No refrigerant left in A/C after two years

[Migwire]

The other week when it was quite warm I noticed the climate control was blowing warm air. Had it in at Audi this week and feared the dreaded stone damage to the condenser, but they said that there was no refrigerant left at all, however they can't find any leaks and the system held a vacuum for 5 minutes. They told me to "monitor" it now they've recharged the system.

Just wondering how common this is? I mean for a two year old car to lose all of it's refrigerant without a leak. I once had a Focus that never had its a/c serviced and that lasted 9 years. Granted it wasn't left on all of the time like my A3, which is perhaps where it's gone?

 

[RAF_S7]

The AC system in modern cars is a fully closed loop, meaning minimal coolant loss during its lifecycle. (You dont "use" coolant when its running)

You can, over an extended period of time (years) get some loss as hosepipes and seals degrade allowing coolant under pressure to permeate out. In modern cars, the coolant is also the lubricant, which is why regular use is essential (regardless of outside temp) in order to keep all parts/seals etc. lubricated.

Complete loss of coolant, in a cars your age, would indicate an issue somewhere. Id monitor as recommended, and go back to dealer if problem reocurrs.

Loss of coolant should prevent the AC switching on due to low pressure. (You may get initial switch on, but it will quickly swith itself off to prevent damage due to lack of lubrication)

 

[S Liner]

The AC system in modern cars is a fully closed loop, meaning minimal coolant loss during its lifecycle. (You dont "use" coolant when its running)

You can, over an extended period of time (years) get some loss as hosepipes and seals degrade allowing coolant under pressure to permeate out. In modern cars, the coolant is also the lubricant, which is why regular use is essential (regardless of outside temp) in order to keep all parts/seals etc. lubricated.

Complete loss of coolant, in a cars your age, would indicate an issue somewhere. Id monitor as recommended, and go back to dealer if problem reocurrs.

Loss of coolant should prevent the AC switching on due to low pressure. (You may get initial switch on, but it will quickly swith itself off to prevent damage due to lack of lubrication)

The refrigerant isn't the lubricant, there is also PAG oil in the system.

A low pressure fault will switch the system off to prevent the compressor from overheating, the refrigerant is also used to cool the compressor.

 

[richinsoton]

The system is never fully filled from the factory (saving a few pennies here & there obviously works out to £1000's in a production enviroment), so it could be down to that &/or a small leak over time perhaps.

 

[S Liner]

The system is never fully filled from the factory (saving a few pennies here & there obviously works out to £1000's in a production enviroment), so it could be down to that &/or a small leak over time perhaps.

I've not heard that one before.

The exact refrigerant amount is charged into the system by weight, you cant just 'top up' a system like most people think. If you are short of gas you don't know how much you are short by unless you recover it out and weight it.

So if they didn't fill the system up fully from the factory, that would mean once the car arrives at the dealers they would then have to recover the full charge of refrigerant and re-charge (with new R134a) the correct amount back into system...

 

[richinsoton]

I've not heard that one before.

The exact refrigerant amount is charged into the system by weight, you cant just 'top up' a system like most people think. If you are short of gas you don't know how much you are short by unless you recover it out and weight it.

So if they didn't fill the system up fully from the factory, that would mean once the car arrives at the dealers they would then have to recover the full charge of refrigerant and re-charge (with new R134a) the correct amount back into system...

The dealer would only need to recharge if there was an issue, as long as the initial fill from the factory is sufficient for the system to operate you'd never know it's not filled to the maximum capacity. & then obviously the dealer would usually refill to the max including any PAG oil recovered & include tracer dye as required... If you're cynical you could say also not filling to the max also helps with the upsell of air con services!. ;-)

 

[Migwire]

They recovered 65g of refrigerant from the system according to the print out.

 

[steeve]

System would have had the correct amount of refrigerant at production, it's automatic and some one like Audi would not do 90% of the job.
If the refrigerant is low then it has a leak............. end of.

 

[richinsoton]

System would have had the correct amount of refrigerant at production, it's automatic and some one like Audi would not do 90% of the job.
If the refrigerant is low then it has a leak............. end of.

Audi wouldn't do 90% of the job?... you do remember the ongoing emissions issue!?!.

 

[Dan_G]

Recently had both email and letter to the house from local dealer saying:

Your car is 2 years old, time to recharge your a/c system.

Or words to that effect. I forget the price they wanted.

Cheeky...

 

[Migwire]

Uncannily I got that card the day before my air con went off. £79 they quoted on the card but I only paid £59.

 

[Chimp]

I have had the exactly the same problem on my May registered Hatchback S3. Took to Audi for a look and they just said it needed a service/recharge costing £79. There wasn't a leak according to them as I dreaded the coolent/rad damage problem.

I have the service pack on the car also for 4 years but this isnt covered.... I have had about 5 Audi's/VW's over the last 20 years never had a problem with A/C. I never use it unless really hot, usually on econ mode. Use it less with the S3 as it has a Pana room... well small hole in the roof....not exactly pana!!

So I don't know what caused the loss or why at exactly 2 years it went....

 

[richinsoton]

I've just been looking at another manufacturers technical information I have access to & they allow 30 grams per annum as a system loss without fault across their range of vehicles, so I think the best advice is to make sure you use the a/c at least once a month to keep the lube circulating & seals moist to minimise the leakage as much as possible.

 

[S Liner]

As above, the A/C on a vehicle will leak if you do not use it frequently as the seals on the flexible pipework will dry out.

Over the past 10 years I've had an A4 B8, Caddy mk3, T5, 2x Golf mk6, A3 8P and now a Golf mk7, always ran the A/C on constantly all year round, on all of them, not a single issue with losing refrigerant/lack of cooling.

 

[steeve]

Audi wouldn't do 90% of the job?... you do remember the ongoing emissions issue!?!.

They really did a proper job on that, not like the other manufacturers that just put out duff figures........