Two years ago I bought a Mondeo MK3 2.0 TDCi 130cv 2006 and the owner showed me how well the air conditioning cooled and mentioned that he had recharged it with gas. In all this time it hasn't given me any problems, but this summer it started to get hot and when I tried to turn on the air conditioning it didn't get cold and it didn't have any power. Remembering what the owner told me I decided to recharge the gas. Now it did get cold and powerful, but after a while driving it suddenly lost power and cold. If I turned it off for a while and turned it back on it started to cool again and it died again after a while driving. I took it to another mechanic and they told me that they fixed some connections and a fuse on the electric fan and they recharged the gas and with that the air conditioning worked great for a week and now the same thing happens again as before: it works for a while and then turns off. The compressor seems to turn on and off continuously faster and faster until it stops connecting and that's when the air conditioning dies. The last mechanic said he found no leaks with the fluorescent method so I don't know what could be causing the system to fail this way.

If anyone has any idea what could be wrong, any help is welcome.

If you open the bonnet, run the engine then switch on the air con and observe the engine note,  does it sound like the compressor is engaging then disengaging all the time? The engine note will change as the load on the engine increases then decreases again. Does the cooling fan run ( NOT the heater fan but the engine cooling fan. ) Am surprised that your mechanic didn't simply measure the amount of gas in the system to see if it's got lost. 

This is the before and after pics of my Mondeo's rad and air con condensor, which was a similar age to yours when I changed 'em. Took me all day, but a proper air con specialist will probably do it in 2 hours and test and fill it for an all-in price 

 

 

My suggestion would be to take it to a proper A/C specialist. Not many 'mechanics' have the correct skills to diagnose correctly an A/C fault. Most common failures are the condenser, the compressor, or a straightforward leak letting the gas out. All within the range of someone that knows what they're doing...

On 8/11/2024 at 10:57 PM, nicam49 said:

If you open the bonnet, run the engine then switch on the air con and observe the engine note,  does it sound like the compressor is engaging then disengaging all the time? The engine note will change as the load on the engine increases then decreases again. Does the cooling fan run ( NOT the heater fan but the engine cooling fan. ) Am surprised that your mechanic didn't simply measure the amount of gas in the system to see if it's got lost. 

This is the before and after pics of my Mondeo's rad and air con condensor, which was a similar age to yours when I changed 'em. Took me all day, but a proper air con specialist will probably do it in 2 hours and test and fill it for an all-in price 

 

 

Thanks, I appreciate your time. The compressor issue is something that you can hear and see visually that it engages and disengages continuously. As for the electric fan, it is turning, but from what the last mechanic has been able to check (the one that fixed some connections and a fuse on the electric fan), says that the fan does not run fast enough and now he wants to charge me €450 to change the fan. I don't understand how he managed to fix the connections or the fuse so that it worked perfectly for a week, but now he tells me that I have to change the entire fan because it doesn't reach the speed of the third phase. The gas issue says that the level has not dropped and therefore there is no leak in the system.

On 8/11/2024 at 11:08 PM, StephenFord said:

My suggestion would be to take it to a proper A/C specialist. Not many 'mechanics' have the correct skills to diagnose correctly an A/C fault. Most common failures are the condenser, the compressor, or a straightforward leak letting the gas out. All within the range of someone that knows what they're doing...

Yes, you are right about that, because I have already checked that each mechanic says different things, one told me that it must be the sensors or the compressor. The problem is that in the area I cannot find any A/C specialists as such, but I see that I will have to look for one somewhere to solve the problem. Thank you for your time.

If the system is still fully gassed, then it's worth changing or at least checking the low pressure switch by bypassing it. I'm assuming you can do stuff yourself....? 

I certainly think it's totally worth a try. Not an expert but i guess I will be able to follow some youtube videos I've seen!