strange Air Con problem

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jt_armstrong

jt_armstrong

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,824
Location
Lake Forest, California
My air con has never worked since I bought my P38 6 months ago. So with all the good weather we have had and more to come I decided to take advantage of Kwik Fit's "fixed it or its free" offer. They vaccumed 475g of refridgerant out of it and it passed the vaccum test with no apparent problems. Happy days or so I thought. As soon as the guy started to pump in new gas the front of the car was enveloped in a cloud of white gas and the hole in ozone expanded a bit.
Chap said he had never seen that before and had no idea what it was as he knew nothing about air con systems.
The gas was leaking from the front of the car so I am guessing it is the condenser but why would it pass the vaccum test and then fail so bad. Good thing was it didnt cost me and i now know where to take it when i need it testing.
 
jt_armstrong said:
My air con has never worked since I bought my P38 6 months ago. So with all the good weather we have had and more to come I decided to take advantage of Kwik Fit's "fixed it or its free" offer. They vaccumed 475g of refridgerant out of it and it passed the vaccum test with no apparent problems. Happy days or so I thought. As soon as the guy started to pump in new gas the front of the car was enveloped in a cloud of white gas and the hole in ozone expanded a bit.
Chap said he had never seen that before and had no idea what it was as he knew nothing about air con systems.
The gas was leaking from the front of the car so I am guessing it is the condenser but why would it pass the vaccum test and then fail so bad. Good thing was it didnt cost me and i now know where to take it when i need it testing.
Click to expand...

If he knew nothing about aircon systems, one would have to ask why he was given the job of doing the refill in the first place. So much for Quick Fits aircon re-gas. I don't know a lot about aircon myself but do know there are two sides to unit high pressure side and low pressure side. Looks like he vacuumed the high side then filled the low pressure side. Someone that knows more may confirm this.
 
not possible you can vac the system from just the high side as this then still vacs down the low side. its not really two seperate sides hard to explain with out going into full depth
 
wammers said:
If he knew nothing about aircon systems, one would have to ask why he was given the job of doing the refill in the first place. So much for Quick Fits aircon re-gas. I don't know a lot about aircon myself but do know there are two sides to unit high pressure side and low pressure side. Looks like he vacuumed the high side then filled the low pressure side. Someone that knows more may confirm this.
Click to expand...

they know nothing about tyers or cars either at quick fit , doenst stop em fookin up peoples cars a tyers every day lol :doh:
 
fett said:
they know nothing about tyers or cars either at quick fit , doenst stop em fookin up peoples cars a tyers every day lol :doh:
Click to expand...

Not an establishment I have frequented before but the deal sounded too good. I am assuming that the vacuuming stressed the condenser just enough for the re-gassing to finish it off. New condenser ordered today so hopefully I will have some cool air just in time for the heat wave to finish.

Are there any tasks worth doing when taking the old condenser out?
 
Got a chance to change out my condenser today. The two pipes each have little green O Rings. Can I get away with reusing them (they look fine - not mis-shapen or damaged) or should they be replaced? If the latter - any idea where I can buy them.
 
I would say change them, although they may look ok they would of taken a compression set by now and once the hardware has been put back together you may not get a good enough seal.

I work in the seal industry so for the sake of a couple of O rings I would get them changed.

We probably supply them to Landrover so if you know the part no or can tell me the size I will check if we have any stock and send some out to you.

Matt
 
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