Air con not cold enough

[nickmcbreen]

My air conditioner doesn’t feel very cold and fan power seems underpowered.. any thoughts please on what I can myself rather than book into garage?

 

[maby]

How old is the car? The Aircon on our 2014 model lost much of its cooling power as it got round to seven or eight years old. The coolant was running low - a local workshop topped in up and it worked reasonably well again till we sold the car.

You can do it yourself - Halfords will sell you a cylinder and it's just a case of unscrewing the cap on the filler and hooking up the hose from the cylinder.

Martin

 

[littlescrote]

How old is the car? The Aircon on our 2014 model lost much of its cooling power as it got round to seven or eight years old. The coolant was running low - a local workshop topped in up and it worked reasonably well again till we sold the car.

You can do it yourself - Halfords will sell you a cylinder and it's just a case of unscrewing the cap on the filler and hooking up the hose from the cylinder.

Martin

It's not coolant, it's refrigerant.

It's illegal to refill a system that has lost refrigerant without first attempting to rectify the source of the leak (Fgas regulations).

However, all automotive A/C systems have a natural leak rate from the hoses and joints that can't necessarily be improved upon or repaired.

Be careful when using top up kits as if they contain any oil, it will not be compatible with an electric compressor and can short circuit the windings. Best to go to a specialist that has a dedicated EV refrigerant charging station.

Advice from a 12 years professional engineer at the world's largest automotive air conditioning compressor manufacturer.

 

[nrayanov]

The AC system needs to be checked and refilled every couple of years. Just be sure the garage you visit will put oil for hybrids!!! Normal oil for AC system may cause fire in a hybrid!

 

[maby]

The AC system needs to be checked and refilled every couple of years. Just be sure the garage you visit will put oil for hybrids!!! Normal oil for AC system may cause fire in a hybrid!

When they did ours, they used the regular stuff and it carried on for a couple of years without a hint of smoke!

Martin

 

[AndyInOz]

Note that the manual states that the air-conditioner must be run frequently (at least once per month IIRC) to prevent seals from drying out. This could be an issue for members who prefer to disable their air-conditioning during the winter months.

Note that running the heater with the air-conditioner on, is the best way to clear condensation and fog from the windows.

 

[maby]

My Aircon was never off.

Martin

 

[littlescrote]

The AC system needs to be checked and refilled every couple of years. Just be sure the garage you visit will put oil for hybrids!!! Normal oil for AC system may cause fire in a hybrid!

It can cause a short circuit in the electric motor of the compressor, but that should be fault detected, it won't cause a fire!

 

[yardbird]

Most of my Lexus, Acura & Mitsubishi never need Freon for over decades but my first Mercedes E class back in 1987's AC broke down at 30k miles and hadn't worked since then with several attempts to fix the leak. I guess they never got to test their ACs in Germany!! Never buy German cars again since.