hi all, i am asking on behalf of one of my friends. his car is a Astra 16v 1.8 (96) with AC. the AC is not working, as in once the AC switch is pressed, "nothing" happens. previously it used to increase engine rpm and of course the cold air. the switch itself seems to be working as the light in the switch turns on, but as i said nothing else is happening. the fuse is also ok. any ideas what could be wrong? cheers
(PS the AC system was recharged last year and was working fine, until this summer when this porblem happened)
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If the a/c was charged last year, one assumes it was because it was empty. If so, then wherever the original gas went, the new gas went the same way. In other words, it has a leak. If whoever gassed it last year put dye in it, then it should be fairly easy to spot (by a specialist), if not, then you may have to recharge again and add dye this time.
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I once hired a brand new Scenic, and the aircon failed after 3 days. I noticed that when it was switched on the clutch on the compressor didn't disengage.
When my current car lost most of its gas, the compressor uesd to kick in, but then cut out when it couldn't build pressure.
Therefore although no gas is the most likely culprit, I wonder if the compressor should be kicking in to try and compress what its got? If it should, but its not, sounds like a wiring problem.
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If the AC system leaks and looses pressure there is usually a sensor that cuts the power to AC system to protect expensive components.
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(PS the AC system was recharged last year and was working fine, until this summer when this porblem happened)
Has your friend used the air con at all since the end of last summer? The reason I ask is that the seals can dry out if the air con isn't run at least once every couple of weeks for 10 mins or so. Rain or snow, still use the air con or come next summer, chances are it won't work.
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hi guys. in answer to various questions: 1) he has not used it regularly during the winter and he is not a \"car maniac\" and not into maintaining his car 2) the problem is that once the AC is turned on as i said you dont feel anything has happened, as if the whole system is dead (the rpm does not change, the compressor remain inactive, the radiator fan remain off.....), I think its more case of the system for some reason is not turning on, as opposed to turning on but hot air comming etc... it might be as some one suggested either there is some protection system which has detected a leak and is not turning on or a wiring problem. I do know that a few months ago he had a problem with the engine diagnostics light (it would not turn off) and paid 400 quid (and a lot of time in garage) for some one to turn it off. is it possible that the mechanic knocked off a wire or something?? or infact can it be that the mechanic just \"turned the light\" off without actually sorting the problem which caused the light to come on, and so the computer has shut down the ac?? cheers
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You've just answered the question yourself.
"he has not used it regularly during the winter"
Therefore the seals have most probably dried out, so the gas has escaped. ie, no gas - no air con. See Big John's comment further up the thread.
Also see HJ's advice on how to look after your air con system.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=14
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Dave i undrestand this, but John said "there is usually a sensor..." what is a sure way of knowing if this particular AC system has this protection system, and if supposing such a protection system exits, would it not also turn of the AC light on the dash? and does someone know how this operates? for example does the sensor kick in only if it can not build up pressure after so many seconds of activation? or before you actually want to use the AC, it already knows this and will not even attempt to build pressure up? if its the latter, this cannot the problem with this car because as i said the thing is completely dead. even if you put your hand on the compressor you cant feel anything changing once the switch come on.
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Amin - All automotive a/c systems have a trianary switch which will disable the compressor when the system pressure drops below a certain level.
I suggest a 20% recharge with a dose of flourescent dye to locate the leak. Shoudl be no more than £45 - £55, somewhere like that.
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thanks guys, very kind of you. I think there is common agreement that the system might have discharged and leaked the gas out. I will let him know and i think the best is if he takes it to a garage to sort it out. again thanks a lot for your help.
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