Paging the cage air-conisti

I have got a BMW cage that leaks all of its gas out in a matter of days.
When I had it re-gassed for the first time this year, the guy that did
it noticed that the condensor (auxiliary) fan wasn't working. He thought
it wouldn't be a problem unless I was stationary for long periods of
time. A couple of weeks later all the gas was gone. So, I fixed the fan,
had it re-gassed again, and he also bunged in some leak-fixer stuff.
That was four days ago. All the gas has gone again.

Both times he has vacuum and pressure tested the system, and there are
no obvious leaks. (Second time around, under pressure test, we thought
the pressure was dropping -ever- so slightly, but it was really hard to
tell.) Both times he has also added the fluorescent leak indicator stuff
- but there is no sign of any leak.

How can I find out where it's leaking? Can anyone recommend someone that
might be able to fix it, Newbury/Berks area?

TIA

 

You soft fucking tossers are all the fucking same. This is Britain ffs
the last thing you need is fucking air con. Open a fucking window.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PH-GAS-LEAK-DETECTOR-SPRAY-250ml-BOTTLE_W0QQitemZ270116870856
Or similar.

Spray on when the system is under pressure.

 

Look in the Yellow Pages for a mobile aircon 'man with a van'.

They put a dye in the system to find leaks.

 

Being an ex-AC engineer, IMHO it is bloody nigh impossible to find a leak on
a car system.
You'll probably find that the evaporator is leaking very slightly, or a
connection near it. This is normally jammed up under the dash board in with
the heater matrix. If you can get in there with a sniffer you might be lucky
to confirm this. You still won't be able to fix it without removing half the
car to get to it.
The chances of seeing the pressure drop on a gauge is unlikely as there is
only a few ounces of refrigerant in the system and if it takes 3 or 4 days
to bleed away you would have to sit and watch the gauge for a few hours.
Best take it to Mr BMW and let them have a look if it's a valuable car. They
"may" have a chance of finding the leak as they do know the weak spots.

HTH.
--
Greybeard


FLHTCUI UK-07 Mk II
Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

It does thanks, confirms my findings so far. Not what I wanted to hear
of course. I'll see what my man with a van guy says when I tell him it's
all leaked out again. He's been pretty helpful so far.

 

After the aircon packed up on the Skipda a while back I took it to one
of the local places (Cheltenham) that's got a good rep for fixing
aircon.

The cursory investigation peering through the covers 5 mins before they
closed led to a "looks like the end has sheared off of the pump... it'll
set you back about £430 all in... but we can't be sure until we've had
it up on the ramps and taken the covers off"

Not that I wanted to spend £430, I dropped it in to them.

3 hours later, call to say it's done.

Turns out the nut had dropped off the end of the shaft and the pulley
wheel had fallen off. Nut and pulley wheel were sat there in the
under-tray. They took off the compressor and reattached the pulley
wheel, checking the shimming was still OK. The compressor was lubed,
re-fitted and the system gassed and checked.

Total bill, £70.50.

What impressed me most is that they could very easily have shoved a new
compressor on and charged me the £430, but they didn't. Any other work I
need doing, I'll not hesitate to go there again.

Not entirely local, but if you want their number, e-mail me.

But in the mean time, open the window.

 

From the little I know about aircon systems, I believe it won't work very
well at all without the fan running - normal airflow due to the car's
movement just isn't enough. Shouldn't damage the system though - there
should be over / under pressure cutoffs to protect it.

 

e-mailed

 

Yes that's definitely the case. In the brief period it was all working,
it was much cooler than without the fan, even at high-ish motorway speeds.

 

What model is the car?

If you haven't already, have a look at the appropriate forum over on
http://bimmerboard.com.

It might be a common fault - a handy thing to be aware of if you end
up going to Mr BMW and it could also help your man with van guy if you
can tell him where to start looking.

HVB

 

'tis an E38

I have looked on E38.org - doesn't appear to be a common fault. 30+
hours to get to the evaporator if it turns out to be that!

Mr. Man with van is going to come back with his super sniffer next time,
so perhaps he will get lucky.

 

WTF?! It can't have taken that long to assemble the car in the first place.

 

Very nice - I've had two, but never had this problem with either.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch!

Hope so! Good luck.

HVB