Air con

Normally stone chips in the condenser.

Unlikely and they aren't cheap either.

Maybe it just needs a regas?


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I was going to suggest an air con recharge too. I had noticed that on my previous car it wasn't blowing cold even on the lowest setting. I took it in for a recharge and the dealer noticed that the compressor was losing pressure and needed to be replaced.

I would suggest doing the same, getting a regas and they should be able see if there is a problem with your air con system other than it needed recharged.

Remember that no one is allowed to just "recharge" - ie stuff in some more R134A, part of the checking regassing procedure is to recover all R134A and weigh it, evacuate the system, now this is normally an auto function of the equipment and if that system can not be evacuated within the allowed time, then it is deemed to be leaking and so not fit to legally recharge with R134A. Of course there will be situations where there is a slight/slow leak that is only a "running" leak, so some systems that lose R134A will end up getting legally recharged.

I've never needed to do this yet (seem to have manifolds and bottle of R134A in the garage somewhere), but, using a mobile independent fridge person is the smarter and cheaper way to sort this out.

ooo i would like to get this done too, it is cool(ish) but it is definately not icy like it used to be, never in the 4 years i had it have a had a regass, is that bad?
Would you recomend using the £30 air con services you see advertised at the sides of business estates?? or is there a good chain you would normally use?
I never heard of a mobile fridge person so wouldnt know how to get one lol

Before the F-gas laws came out prohibiting anyone from re-gassing air-con unless qualified we used to add florescent dye to the oil to trace leaks with a UV light. Now days you have to drain the system and vacuum it which checks for leaks under vacuum. Then you fill the system with nitrogen to test it under pressure which is safer than using dye albeit more of a ball ache.

If you can find an mobile independent guy like @rum4mo suggests that would be the best option because they would have all the equipment to diagnose your issue. (my money is still on your condenser )

I have never topped up any of my cars fridge systems, though living in the frozen/dark/wet North, A/C is mainly a luxury, unless travelling down South etc. All fridge systems will legally lose, it is claimed, up to 10% of their fridge gas charge by weight every 12 months, though plastic gaskets/seals/pipes, really due to these plastics being slightly porous to these gasses.

A friend used a mobile car AC fixer and was very satisfied with the results, but I can't say how you track them down - yellow pages/yell? These guys only exist on the back of the quality of service that they provide, so if you find one then you know that "he" must be good! Maybe where the mobile fixers work best is if you are not in a rush to get it sorted and they will come and remove the charge, and diagnose where the leak is, maybe giving you enough time to source new or good as new pipes/condenser/evaporator at a price that suits you, then they will come back vac>pressure test>charge if all is good.

Edit:- maybe these mobile fixers suit people with an oldish/older car where going down the dealer fixing route or a fixer with a fixed base would not be practical for costs reasons.