Ford Focus Air Con

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Sun 13 Jun 2004 20:07
Ford Focus Air Con - Adam {P}
Hi all,
I may be buying a '99 Ford Focus and need your advice on the air con. When you put it on full belt (setting 4) it isn't really that powerful - there is definitely something coming out but when you switch it to the recirculated air feature it becomes a lot more powerful. My question is, what is wrong? Does it need to be regassed? If so, how much would it cost?

Thanks very much,

Cheers

Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Jun 2004 20:47
Ford Focus Air Con - Marc
I'm not an expert but, nothing by the sound of it.

All air con systems blow harder when recirc is on - it's for rapid cooling of the interior. Probably because the system is chilling the same air instead of "new" air coming into the vehicle.

Do all four individual speeds of the fan work?

Is the air ice cold? It only needs regassing if the air is not cold
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Jun 2004 20:50
Ford Focus Air Con - Adam {P}
Didn't run it long enough to see if it blew really cold. I'm not a great expert of Air con either but I should add when you press the A/C button, the light goes out - presumably because it's off but it blows at the same speed thus leading me to believe, like you said Marc that it doesn't need a regas.

Out of interest, presumably no gas is the most expensive thing that could go wrong with the air con, so how much would it cost to regas?

Cheers

Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Jun 2004 21:06
Ford Focus Air Con - Dynamic Dave
how much would it cost to regas?


Somewhere ITRO £80.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Jun 2004 22:01
Ford Focus Air Con - Altea Ego
if you are saying there is less air (regardless of its temperature) coming out from "external" air and more air from "recirculation" then the pollen filter is blocked. This is bypassed in recirc mode.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Jun 2004 22:51
Ford Focus Air Con - Aprilia
I am not very familiar with the Focus a/c system, but whether the a/c is switch on or not shouldn\'t affect the blower output - it will affect the *temperature* though. The only caveat to this is that on some systems the a/c itself will not turn on if the blower is \'OFF\' (to stop the evap. from freezing straight up).

Generally, assuming a warm day, the air will feel colder at lower blower speeds. At higher blower speeds the air will not feel as cold, but the cabin temp. will drop quicker.

In my cars, on a very hot day, I tend to drive with the windows open for the first couple minutes to let all the really hot air out. That helps it cool down quicker.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link