2002 Corsa Air Con

Hot weekend and the Air-Con on my Corsa Elegance is not working

Been fading over the last few months really but only really missed it when the weather turned hot.

Now having been told by everyone that if the engine rev's dip when the Air-con button is pushed the compressor wll be OK. It will just be short of refrigerant as it needs re-charging roughly after 3 years or so.

So I looked into DIY re-gassing kit and bought (£50 ouch!) an American ID one with a gauge and all the bits needed to safely re-gas the system.

I found the low pressure pipe and valve nipple thing and it all fitted great.

Then I read the pressure on the gauge which I expected to read low or zero and it was in the RED DANGER zone (at 80 PSI).

Uh?

It hasn't been looked at or re-filled before and was fine for 3 years

Does anyone know for sure that the 35psi refrigerant level quoted on the 'American' packet is the right level for a Vauxhall Corsa.

Unlikely I know but maybe Vauxhall Air-Cons run at 150psi????

Perhaps it's always been overfilled and that's caused the breakdown?

Is there a recommended 'Refrigerant PSI' in a workshop book?

Any advice you can give would be cool (no pun intended)

Cheers

PJ

for 50 quid you can have it done professionally.

Well I saw =A380ish as the going rate

And I'd have to wait and book it in etc

This looks easy but it's just throwing up more questions than answers

Hindsight a wonderful thing

PJ

Well I saw £80ish as the going rate

And I'd have to wait and book it in etc

This looks easy but it's just throwing up more questions than answers

Hindsight a wonderful thing

PJ

Were you running the system when you checked the pressure?

mrcheerful

Actually first off no. Then I realised ans switched on. Made no difference to the pressure reading, should it???? I''l go and check again

PJ

Actually thought the engine revs dip and the light comes on the compressor it self doesn't spin. I (OK durrrr!) though the spinning I was looking for was the belt driven wheel not the side wall of it which turns freely by hand and I guess should be spinning like mad when the Air Con is switched.

Be nice if it were a relay not switching or loose connection but as the rev's change when the thing is switched I guess this is unlikey and it's a faulty compressor.

PJ

Actually thought the engine revs dip and the light comes on the compressor it self doesn't spin. I (OK durrrr!) though the spinning I was looking for was the belt driven wheel not the side wall of it which turns freely by hand and I guess should be spinning like mad when the Air Con is switched.

Be nice if it were a relay not switching or loose connection but as the rev's change when the thing is switched I guess this is unlikey and it's a faulty compressor.

Right, firstly aircon is not a system you can mess blindly with. These DIY kits are wholey inaccurate, and can only work in some cases, where the gas is slightly low and the a/c STILL working.

They are no use to an ameteur where there is a leak or the gas level has fell so low that the low pressure safety switch has opened.

Gas level in the a/c system is critical to it working properly, if at all. Your 80psi is the static pressure and is quite feasible. especially in warm weather.

Get the system vac-ed out and properly recharged by a professional.

60-80quid.

Tim..

Cheers Tim

Yeah should have been wary, you live and learn

Makes sense about the satic pressure being 80psi

The advice on the tin is if the everything appears to work but the compressor doesn't spin give it half a tin of gas to 'kick start' it. Having tried this I can't get the needle on the gauge to rise above the

80psi that I first read when I plugged it in as if it was FULL and of course it didn't kick start the damn thing either.

No my thoughts now are that the clutch in the compressor isn't being triggered. It spins freely by hand and doesn't make any grinding noises. I guess it could be a safety switch or just something not switching when it's told to engage.

Either way I guess I aint gonna fix this myself and looks like I'll have phone an Aircon specialist tomorrow. Already 50quid down on the re-gas kit but that's my own basic stupidity=20

PJ

Cheers Tim

Yeah should have been wary, you live and learn

Makes sense about the satic pressure being 80psi

The advice on the tin is if the everything appears to work but the compressor doesn't spin give it half a tin of gas to 'kick start' it. Having tried this I can't get the needle on the gauge to rise above the

80psi that I first read when I plugged it in as if it was FULL and of course it didn't kick start the damn thing either.

The theory is right, but you wont get anything out of the can unless the compressor is running and 'sucking' on the low side of the system.

You can warm the can up, but I wouldnt recommened it!

Tim..

No my thoughts now are that the clutch in the compressor isn't being triggered. It spins freely by hand and doesn't make any grinding noises. I guess it could be a safety switch or just something not switching when it's told to engage.

Either way I guess I aint gonna fix this myself and looks like I'll have phone an Aircon specialist tomorrow. Already 50quid down on the re-gas kit but that's my own basic stupidity

PJ

IDEA !!

If the inner wheel of the Compressor is free spinning but not engaging. I could temporarilly (haven't worked that out yet) clamp or peg it to the outer pulley wheel so that it spins with it and 'runs' the compressor.

This will achieve a few things first I will be able to get a true PSI reading on that expensive and so far useless gauge and if necessary push some coolant into the system

The only worry I would have is that if the clutch hasn't engaged to protect the system from harm then a manual overide is perhaps a bit dodgy. Although I'm not planiing to run it for hours just spin the wheel read the pressure and add some coolant.

Might just work

PJ

IDEA !!

If the inner wheel of the Compressor is free spinning but not engaging. I could temporarilly (haven't worked that out yet) clamp or peg it to the outer pulley wheel so that it spins with it and 'runs' the compressor.

This will achieve a few things first I will be able to get a true PSI reading on that expensive and so far useless gauge and if necessary push some coolant into the system

The only worry I would have is that if the clutch hasn't engaged to protect the system from harm then a manual overide is perhaps a bit dodgy. Although I'm not planiing to run it for hours just spin the wheel read the pressure and add some coolant.

You could easily defeat the LP safety switch to run the compressor, but to be honest I would rather suggest you have a professional properly service the system.

Tim..

Well to be fair what I NEED to find out is IF the LP safety switch is operating or whether something else fundamentally is wrong. Be interested to know how I could override it 'easily' and see if she spins up even if it's momentarilly

If the beast still refused to spin then that would be the end of my playing and off to a pro/garage/dealer etc

If I could over-ride it though and the thing spins up, I could quickly read the psi on the meter I forked out 50quid for and see where she's at and if needed fill the thing with refrigerant.

Go on Tim, I'll be careful

PJ

Well to be fair what I NEED to find out is IF the LP safety switch is operating or whether something else fundamentally is wrong. Be interested to know how I could override it 'easily' and see if she spins up even if it's momentarilly

If the beast still refused to spin then that would be the end of my playing and off to a pro/garage/dealer etc

If I could over-ride it though and the thing spins up, I could quickly read the psi on the meter I forked out 50quid for and see where she's at and if needed fill the thing with refrigerant.

Go on Tim, I'll be careful

PJ

Just disconnect the wire to the compressor clutch, put it to a live feed, the clutch should snap in.

I wanna get this right, so I borrowed a multi meter from work today before I go jumping wires

Of the 2 wires which attach to the compressor. When the aircon is switched on I read a 12v circuit, so one wire is poz wire and one neg/earth.

Is it a case of jumping poz wire onto the neg earth wire to trigger the clutch or have I got it totally wrong????

Does the fact that I've got a live feed down one of the wires mean that it's not gonna be the low pressure cut out that's faulty?

PJ

[...]

Totally wrong I'm afraid!

If you are measuring 12v *across the two wires going to the clutch*, and the clutch is not engaging, I'd strongly suspect the clutch is faulty...

Chris

Hi Chris thanks for the advice mate

I've just started a new thread on this thinking I'd get no replys as it was yesterdays job

Yeah with a probe on each wire I'm getting 13.5v on the multimeter

And I pressume it's the clutch wire as it's the only one I can see going to the comp unit

Shame though, thought I had this one nailed

Thanks again

PJ