Vantage aircon issue

[mb1]

Has anybody expereinced trouble with the aircon on their Vantage ?

I never really used my aircon until recently when driving down to south of France, where the weather finaly justified the aircon to do some proper cooling job... Well, mine is barely blowing cold air.
I checked the fuses and the aircon one looks all good.
So I guess it is either out of coolant (after 4,000 miles !!) or the compressor is gone (after 4,000 miles !!).
I am now facing 10h of motoring back to England with no aircon :-(

Any previous experience would be good to know. May be I can try to get it fixed here... Thanks !

PS: my Vantage is a V12 but I am sure it is the same on a V8

[m0isty]

The "never really used the aircon" bit suggests to me that the refrigerant just needs a top-up.

[yvr]

The a/c on my DB9 doesn't always do a very good job when I set the temperature to where I think I want it on the "auto" setting. I find that setting the temperature much lower than I actually want gets it to step up the cooling and I get the result -- so if I want it to be 22C inside, I set it to 19C and all is good.

[steveatesh]

m0isty said:

The "never really used the aircon" bit suggests to me that the refrigerant just needs a top-up.

Plus one. I have just looked into this for my CLK which has been SORNed for a year and the air con has stopped working. Looks like all the gas has leaked out, word was that infrequent use is bad for air con systems as the seals dry out and cause leaks.

At best you need a Regas at worse new seal(s). Best of luck with it.

[g55dxb]

The aircon in the Vantage is pretty decent...even in my 2006 and I'm using it as a daily driver in the sweltering heat of Dubai while my other car is in the garage. The most important thing is to set it to recirculate air otherwise you don't get much cooling. WIth recirculate on, it can achieve 20C+ cooling over the outside ambient temperature.

[Neil1300R]

Its climate control, not aircon. Just leave it on Auto all the time and it works out what it needs to do from the internal temperature you set. That way the aircon gets a regular workout. Left on Auto, it will automatically change the setting to re-circulate if outside temperature is really hot.

[yeti]

Aircon needs a re-gas - even abroad, any biggish garage or main dealer of any brand can do it!!

It's not miles related either, it's a refrigerant gas/liquid that escapes/evaporates over time if not used up. Should last a few years but that's all. Also good to run it often, in the DB7, the seals would dry out and perish. Doubt the Gaydon cars have the issue to the same level, but good to run it every now and again.

[mb1]

Thanks all, I will look for a local garage with the refill capabilities.
Anybody knows where the aircon unit is located ?

[BingoBob]

Midas do aircon refills - I have had good experiences with them.

The aircon needs to run regularly (at least once a month) or the seals dry out. If you have had your AC turned off for months then that could explain the problem. Not sure if it's fixable just with a re-gas, but that's where I'd start.