I think this is a classic case of....

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."

Ugh 😂

 

would they have any luck with a nitrogen test? I would rather if they could find the source but as it took a few months to leak that’s my concern

43 minutes ago, unofix said:

I think this is a classic case of....

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."

No I agree it’s more I’m just trying to work out what’s right for the car on something I’m not an expert on

1 minute ago, captaincadet said:

on something I’m not an expert on

What you need to do is take it to someone who is an expert. 👍

My last piece of advice is, bookmark this thread, get it fixed, then report back to us with one final post telling us what the fault was...👍

15 minutes ago, unofix said:

What you need to do is take it to someone who is an expert. 👍

I agree but having one garage tell me they strongly disagree with selant and that it makes further repairs more expensive and difficult while others swear by it. As someone who does a lot of their own maintenance but is no expert  it’s a complete pain and a bit confusing 

 

6 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

My last piece of advice is, bookmark this thread, get it fixed, then report back to us with one final post telling us what the fault was...👍

I plan to anyway! 
There’s a garage around me that quotes a 100% success rate with some equipment and another one who specialises just in air con and I’m going to speak to both of them and work out if there’s any consensus.

Finding a garage or mechanic you can 100% trust is a major headache, and once you do hold onto them.

This thread has me thinking. I've never really used the air con on my almost 3yr old Fiesta. 

Will that mean it'll need gassing? 

21 minutes ago, Rich650 said:

This thread has me thinking. I've never really used the air con on my almost 3yr old Fiesta. 

Will that mean it'll need gassing? 

It means that like many folk, you may not realise the functionality that you car has LOL A/C needs to be used regularly, mine hasn't been turned off since purchase! With non use, the seals in the system will dry out, dried seals don't work properly and gas will leak, hence it'll likely not work now without intervention.

Most folk think A/C is to do with temperature - it isn't. It conditions the air inside the cabin, which will also remove airbourne moisture, hence even in the depths of winter, it will help prevent all your windows from misting up.

On 2/18/2024 at 7:20 PM, StephenFord said:

It means that like many folk, you may not realise the functionality that you car has LOL A/C needs to be used regularly, mine hasn't been turned off since purchase! With non use, the seals in the system will dry out, dried seals don't work properly and gas will leak, hence it'll likely not work now without intervention.

Most folk think A/C is to do with temperature - it isn't. It conditions the air inside the cabin, which will also remove airbourne moisture, hence even in the depths of winter, it will help prevent all your windows from misting up.

Yea its the steaming up that suddenly made me realise it's gone... 

 

 

Update 1:

Spoken to quite a few AC mechanics about this. Fault has not been found however they believe it is a leaking o ring on the low pressure side. It’s booked in next week for a test at a specialist and if it’s an o-ring it should be fairly easy to replace there and then. I’ll keep you posted on the results of the test.

 

However the argument with the sealant from what I’ve gathered is don’t bother unless your car is old. Speaking around its decreases performance and has been known to block up the AC. Was pointed out to me that there is one garage  around here who uses it all the time and the cars he does usually end up in another garage i spoke to. It also appears to kill compressors in a few years.
 

As I got a fairly new car (2018) it’s not recommended but if you got a 10 or so year old car, it might be someone to consider.

Update 2: appears to be the compressor that’s leaking… garage want the car for a few days to confirm that it is that as there not sure if it’s an o ring or something else gone - as in want to do a larger diagnoses before ordering anything.  
 

Compressor has also gone noisy in the car itself. Looking around the forum that appears  to be a symptom of a dying compressor… 

 

I need my car and while I can lose it for a day or two  for work so losing it for a week isn’t really an option so not sure where to go from here 

1 minute ago, captaincadet said:

I need my car and while I can lose it for a day or two  for work so losing it for a week isn’t really an option so not sure where to go from here 

Buy a used one off Ebay, they're not big money, then get them to fit it. It's a common fault, and will only take an hour to fit.

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Buy a used one off Ebay, they're not big money, then get them to fit it. It's a common fault, and will only take an hour to fit.

If it’s that common, would it be better off just buying a new compressor instead of a second hand one?  What’s the chances it’s the o rings failing? 

20 minutes ago, captaincadet said:

If it’s that common, would it be better off just buying a new compressor instead of a second hand one?  What’s the chances it’s the o rings failing? 

If you have money to burn, sure, get a new one if you want (price them and compare to a decent used one) I replaced mine 4 years ago with an Ebay one, cost me £25, still works great! You're really overthinking this.

An A/C engineer would have this diagnosed in less than an hour. A 'garage' will take as long as you like on your dime. At least putting a replacement compressor on you are moving things forward, and being without your car for very little time.

Only you can decide what to do. Your car, your money...

7 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

If you have money to burn, sure, get a new one if you want (price them and compare to a decent used one) I replaced mine 4 years ago with an Ebay one, cost me £25, still works great! You're really overthinking this.

An A/C engineer would have this diagnosed in less than an hour. A 'garage' will take as long as you like on your dime. At least putting a replacement compressor on you are moving things forward, and being without your car for very little time.

Only you can decide what to do. Your car, your money...

Yea sure. It’s more I don’t have any expertises here  

 

I’m a little surprised that the garage wasn’t able to confirm that it was the compressor or not and just said “maybe”

17 hours ago, captaincadet said:

I’m a little surprised that the garage wasn’t able to confirm that it was the compressor or not and just said “maybe”

Would you use a plumber to fit a new door on your house, or an electrician to fit a new bath ? Probably not.

Garages have general purpose mechanics who are good with a spanner and a hammer. You need an AC specialist, someone who can fault find and fix AC systems, but are probably not so good with a spanner and a hammer.

 

1 hour ago, unofix said:

Would you use a plumber to fit a new door on your house, or an electrician to fit a new bath ? Probably not.

Garages have general purpose mechanics who are good with a spanner and a hammer. You need an AC specialist, someone how can fault find and fix AC systems, but are probably not so good with a spanner and a hammer.

 

I agree entirely and went with someone who seems like a specialist.
 

This garage said they were a AC specialists online and with reviews and on the phone they also seen to know what there talking about. So yes I’m a little miffed for them to say “we need to take everything apart and do more diagnostics” rather than finding the exact leak. 

 

I genuinely see why people pay dealerships prices 

TBF if a dealership cant plug it in they're stuffed, they're still only spanner monkeys, no offence to decent spanner monkeys that KNOW what they're doing

10 hours ago, captaincadet said:

I agree entirely and went with someone who seems like a specialist.
 

This garage said they were a AC specialists online and with reviews and on the phone they also seen to know what there talking about. So yes I’m a little miffed for them to say “we need to take everything apart and do more diagnostics” rather than finding the exact leak. 

 

I genuinely see why people pay dealerships prices 

Dealerships aren't any better.  I also had a poor experience with a highly recommended AC specialist unable to find the fault on a Focus.  In fairness, I couldn't find it myself, which is why I contacted them as a last resort.  Some leaks are harder to find than others.  And as already said in this thread, your leak must be incredibly small.

The noise on your compressor may just be because it's running low on gas.  Doesn't necessarily mean it's faulty.  Although running low on gas for a long time won't do it any favours.

AC compressor pricing has always confused me.  They're expensive to buy new, but almost impossible to sell used, so cost very little if you do want to take the risk on a used part.  I generally ended up scrapping them when I was breaking cars.  Given that you can't be without the car for long, I would agree with Stephen that your best option now is to buy a used compressor (preferably one with warranty from a decent breakers yard), and have that fitted along with genuine new o-rings to make sure it seals properly.  That's going to be the best compromise between speed & cost and is high up on the list of potential faults.  If that doesn't fix the issue then you can look elsewhere in future, hopefully discounting both the compressor and it's o-rings from the search.

I'm not sure what condenser access is like on the Mk8 Fiesta, but if they can reach the condenser connectors without dismantling much, it would be worth replacing the o-rings for those as well.  Again, I'd recommend genuine ones as the quality often isn't so good on aftermarket ones.

Little bit of an update - spoke to the mechanic himself and not a receptionist today and it’s a leak on the low pressure side of the condenser. It could be the o rings, it could be the pipe from the compressor  to the condensor or it could be the condensor itself.

 

2 minutes ago, captaincadet said:

..or it could be the condensor itself.

Look forward to you reporting back that condenser replaced, and all fixed... (If you can see brown staining on condenser, that's usual giveaway of leak)

No brown staining or anything. But it did take several months to empty 

7 minutes ago, captaincadet said:

Little bit of an update - spoke to the mechanic himself and not a receptionist today and it’s a leak on the low pressure side of the condenser. It could be the o rings, it could be the pipe from the compressor  to the condensor or it could be the condensor itself.

There isn't a low pressure side of the condenser.  In fact, the highest pressure in the system is in the pipe between the condenser and compressor.

Hopefully that's just poorly worded though.  Ultimately it doesn't matter which side the leak is on.  The whole system should be sealed and free from any leaks.

8 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

There isn't a low pressure side of the condenser.  In fact, the highest pressure in the system is in the pipe between the condenser and compressor.

Hopefully that's just poorly worded though.  Ultimately it doesn't matter which side the leak is on.  The whole system should be sealed and free from any leaks.

Your right… the condenser on front of the car is the highest pressure part of the whole system? As the note I took was on the phone was:

low pressure side condenser 

low pressure pipe to condenser 

low pressure seals