yet another issue now

[Leonidas]

yesterday 27 Celsius 2 hours stuck in traffic and...NO A/C
I tried playing with the knobs ,as it had worked before when heating is temperamental, but nothing worked
i searched the forum ,read an article suggesting not using auto ,fan on 1 ,temp at 21... did not work
stopped engine restarted several times (after waiting at least 10 seconds after the warning lights come off) nothing but warm air blown
checked the engine bay 3 pipes come out of the aluminium block : the left and center ones were "room temperature",the one on the right was hot
I am due to make a trip to France on 2 weeks time .What would you suggest I do ?

 

[Tom D]

Get in to the dealer and get the system checked..

 

[AWo]

Was it running and became warm or hasn't it run at all and didn't start?

That a pipe is hot is normal. The compressor sucks in the coolant from the evaporater in the inside of the cabin. The colant is gaseous now and carries the temperature (energy) from the cabin. The hot pipe is the exit from the compressor going to the condenser (hopefully, otherwise something is wrong. Check it). Because it compresses the gas it becomes hot (it needs to be hot to have a much higher energy level that the environment). Then it passes the condenser in front of your engine. There it transfers the heat (energy) to the environment and condensates back to a liquid, but still under high pressure. It runs through a filter and a water separator and then it enters the expansion valve which is next to the evaporator (the pipes into the evaporator and out are running through the valve as this regulates the amount of liquid which is allowed to enter the evaporator. It is not allowed that too much liquid enters the evaporator because of the chance that some liquid maybe not evaporate. If that remaining liquid enters the compressor it will damage it). By expanding the liquid in the valve and releasing the pressure it becomes very cool before it enters the evaporator and all starts again.

AWo

 

[CRH]

Re-gas?

 

[Tazzieman]

Some owners have had leaking joints or abraded/leaking pipes.
Dealer to check.

 

[AWo]

Reasons could be too less coolant or an iced A/C. The latter happens at high temperatures and humidity. Switching off the A/C and let the ice melt helps.

AWo

 

[Leonidas]

Reasons could be too less coolant or an iced A/C. The latter happens at high temperatures and humidity. Switching off the A/C and let the ice melt helps.

AWo

I tried again this morning,unlikely it would be ice

To be noted : putting temp on maximum cold or heat did not make any difference in the temperature of the air blown into the cabin

 

[Leonidas]

Was it running and became warm or hasn't it run at all and didn't start?

That a pipe is hot is normal. The compressor sucks in the coolant from the evaporater in the inside of the cabin. The colant is gaseous now and carries the temperature (energy) from the cabin. The hot pipe is the exit from the compressor going to the condenser (hopefully, otherwise something is wrong. Check it). Because it compresses the gas it becomes hot (it needs to be hot to have a much higher energy level that the environment). Then it passes the condenser in front of your engine. There it transfers the heat (energy) to the environment and condensates back to a liquid, but still under high pressure. It runs through a filter and a water separator and then it enters the expansion valve which is next to the evaporator (the pipe into the evaporator and out are running through the valve as this regulates the amount of liquid which is allowed to enter the evaporator. It is not allowed that too much liquid enters the evaporator because of the chance that some liqud maybe not evaporate. If that remaining liquid enters the compressor it will damage it). By expanding the liquid in the valve and releasing the pressure it becomes very cool before it enters the evaporator and all starts again.

AWo

 

[Leonidas]

Was it running and became warm or hasn't it run at all and didn't start?

That a pipe is hot is normal. The compressor sucks in the coolant from the evaporater in the inside of the cabin. The colant is gaseous now and carries the temperature (energy) from the cabin. The hot pipe is the exit from the compressor going to the condenser (hopefully, otherwise something is wrong. Check it). Because it compresses the gas it becomes hot (it needs to be hot to have a much higher energy level that the environment). Then it passes the condenser in front of your engine. There it transfers the heat (energy) to the environment and condensates back to a liquid, but still under high pressure. It runs through a filter and a water separator and then it enters the expansion valve which is next to the evaporator (the pipes into the evaporator and out are running through the valve as this regulates the amount of liquid which is allowed to enter the evaporator. It is not allowed that too much liquid enters the evaporator because of the chance that some liquid maybe not evaporate. If that remaining liquid enters the compressor it will damage it). By expanding the liquid in the valve and releasing the pressure it becomes very cool before it enters the evaporator and all starts again.

AWo

Thank you for the detailed description of how the system works.would there be any lessons to be learnt from the temperatures of these pipes, like compressor not working,loss of gas...?

 

[Leonidas]

Your question: did not work at all from start

 

[AWo]

When it didn't work right from the start it is not icing. Icing develops over time.

Less gas, less compression, less heat of the pipe....but you need references to come to a conclusion.

Like the other ones suggested, you can't do anything on your own. You need the rights machinery, material and knowledge for that. So get the car to a workshop which can handle A/C's.

AWo

 

[Leonidas]

Another bad news: second dealer around London now permanently closed
Any idea where I could have service and warranty work