You know your aircon is cr*p once the sun comes out! Took it to a garage to have the gas topped up as I suspected it had never been done. They confirmed, very little gas in, vacuum pressure test passed, so they filled it up, oil + dye too. They mentioned (and I have subsequently confirmed) that the A/C isn't very cold while idling, but ice cold under revs. The garage think it's a lazy pump and just to keep an eye on it. Interested to hear if others agree with them or have a similar experience?

 

I think you will find that the fans are not turning on high when the AC is on. At speed you get lots of air flow keeping it cold. When stopped the fan not being on high is not keeping it cold.

The fan control module has been know to be a problem doing this. At one time the China ones were very bad. Look for a used one. I also remember there being different connectors on some of them. But we know how my memory is...

 

TSB posted again.

 

Thanks both, @Larry-Cleveland I don't think the fan is the issue, the issue is the same even with the car stationary and out of gear. It's cool-"ish" at idle but bringing the revs up to around 2k turns it ice cold very quickly.

@motorcarman I think this could be the issue, thanks for the post. From the bulletin it seems like I'd need to empty the refrigerant to make the repair, I'm reluctant to do that having just spent 80 quid on Tuesday getting it put in I can live with it for now, but I'll give this a go if my better half moans too often in traffic

 

A proper repair shop will have a machine to evacuate the refrigerant and store it until the repairs are complete and recharge the system.

I have an old Robinair 134a machine that works for me.