AC pressure

[rapidyellow]

the AC on my pug 207 isnt as cold as it used to be, when I got the car a couple of years back it was ok but I did a top up with one of the cans and pipe off ebay, worked perfect then up until recently.

The AC clicks on when button is pressed, indicating that there is pressure, as no pressure just means the AC light comes on and thats it, so anyway pressing the AC button to On the compressor is clicking on and spinning ok.

So I thought I would try another can on it, the pressure gauge in the pipe was showing in the Red at 90psi on the low line side which is where these kits pressure up from.

The Can wasnt able to add more pressure, but in the red isnt right is it? there was lots of pressure hiss out when the connection was made and removed.

Whats the likely fault here?, does the pressure just need lowering for it to start working again? or is the compressor at fault?

This is the gauge, but not connected to anything so no reading, but as above when connected it was in the Red at 90.

[Rich]

Take it to a professional AC place. Those cans of refrigerant aught to be banned. If I need an F gas cert to do it why the general public are allowed to mess with it is beyond me. 😂 but seriously, pressure alone is just half the diag. You really need to empty the system, vacuum it and recharge with the correct weight of gas.

[vitesseefi]

While I agree in principle to the above, the challenge (in this neck of the woods at least) is finding a “specialist” who

a). Actually knows more about automotive AC than I do (and I don’t know much!), or even knows how to work his automatic machine properly……

b). Doesn’t expect two limbs and a kidney in payment.

“it’s yer compressor mate”. Two different vehicles, 4 different places. It wasn’t on either vehicle….. it was something cheap and simple instead.

[vitesseefi]

Meant to say (seems I no longer have editing rights?)

OP symptoms sound like the receiver dryer (what passes for it in your system design) is clogged. This means the pressure downstream of the orifice tube is nearly as high as upstream so the system works very poorly.

[adam73bgt]

Receiver dryer on the 207 is built into the condenser if I recall correctly.

I spent a fair bit of time and money getting the AC functional on my gf's 207 last year. One of the hoses breaking off where it goes into the condenser made it much more of a task than it should have been.

After getting the final re-gas at my local place, they did comment that the pressure was on the low side still indicating that the compressor probably wasn't at full health but it's apparently still working and cold so it's holding on for now..

[jimi]

Apr 11, 2024 18:06:16 GMT Rich said:

Those cans of refrigerant aught to be banned. If I need an F gas cert to do it why the general public are allowed to mess with it is beyond me.

Never understood it either, after the introduction of the F gas regs even although I was working offshore I needed to hold a C&G F gas certificate before I could touch any AC/Refrigeration system. This was despite having been working on these systems for the previous 15 years and being certified as a "Universal Technician" by the US Environmental Protection Agency for at least 10 years before any legislation was introduced in the UK.

[kevins]

A lot of those cylinders they sell on ebay aren't even a F gas they are a propane / butane / iso butane mix that performs very much like R12, good news is they are no more damaging to the enviroment than CO2 and work very well as a refridgerant, but of course they have the potential to be explosive. I checked our 2010 R134a Fiesta the other day, once I had fixed the wiring issue and when it was working it gives around 30psi on the low side and 150 on the high.

you don't say what the high side is, if that's also 90psi chances are the compressor has failed.