Strange A/C problem

[25v6turbo]

A fellow Safrane owner contacted me to say he has a strange issue with his A/C on his Phase 2 Safrane,its always worked fine and he has always kept it gassed,only last week he used the A/C and it worked perfectly,when in use the low pressure(larger pipe)gets cold whilst the other smaller A/C pipe remains cool but not ice cold,BUT he has said that the A/C is now not blowing cold,but the compressor clicks straight away when turned on but now the smaller(low pressure)pipe goes ice cold and the low pressure pipe is now cool,the pipes have swopped which one goes ice cold,he says the pipe is freezing cold so it has gas but is not blowing cold in the car,i wonder if it has a pressure sensor fault?

[Jifflemon]

Is it actually blowing any air or just a bit asthmatic? Blocked pollen filter?

[25v6turbo]

Its blowing air fine,just no ice cold,Safranes don't have pollen filters although the space is there they never fitted them in the U.K.

[lanciamatt]

First thing he needs to do is get the car hooked up to a a/c machine and see what the pressure readings are doing. Until this is done your just guessing, with system off and presure gauges connected both should read same, when turned on low side should drop and high side rise.

[Guest]

Sounds like a faulty expansion valve, does the compressor run constantly?

[25v6turbo]

No it only runs when the AC is turned on,but I do slightly suspect the pressure valve,he wants to get someone to see how much pressure there is in each port,its strange what has happened , like something has been reversed,the system  has gas in it as he said today that the pipe turns white with cold and ice so its going very cold,strange...

[25v6turbo]

So I spoke to the owner late last night and he says that he bought one of those self regas kits from Halfords,when he has used in the past with no issues at all,R134 same as his,but recently he used the gauge supplied with the kit to check his system and it read low,so he added a STP A/C sealing liquid to the system and regased to the correct level  and all was fine,do you think the sealing liquid has maybe blocked a valve and caused his problem?

[Guest Hooli]

I was about to say the regas kits don't contain the oil that needs to be in the system so a valve could have stuck, but then I read the rest of your post & that sounds more likely.

[richardmorris]

Whereabouts is he? I can recommend a mobile guy near Farnham

 

http://www.air-care-automotive.co.uk

 

 

He’s called John Goggin and is very good. Works for maranello Ferrari in Staines etc.