Dear all,
The aircon expired on my two year old Vectra over the weekend. There was a hissing noise seemingly from behind the dash for a while, then nothing, and warm air of course.
The question is, would the leaking refrigerant leave a discharge ? I can\'t see an obviously burst pipe, but the pipe which returns from through the bulkhead (presumably from the condenser ?) has a slight oily like discharge on it as it disappears down the side of the engine bay. It is very localised on the pipe itself, and doesn\'t seem to have come from anywhere else. Is this a symptom of a burst pipe ?
Thanks for your help !
Steve
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Hi Steve,
Refrigerant gases include freon and arcton R12.
In theory, you should see no residue. In practice, a volume of gas condensing to liquid and boiling to gas will clean the system out, and become dirty.
So, yes, you will see where it's leaked out.
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If you take it to an airocn specialist, I believe that some sort of fluorescent dye can be stuck into the system so that leaks can be pinpointed.
HTH
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Ivor - The dye is the only surefire way of locating an aircon leak.
I looked over a 97 Range Rover 4.0SE today with rapidly-leaking air con gas (R134a)
No external leaks were evident but the system had lost some 400g of gas in 3 days - a fairly large leak.
The condensor showed no obvious signs of damage/leaks etc
I added a good shot of flourescent dye after charging the system to a 20% level (To minimise wastage and environmental damage - the caring person I am!!) and ran the system for an hour. Then...looking at the condensor (with the UV absorbing googles and UV lamp - Bingo! There was the leak - two seperate sections of the condenser. Remove googles and switch off lamp - nothing at all to be seen!
£546 later on and all is well :-(
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B.O.C. gases have recently released a new version of R134 refridgerent gas with a marker dye already added, all it takes is a UV light to detct leaks.
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Hi Steve, Refrigerant gases include freon and arcton R12. In theory, you should see no residue. In practice, a volume of gas condensing to liquid and boiling to gas will clean the system out, and become dirty. So, yes, you will see where it\'s leaked out.
Hi Sean, Freon/Freon 12 and Arcton 12 have been outlawed for automotive and domestic use. The current enviromentaly friendly gas is R134.
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I concur with that pasty - I assumed Sean had made a 'deliberate' mistake! Outlawed and last seen in around 1995-ish on UK cars IIRC
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"The aircon expired on my two year old Vectra over the weekend"
How many miles has the car covered? I think I'd be asking for a goodwill contribution from Vauxhall if the mileage was sensible and the car has FVSH..
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\"The aircon expired on my two year old Vectra over the weekend\" How many miles has the car covered? I think I\'d be asking for a goodwill contribution from Vauxhall if the mileage was sensible and the car has FVSH..
My Vectra was registered in july 2000, it has 31000 miles on the clock. The pipe that went on mine was the flexi pipe that runs from the pump and where it ran through a restraining bracket in the bottom of its run it had worn through the reinforced hose.
Being a pipe, Vauxhall didn\'t want to know, not even Diamond Sureguard Warranty, who i am fully covered with. They say because it is a pipe, no matter what kind of pipe, it is not covered at all. Interestingly though, the new pipe that was fitted now come with a rubber anti wear bush around the pipe at the restraining bracket site, a recognised but not advertised fault me thinks.
Pastyman...........
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Yo Steveb,
I too have a Vectra on a X plate, with a recently repaired aircon problem. The gas used is R134 and it will look like a oil stain around a leak on any of the pipes due to the fact that the gas contains a lubricant, for the seals in the A/C system to stay supple and moist.
Before you go to a dealer for any parts, try a company called Vauxhall independant at Rectory road, Grays, Essex (118 for no.).
These guys saved me nearly £70 on a pipe compared with a main dealers prices, and they are official Vauxhall/Opel parts.
They will sell you pattern parts if asked for.
Hope this helps.
Pastyman.
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I think I would have persued that one to the max - that shouldn't happen at 31K and at that age!
How far did you go?
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I did question my Vauxhall dealer about why a pipe would go at such a mileage, the answer i got was "Its one of those things sir, these things happen.".
I then asked why the new pipe had a rubber anti wear bush fitted on it, just where the last pipe had worn through, i was then told that parts are always being modified. After explaining that Vauxhall must have known about this fault for them to modify the pipe, i was told that "Because its not a safety related fault, it was not covered by any factory recall notice.".
Therefore i had to suffer the bill for it.
Pastyman
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Vectra aircon is a waste of space.
Steve - I had an identical occurrence with my 01Y Vectra. Hissing from behind the dash and no aircon. My car was still under its Network Q warranty (a good reason for paying extra and buying from a dealer) and they rebuilt all the piping anf fixed the car. They had it for an entire day to do so so I don't imagine it was a "small" job. Second time this Vectra has had a load of piping replaced. First Vectra (pre-replacement) also had aircon failure.
Bit of a joke really!
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Thanks to everyone for their posts - obviously this is a very reliable system !
For info the car has done 34k at 2 years old.
The dealer was not encouraging when I booked it in - if it's a pipe - I suffer the cost. If it's compressor/condenser etc they do. From the evidence the pipe looks like the culprit however.
I'm wondering about the cost of not getting it fixed, on the basis that 2-3 years down the line it will break again, probably about the time I come to trade it in. By then It'll be worth next to nothing anyway - so have I lost - apart from not having cold air for a few weeks in the year ?
Steve
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