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Cheshire110



Member Since: 26 Jul 2013
Location: Cheshire/London
Posts: 2718

United Kingdom 
Aircon leak? Obvious culprits?
Hi all,

My AC was blowing warm air a month or two ago (having not used it for a while) and so I got it re-gassed.

Worked brilliantly for a week or so, then warm again.

Guess I’ve got a leak - is there anywhere obvious to look/check?

If I get it regassed again (doing a long drive in the warm weather this week!) would I be able to find the leak?

Don’t have much experience with AC tbh... but would be nice to avoid taking it in to the main dealer for them to charge £1,200 to not fix it. Cheers, David
Land Rovers of all shapes S3 onwards… Daily is a 110 V8.
Post #847569 2nd Aug 2020 9:44am
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90 Dreamer



Member Since: 13 Jul 2019
Location: Oop North
Posts: 2045

United Kingdom 2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey
Whoever re-gassed it 'whould' have pressure tested it before refill??

Normally use an ultraviolet dye so leaks can be identified
Post #847589 2nd Aug 2020 10:36am
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Ianh



Member Since: 17 Sep 2018
Location: Essex
Posts: 1695

United Kingdom 
If your aircon was very low before having new refrigerant added a seal may have dried up. Causing a leak. You can plug in an OBD2 elm237 reader and free software on your phone to see if there are any diagnostic trouble codes such as PO533, a nanocom if you have access to one will provide more details.

Hard to do much yourself due to laws re letting refrigerant into the atmosphere, so you need specialists equipment to recover and refill the system.

There are lots of specialist vehicle aircon companies out there, so no need to go to a dealer, and they can give you a price to do a diagnostic and rectify the issues. Just need to find one with a good reputation.

Ps. Find a company that just does vehicle aircon , I.e a specialist aircon company, not a garage that does lots of things including aircon.

As a bit of background have a look at this, lots more on the web and here covering vehicle air con.

[/img]https://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/08/p0533-...ccounter=2

You can do a few checks yourself, such as seeing if the compressor is kicking in when aircon switched on, or see if the aircon fan is kicking in. As dreamer 90 states, whoever regassed it should have done a pressure test, but a lot of non specialist people just plug the machine in, remove the existing gas, measure its weight, see what the weight should be for a particular vehicle, top up the removed refrigerant to that level and pump that back in. Leave it running for a few minutes and then they are done. A good aircon company will wait to see how well the system is holding up over time and do full leak checks, as a minor leak won’t show up straight away.
Post #847607 2nd Aug 2020 11:43am
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Cheshire110



Member Since: 26 Jul 2013
Location: Cheshire/London
Posts: 2718

United Kingdom 
Thanks for the advice all!

Just took it to quick fit who plugged their machine in and regassed it. They said that it was holding pressure as far as their machine showed but they don’t have a leak detection system at that branch.

Presumably the leak is slow/small so I’ll take it in for a leak test at some point if it doesn’t hold up this time, and hopefully it’s an easy enough fix. Cheers, David
Land Rovers of all shapes S3 onwards… Daily is a 110 V8.
Post #847631 2nd Aug 2020 1:58pm
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90 Dreamer



Member Since: 13 Jul 2019
Location: Oop North
Posts: 2045

United Kingdom 2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey
Sounds like bullshoite as pretty sure the machines have the facility to do a pressure test

Also given how illegal it is to vent to atmosphere then can't see how any legit business can refill a known leaking system??
Post #847633 2nd Aug 2020 3:01pm
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cold



Member Since: 15 Dec 2018
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 118

On my Puma the engine hoist mount on the rear of the engine had worked loose and then rubbed away at the aircon pipe on the RHS - I found this after I had it regassed (a week earlier) and assumed that by regassing they had unwittingly moved the pipe enough to accelerate the rubbing against the loose bracket.
Post #847636 2nd Aug 2020 3:21pm
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newton-tony



Member Since: 18 Sep 2016
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 122

United Kingdom 2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Firenze Red
Mine was pressure tested recently as there was small dye mark visible under ultra violet (after re-gassing last year).

Told I need a new compressor but around £1000 from LR only.

Is anyone aware of other options?

2014 110 Utility - Googling suggests compressors for far less, but not sure I am looking at the right item Embarassed
Post #847661 2nd Aug 2020 5:43pm
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dorsetsmith



Member Since: 30 Oct 2011
Location: South West
Posts: 4554

Post #847662 2nd Aug 2020 6:00pm
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