Vauxhall Cavalier 1995 2.0 CDX - Air Con leak

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Sat 17 Apr 2010 12:11
Vauxhall Cavalier 1995 2.0 CDX - Air Con leak - peter973

The Air Con has stopped working working.

I had system recharged a week ago, 3 days later it stopped working.
I assume there is a leak somewhere.

The system was completely completely empty and needed complete refill.
As soon as it was recharged it worked ok, man said no leaks were detected.

When I bought car a year ago, Air Con worked for short while then stopped, but I've only now finally got it recharged. I've been told Air Con needs recharge every few years anyway, so assumed last year this was normal general leakage, but it seems I have got a proper leak somewhere.

I'm used to oil/water leaks which you can usually see.

How easy is it to find & repair leaks in Air Con system ??

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Sat 17 Apr 2010 19:54
Vauxhall Cavalier 1995 2.0 CDX - Air Con leak - WellKnownSid

Fairly easy. Many places do / can put a dye into the refrigerant - so leaks can be spotted - some are visible, some need a UV lamp to see.

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Sun 11 Jul 2010 10:18
Vauxhall Cavalier 1995 2.0 CDX - Air Con leak - peter973

Fairly easy. Many places do / can put a dye into the refrigerant - so leaks can be spotted - some are visible, some need a UV lamp to see.

Kwik-Fit did the original air con recharge, so I took back to them as they said they could check for leak with dye.

After 45 minutes, they said they could not complete leak test, as it had detected major leak. They are not allowed to pump in refrigerant if they know it is leaking out, it's against the law, you "Cannot knowingly release refrigerant into atmosphere" .

I'm not sure what they were doing for 45 minutes, as I told them there was a leak and they said they could check with dye, strange.

Checked with another garage, they said they would check for leak with Nitrogen & dye.
They said Kwik-Fit had not done test properly or didn't have equipment to do Nitrogen test.

I assume to test for leak you should use Nitrogen & not refrigerant.
Maybe you can use refrigerant for small leaks & need to use Nitrogen for larger leaks.

Can anyone clarify ??

Edited by peter973 on 11/07/2010 at 10:20

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Sun 11 Jul 2010 11:35
Vauxhall Cavalier 1995 2.0 CDX - Air Con leak - elekie&a/c doctor

Finding leaks on car a/c systems can be very difficult and time consuming .There are many areas where the pipework is hidden or access to components is very awkward.Small leaks may take time to show and may only become evident after the car has been driven for some miles due to changes in temperature under bonnet and vibration issues.I would certainly use a uv dye first in the gas charge then nitrogen as the next step.Even this does not guarantee any results.However ,going on past experience,I would say that the most common area for a leak on a Cavalier is the a/c condensor radiator,often showing leakage on the reverse side so it is not immediately evident.hth

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Sun 11 Jul 2010 15:56
Vauxhall Cavalier 1995 2.0 CDX - Air Con leak - peter973

.I would certainly use a uv dye first in the gas charge then nitrogen as the next step

the most common area for a leak on a Cavalier is the a/c condensor radiator,often showing leakage on the reverse side so it is not immediately evident.hth

I think Kwik-Fit could not do leak test with refrigerant & dye, as their machine detected "major" leak, so would not continue with test.

Another company said most common place for leak is the Condenser radiator.

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