be low pressure and a refill will do, but it needs a vacuum and dye test first to check for leaks.

The last time I had a car with those symptons it was due to a poor weld on the condenser.  Replaced under warranty.