air con not working anymore - any ideas?

[UK Explorer]

Hi All,

As the weather has heated up, I thought I would have some air con - but it does not work. It always did work, but as some of you know my car had been off the road for quite some time having lift and various othe work done, and now the air con does not work...

any ideas

 

[Ian5700]

It could be that the seals have gone bad, due to lack of use, thus allowing all of the gas to escape. The manual suggests that the air conditioning must be used at least 30 minutes a month.

You could start off with just getting it re-charged, either by a garage or by picking up some recharge gas/seal reginerate. This may solve the problem.

Does the air compressor still cycle?

 

[blueka]

a refill and check would only cost about 60 quid...

Si

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Roll your windows down

I'd check and make sure the compressor is running.

 

[UK Explorer]

does it matter where I go for this, or is it X specific?

 

[Ian5700]

It shouldn't matter. The manual may list the specific coolant, or if you do a search you can bring it up.

As it is now moving into the summer, the garages will usually have 'deals' on recharging, so you could shop around and find the best price.

 

[UKExploder]

You also may want to check to see if a fuse is just blown, u know?

 

[UKExploder]

And until it's fixed, put on ur hat, secure it & roll down the windows, gee whiz, it's not even overly warm yet.

 

[jimbro1000]

A topic close to my heart - you need to get it checked over to make sure you aren't losing your gas from the system. If it is they will be able to work out where the leak is pretty easily and the fix will just be a replacement part (usually a pipe) and a recharge.

I've been through all this and my system still isn't working but I do know what is wrong - the solenoid on the pressure vessel isn't working. Ford UK refuse to supply just the solenoid and insist instead on replacing the entire vessel but cannot guarantee that the replacement part will come with the a new solenoid (go figure).

If anyone knows what the generic part is and where to get it, I'm waiting to hear! I'm told it isn't Ford specific but I still don't have any line on a replacement...

 

[Glacier991]

If by "solenoid on the pressure vessel" you are referring to the low pressure cutout switch on the accumulator, it is available separately.