My AC has always been poor since the dealer spent weeks trying to repair it and it had so many new parts.

Today I recovered the gas first thing this morning and vac'd up the system to 30mb and left on vac all day as it was so warm it would make sure any moisture would evaporate off.
Filled with gas & lube oil at 1700hrs and where we live is a real sun trap and very hot if the suns out.

Well what a result ! the air temp was about 37 degrees coming in through the vents and with the AC on it was down to 4.7 degrees in a matter of about a minute. It has never been really cold and always struggled.
Be interesting to see how chilled on a normal day.
Filled with gas to have the pressures runn ing at 35psi on the low and 180-200 on the high which appeared to make the temp at about the lowest.
ambient temp and air temp through vents before AC on


temp displayed with AC running for two mins


great to have so cold at last !


Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

If you take that sweet wrapper out of the car it will drop down another 1°C

But seriously:
I have to say that her Ladyship's FL2 (MY2010) AC has always performed superbly - in fact possibly the best of any car I have ever been in with aircon. It can produce freezer like temperatures almost instantly in the +40°C conditions, and in winter it performs admirably as climate control preventing condensation and providing a stable cosy safe environment in which to drive in snow storms in these Alps. Cannot fault it.

I have read that owners should recharge their aircon systems every 3 or 4 years regardless of its present performance. What are your thoughts on this oldgeezer being from a motor industry background

No doubt servicing helps with performance. TBH I normally find most new systems undercharged any way , its just away of saving money and they loose gas over time, unless its a Jap vehicle ! rule of thumb

What concerns me more is the number of untrained or let say inexperienced personnel repairing or servicing AC. Its an art which requires good understanding. The use of free standing service stations is now common place but when they are used on your car you don't know whether the previous car had a contaminated system or even the wrong gas ! Propane or ICEON 49 gas is quite commonly used ! also automatic stations inject gas by weight but the problem with that is that many cars have had after-market condensers fitted and the gas capacity may be different, I always set mine up by gauges and pressures ! & independent recovery unit & new gas ! not recycled.

My own experience of a dealer playing with an AC system when they clearly didn't have the knowledge was frightening ! with them having it over a week for Pump, TXE valve, evaporator & goodness knows what else just for the sake of a fan speed controller ! that I had already advised them that was the fault ! even the ECU DTC said circuit 1,2 & 3 fan speed controller failed !. What I don't know is whether they left the system open to the elements over night when repairing & can only hope they fitted a new drier. Anyway now it works how it should so obviously it wasn't right from when it first failed it was 3 weeks old.

Who would you recommend for a recharge, kwikfit or an other?

npinks wrote:

Who would you recommend for a recharge, kwikfit or an other?

From what's been written here I'd suggest a visit to "oldgeezer" will probably get you an excellent first class recharge

I certainly cannot recommend any Swiss outfit I know of - they cannot even put trim panels back on properly

In the past I have used the Refrigeration guys who look after our plant at my place of work, a quick phone call from them to get the pressure for the vehicle, fit the gauges etc and away they go. Obviously I use them for diagnosis and re-charging only and it's free
If it came down to something seized or broken I would most likely go to a dealer, as for the KwikFit type of chain then no I wouldn't let them near it. It pays to use professionals if you can find them.

Wow, oldgeezer, you ought to do this as a side line for Freel2.com members as I am sure we would prefer your thorough approach to the "pump a bit in and hope for the best" brigade.  - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

"Who would you recommend for a recharge, kwikfit or an other?"

Well i would recommend an AC expert, someone who knows what they are doing rather than someone who has just been trained to use a machine !
Freedieselauto definitely on the right track, use someone with experience.

For some the FF outfit will suit just fine because its cheap but remember you get what you pay for and experience isn't one of them ! so there's always a risk ! & it may be adding contaminated refrigerant too your vehicle !

Were are the valves for regassing, only can see one valve?

Answer ASAP please

Try the brake master cyl resovouir, tucked down the side
OG
Just lift the black plastic lid on the shut panel under the windscreen

He found them

One in the brake cylinder reservoir area and one below in the engine bay

he recovered 756g and replaced 730g (which the label says +\- 10g) so mine was a fraction over, and added 21g oil & 7g UV

Never had to look at mine yet, What gas is used in the FL2 and is there a label stuck nearby

AC gas and the label is near the bonnet release on the top, i took mine to the local garage cost £45+VAT

cost more than that for the halfords DIY kit

he said mine had too much gas in, which can be as bad as having too little, still it felt coldered and got down to about 6c compared to 8c when LR checked it for leaks (or so they said)

The gas used in automotive applications is currently

R134a UN3159 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane user should carry an F gas certificate.

weight is on the shut panel although as previously discussed I don't load by weight but by pressure, works much better. If the low side pipe is wet and sweaty then its pretty good.

I hope the guy putting in the refirgearant allowed 100g for the hoses filling the car ? so many overlook this.

Do not recommend a halfords refill kit, air con gas and air can be explosive ! without vacuming the system you do not know if the system is contaminated with air or the wrong gas or even moisture in the system. If the pressure valve sticks you may well end up with a can embedded in your forehead