Aircon again......
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Discussion

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Sunday 6th July 2008
quotequote all
Had my aircon checked just weeks ago and it worked fine but alas last week it's all gone warm again mad That aluminium expansion tank with the black knob on it near the bulkhead passenger side has some dye on top and running down the pipe. Would that be where they bleed it or is this my leak or........ am I talking crap??

anonymous-user

77 months

Sunday 6th July 2008
quotequote all
does your climate control display have a little "x" in it? This is how it tells you there is a fault. Mine did and it would just blow warm air. The unit was replaced under warranty.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 6th July 17:08

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Sunday 6th July 2008
quotequote all
wormus said:
does your climate control display have a little "x" in it? This is how it tells you there is a fault. Mine did and it would just blow warm air. The unit was replaced under warranty.

Edited by wormus on Sunday 6th July 17:08


No x but air was not "cold". Drove up from Glasgow on Friday and it was 24c most of way up to Inverness and didn't cool me down but was better than if aircon "off". I'll get my local air"con" artist to relieve me of some money no doubt .

peaktorque

1,807 posts

234 months

Sunday 6th July 2008
quotequote all
V6 JDT said:
Had my aircon checked just weeks ago and it worked fine but alas last week it's all gone warm again mad That aluminium expansion tank with the black knob on it near the bulkhead passenger side has some dye on top and running down the pipe. Would that be where they bleed it or is this my leak or........ am I talking crap??
This dye you mention sounds like leak-detection fluid (probably added with the recent recharge) that is easily visable with the aid of a U.V light, but can be seen with the naked eye as well.

The stuff gets everywhere and stains, it maybe a spillage from when it was orginally added and not cleaned up (there is a special cleaning fluid for this gear). Although it may well be where your gas is leaking from.
Sounds like a cheap fixwink (leaking compressors or condenser/evaporator coils are not cheap!)

stigmundfreud

22,454 posts

233 months

Sunday 6th July 2008
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what jumper were you wearing?

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Sunday 6th July 2008
quotequote all
stigmundfreud said:
what jumper were you wearing?

Pringle

agholding

46 posts

293 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
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My aircon failed about two weeks back.
Took it to my local air-con specialist to re-gas it, and it lasted 48 hours. They could not see where the leak was.
Re-gassed it on Thursday, and it lasted 48 hours again. They added more dye in order to detect the leak, but they still cannot see where it is leaking.
They're re-gassing it tonight, putting it on a ramp and keeping it in over night for observation...watch this space..

peaktorque

1,807 posts

234 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
quotequote all
agholding said:
My aircon failed about two weeks back.
Took it to my local air-con specialist to re-gas it, and it lasted 48 hours. They could not see where the leak was.
Re-gassed it on Thursday, and it lasted 48 hours again. They added more dye in order to detect the leak, but they still cannot see where it is leaking.
They're re-gassing it tonight, putting it on a ramp and keeping it in over night for observation...watch this space..
If it is leaking out that fast, then they will hear the leak with high pressure OFN.

If it were I doing the work then that is what I would use. Not a fan of the dye, as you can
only see what you see. And you can't easily see a leaky evaporator.

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
quotequote all
peaktorque said:
agholding said:
My aircon failed about two weeks back.
Took it to my local air-con specialist to re-gas it, and it lasted 48 hours. They could not see where the leak was.
Re-gassed it on Thursday, and it lasted 48 hours again. They added more dye in order to detect the leak, but they still cannot see where it is leaking.
They're re-gassing it tonight, putting it on a ramp and keeping it in over night for observation...watch this space..

If it is leaking out that fast, then they will hear the leak with high pressure OFN.

If it were I doing the work then that is what I would use. Not a fan of the dye, as you can
only see what you see. And you can't easily see a leaky evaporator.

OFN being Nitrogen?

bertelli_1

2,393 posts

233 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
quotequote all
Oxygen Free Nitrogen.

peaktorque

1,807 posts

234 months

Tuesday 8th July 2008
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bertelli_1 said:
Oxygen Free Nitrogen.
yes

agholding

46 posts

293 months

Thursday 10th July 2008
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It turns out there is a hole in the ?aluminium? pipe that goes under the engine. Due to wear, as it has been rubbing against something else apparently. They had not seen the leak since the dye had been collected by the undertray, and only spotted it by getting it on a ramp and removing the undertray.
Waiting for a cost now...

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Friday 11th July 2008
quotequote all
agholding said:
It turns out there is a hole in the ?aluminium? pipe that goes under the engine. Due to wear, as it has been rubbing against something else apparently. They had not seen the leak since the dye had been collected by the undertray, and only spotted it by getting it on a ramp and removing the undertray.
Waiting for a cost now...

Found the problem. Exact same pipe as you!!! cost.........£261 for the pipe mad furious


Will we get a discount if we order 2 from Aus???

monkfish1

12,231 posts

247 months

Friday 11th July 2008
quotequote all
V6 JDT said:
agholding said:
It turns out there is a hole in the ?aluminium? pipe that goes under the engine. Due to wear, as it has been rubbing against something else apparently. They had not seen the leak since the dye had been collected by the undertray, and only spotted it by getting it on a ramp and removing the undertray.
Waiting for a cost now...

Found the problem. Exact same pipe as you!!! cost.........£261 for the pipe mad furious


Will we get a discount if we order 2 from Aus???


That pipe is actually all the aircon pipes. They come as one all joined togther. Rubbed through on the jubilee clip on the bottom rad hose?

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Friday 11th July 2008
quotequote all
monkfish1 said:
V6 JDT said:
agholding said:
It turns out there is a hole in the ?aluminium? pipe that goes under the engine. Due to wear, as it has been rubbing against something else apparently. They had not seen the leak since the dye had been collected by the undertray, and only spotted it by getting it on a ramp and removing the undertray.
Waiting for a cost now...

Found the problem. Exact same pipe as you!!! cost.........£261 for the pipe mad furious


Will we get a discount if we order 2 from Aus???


That pipe is actually all the aircon pipes. They come as one all joined togther. Rubbed through on the jubilee clip on the bottom rad hose?

Correct Roger. Can you get them any cheaper? He said it is the only hose coming out of the compressor and is 2 pipes in tandem. Took a while to find apparently as I just had it checked in Inverness and they never found a leak!

PepV8

68 posts

231 months

Monday 14th July 2008
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I've just been out to check my aircon hoses in the area of the bottom rad hose jubilee clip mentioned above. Sure enough the smaller pipe of the two is rubbing nicely on the hose clip. I've used some 'special' wide/thin 'label' ty-wraps we use in F1 to protect it - metal clip rubbing on ally pipe not good....
While I was at it I had a bit of a look about to see if anything else was having a chew on something it shouldn't. I found the alternator was rubbing on the expansion tank main hose as it runs past it. One of the bolt/studs that holds the halves of the alternator together had almost gone through the dual wall hose. The crappy Nylon sock, specifically put there to protect it, had been rubbed straight through. Again, I fitted ty-wraps to provide protection.
As I mentioned quite a few months ago when I found the old heater hose problem about to cause disaster on the car; I am very suprised this sort of stuff is happening on a 'production' car. I had to contend with this sort of stuff for 9 years with a Marcos and one of the reasons for getting the Monaro was to get some reliabilty and piece of mind....
Are there any more little 'gems' like this ready to bite my a*se?

V6 JDT

Original Poster:

1,275 posts

245 months

Monday 14th July 2008
quotequote all
Apparently the hole in my pipe was caused by electrolysis between the metal clip against the aluminium aircon pipe for lack of an insulation material between. Nearly £270 for the pipe/s - it's one unit from the compressor out. Ouch !

agholding

46 posts

293 months

Thursday 24th July 2008
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Got it sorted yesterday by a local A/C specialist - £420 inc VAT including all the recommendations from PepV8 to prevent it wearing through again/elsewhere.

Just hoping for some hot weather now!

Demolition Man

1,050 posts

276 months

Thursday 24th July 2008
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PepV8 said:
....I had to contend with this sort of stuff for 9 years with a Marcos......


With you on that one PepV8!! I had the LM500 and was always finding things rubbing/failing/falling off!! (Wouldn't have changed it for the world though!)