Air conditioning not working.

[CEDARAL]

I bought my RCZ just before Christmas. Everything fine until this last week when we had the nice weather. Got in the car Friday, it was red hot turned ac on no cold air. I had a RX 8 for years and had to have refrigerant topped up every couple of years. So I took RCZ to local garage to have it gassed up. They said it was low on gas but they had leak tested the system and there were no leaks. They said they had checked for fault codes and it was clear but the system was still not blowing cold air. They suggested it was too cold outside(18°)and that it may be too cold for it too work? If it did not work they suggested taking it to the main dealers to be checked. Any suggestions or advice would be welcome.

 

[neilgsxr69]

I Have a similar problem on the wife’s Mini Cooper s, we had it re gassed and it was working great then the thermostat housing started leaking so had that changed and ever since no cold air my mechanic reckons it’s the replacement thermostat housing as he’s had it happen before on a 207.

 

[Buddy]

I had my A/C pressure tested and regassed recently, as it wasn't very warm there seemed to be little effect, however, one day when it was parked in bright sunlight and the outside temp was showing 29C on the dash ( sensor is I think behind the bumper so not much air movement there). It took a few miles to get the inside down to a comfortable temp but it doesn't seem cool enough, I checked in case there were other systems sharing fuses at different points but F12 being the supply fuse is shared with other systems which are working ok. Then I found on You Tube that the thermostat housing has a temperature sensor and that if it has a fault it can switch the A/C off, some say to change the housing and a short wiring loom, others maybe just change the sensor. It looks to be a bit of a faff to get at the housing and sensor, does anyone have any experience of trouble shooting on the A/C? It would seem to be a case of sensor, it's wiring or pressure loss on the system, if I switch the A/C on using the button it seems to give a blast of cold then not but I could be kidding myself! Set the temp and it will turn up the air to change the temperature so control is trying to achieve settings, next step is to recheck the pressure and remove the sensor, I'm unsure about the Thermostat housing change as if it was working at some point it may just be that due to lack of use and gas (it was empty) then it needs to get some use, so I'm currently using it and changing the temp setting in hope that it will kick in. Otherwise, leak check as it was filled with a UV dye and pressure test or a fault code check?

 

[lfe]

Beware of quick repair shops that offer cheap A/C recharging.
Last year I took my car to one of these places, they don't do a complete test, they recharged it and the A/C continued to cool poorly.

Finally I took it to a specialized A/C workshop and they found a leak in the condenser
They found the leak with an electronic detector with a rod. The UV light system is outdated.
They changed the condenser and recharged and since then it cools a lot. Total price 500€.

Way to know if the A/C works well:
- With the car idling, manually set the climatization fan speed to minimum and the temperature also to minimum 'Lo'.
- Introduce a rod thermometer about 3-4 cm into a central air outlet. After 2-3 minutes the temperature should drop below 6ºC.