Timing Belt Changed and now no Air Con??? Advice needed

[siburrman]

Hi guys,

Just had a Timing belt and water pump done on my 182 and the leaking has stopped from the water pump but now i have no air con. The garage says they never touched the air con pipes/system when changing the timing belt. Is this correct? I thought the air con system was in the way when changing the timing belt etc?

My question is would changing the timing belt in any way stop the air con system from working?

Any help would be great.

 

[Martin_172]

they shouldnt have had to touch it could have some how damaged one of the pipes on the system though. what do you mean by its not working? turn it on etc just no cold air?

 

[Dan519]

i've had one leak from the pipe that goes into the pump before. Jacked the engine up and it moved the seal somehow and hissed at me. It shouldn't happen as there are flexi pipes there so i'd suggest it was probably the car being prone to leaking if disturbed, probably a damaged O-ring. They would have heard it though, if it leaked it was under a lot of pressure

 

[siburrman]

they shouldnt have had to touch it could have some how damaged one of the pipes on the system though. what do you mean by its not working? turn it on etc just no cold air?

Usually when you turn the AC on the engine noise changes as if its draining more power. You click on the AC button and theres no change in noise and its just normal warm air browing through the blowers. Checked all fuses and they are ok.

 

[siburrman]

i've had one leak from the pipe that goes into the pump before. Jacked the engine up and it moved the seal somehow and hissed at me. It shouldn't happen as there are flexi pipes there so i'd suggest it was probably the car being prone to leaking if disturbed, probably a damaged O-ring. They would have heard it though, if it leaked it was under a lot of pressure

Cheers mate i will ask if they heard anything when changing the belt

 

[MartinR]

Hi guys,

Just had a Timing belt and water pump done on my 182 and the leaking has stopped from the water pump but now i have no air con. The garage says they never touched the air con pipes/system when changing the timing belt. Is this correct? I thought the air con system was in the way when changing the timing belt etc?

My question is would changing the timing belt in any way stop the air con system from working?

Any help would be great.

do you mean aux belt? as the water pump isn't run by the timing belt..if they charged you for a timing belt change you have been ripped off! (unless you had it done anyway??)

broke a wire somewhere??

 

[mark123]

IIRC loosening the alternator makes it easier to get the aux belt on but one of the air con pipes runs under it. If you aren't careful it could damage the pipe.

 

[Martin_172]

Usually when you turn the AC on the engine noise changes as if its draining more power. You click on the AC button and theres no change in noise and its just normal warm air browing through the blowers. Checked all fuses and they are ok.

even if they had some how drained all the gas out it, the pump should still be engaging and causing noise/load, id imagine however im not sure how aircon systems work.

 

[MicKPM]

Nope, the system is balanced and requires a min gas pressure to be able to work (Min 0.9Bar I think). If the system shows a pressure lower than this the compressor will not engage to protect it. The same is true if the external temp is below 4 degrees C... The R134a isn't a true gas below these temps so the system will not work (even though the light is on).

Mick

 

[mark smith87]

Sounds like the gas has ost its pressure. you will need to get it tested by an aircon specialist.

 

[barker22]

Dare I ask who did your timing belt?

 

[MicKPM]

It's possibly not the fault of the people that did the belt change. It's possible that it's always been leaking and it's recently dipped below min. pressure.

Unless there are signs of obvious damage I'm afraid there's no real way of proving otherwise so step one, digs to confirm the button is changing demand status and that the pressure is good/bad. Then step two, leak test with dye and go from there.

Any A/C specialist will be able to perform this simple enough diagnostic for you... Even Kwik-Fit!

 

[Martin_172]

Nope, the system is balanced and requires a min gas pressure to be able to work (Min 0.9Bar I think). If the system shows a pressure lower than this the compressor will not engage to protect it. The same is true if the external temp is below 4 degrees C... The R134a isn't a true gas below these temps so the system will not work (even though the light is on).

Mick

thanks for clearing that up Mick

 

[mr.pink87]

AC compressor plug still attached?

 

[siburrman]

Hi guys, i took it back to the garage and they did a pressure test on the air con system. It showed very low pressure. they topped it up with gas and air con seemed to be fine.

they confirmed what Mickpm sed about it being beow a certain pressure and therefore the AirCon system did engage due to low pressure.

Been ok the last couple days. Only time will tell whether i have a leak in the system.

Cheers for the help people!