Blown out my refrigerant - RESOLVED
 

Any one had this? I was driving with the roof down in 30 degrees, aircon up on auto so full, pulled off the motorway as I approached a set of lights my aircon dumped all the refridgerant, big cloud of nastiness. Any one had this. I guess I either over stressed it and it over heated or maybe it had a bit too much refridgerant from the re-gas a few weeks previous? Not checked the filler valve to see if any pressure is still in there, but does it blow out of anywhere particular does anyone know? Is it a re gas or a repair to be made from a burst hose or pipe? Eek!
Help and suggestions welcome.

Burst hose or pipe I'd guess, there's likely an oily mess somewhere.

Ditto on what Norri said. Sounds a little more catastrophic than just a failed 0-ring or Schrader valve...

The service procedure is to evacuate the system, pressure test and then recharge with 650 +/-50 g R134a Refrigerant and 160 - 200 ml PAG Oil. The oil is as important the system as the refrigerant. Jaguars typically lose 5-10% charge per year; I have mine serviced every two years as I take my cars down to the Med and need the AC there.

A broken pipe would almost instantly dump the charge as would a considerably more serious and expensive Condenser failure. A leak from a seal is more gradual and can be detected with UV.

A problem specific to UK and the rest of Europe is the ban on R134a refrigerant. As a result, remaining stocks of the 11Kg cylinders typically used by trade specialists has rocketed from 13 UKP to 375 UKP and more.

Graham

Well I depressed the input valve on the low pressure side and I got a good hiss so still got some gas, will get it checked & redone and hopefully nothing was damaged? Yes my mate who has a garage just bought a new bottle, another 10 Kgs went from £70 to £360 or some nonsence, cheers EU legislation cant wait to be gone!

So, re-gassed, no leaks but the gas went in real slow so I reckon my compressor is shot, can anyone confirm that?

You need to put a gauge set on and see what the pressures are.

Norri, Thanks for posting this. I was thinking of checking my pressure levels, then remembered there is an ambient temperature factor. This nails it. Thank you.

John

I have said this before, unless you are experienced at AC work, leave it to the professionals, more serious damage has been done by those little cans of gas than anything else. If the charge is low, the system needs to be pulled down by vacuum to get the oil out, so that it can be replaced in the CORRECT quantity. If you have a leak, the oil can leak down with the gas , and if you recharge without it, the compressor can grind to a halt, taking your fan belt with it, you are stuck! Not only that, but you need to find the leak!

So turned out to be my compressor clutch, it came away from the rubber ring, made an awful noise without the aircon engauged as that held it together, maybe I overheated it in the first place driving around with it on full with my roof down or it just failed, I guess it failing suddenly blow the gas out, stuck another old front end on all cool now and lucky as I did not have to evacuate the gas either, but I need a new clutch & pulley complete long term, stick that on the list with all the other jobs! Not sure I will get the pulley off in situ though as I couldn't today even with the anti roll bar moved, anyway it will do for now.

Thanks for posting the results. I've added RESOLVED to your thread title.

Graham

Vacuuming the system is not going to pull the out out is it?

This is the equipment they use on mine:


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...fcf2045b2b.jpg


It removes the entire charge content by vacuum, then pressurises the system for 7 minutes to check for leaks. If the pressure doesn't fall during that time the correct weights of refrigerant and PAG oil are added.

Graham

Given that the UK is a signatory to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, leaving the EU won't make any difference to controls on gases that affect the ozone layer.