Xantia LX 1.9TD air-con not working

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 06 May 2007, 20:58

Hi everyone,

My air-con isn't getting cold. I've read through some posts and have checked that the thick wires on the connector going to the dryer with viewing glass are closed-circuit - which they are - and that the radiator fans are spinning when the air-con button is pressed - which they are.

There's a click and a grumble from the engine as the air-con is turned on which presumably means the compressor clutch is activating, but still no cold air. Not even slightly cooler.

Even though the pressure switch is closed-circuit, could there still be too little gas in the system to cool the air at all? Looking through the viewing window on the dryer thing, you can see liquid moving around like it's being sprayed in. Is that good, bad, normal? An indication of gas quantity?

Thanks
James

np · Post by np » 06 May 2007, 23:42

I`m no expert but the liquid in the sight glass means the system is working.The less bubbles in it the better.Also,from experience on my old Xantia,there is a safety cut out on the system,that if the gas is too low,or leaking,it would not work.
Have you checked your pollen filter?Located under the glovebox in the car.These need replacing every service,6k or 10k(i think on later td`s)If this gets blocked or clogged up it can affect the system,as i too found out on mine.

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 07 May 2007, 14:24

Is there air flow in the car ?
All as per Neil’s post, and you can check on the air conditioner ‘making cold’ by touching the pipes going to the compressor; one should be cold enough to be covered in condensation.
The fan speed, temperature and airflow sliders also have to be set to ‘likely’ settings to blow cold air.
A blackened pollen filter can be washed, if you’re as stingy as I am.

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 09 May 2007, 00:24

Thanks for your replies.

NP: I'm wondering if the way the liquid in the sight glass seems to be spraying with lots of movement is indicative of too little gas. My parent's Xantia was regassed only a short while ago and apart from a couple of small bubbles wobblying about under the sight glass when the air-con is running, there's no real sign of liquid moving, let alone the appearance of a hosepipe being sprayed against a window as with mine.

I too thought of the cut-out, and the low-pressure switch has not opened, so it hasn't yet reached the pre-defined low level, unless the switch is stuck short-circuit.

The pollen filter is fine and air-flow through the ports in the car seems normal.

Clogzz: Air-flow seems normal. I tried touching the pipes after I went through quite a few posts in the forum yesterday reading of other people's experiences. The pipes don't get even slightly cooler. All sliders set as needed to get the air-con going. Funnily enough I washed my parent's pollen filter a while back because they didn't have the cash to buy a new one and seemed to do the trick quite nicely, although not as good as a new one which I later installed.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 09 May 2007, 02:57

I have seen "liquid" movement in the sight glass caused by oil moving around in there as the oil is clear.
If it's almost out of gas it sometimes can still momentarily trigger the clutch but then it will disengage almost immediately or if the terminals have been bridged, will continue to run but not get cold,
An empty system will look almost exactly the same as one with a full charge through the sight glass at times, so my guess is that it is short on gas but pull the plug off the HP/LP switch on top of the receiver/dryer and look to see if the terminals have been bridged internally. I've even seen them bridged back a bit from the switch by auto sparkys using those knife type connectors to bridge the wires out.

Alan S

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 26 May 2007, 23:41

Glad to say that the air-con is now working again. The trouble was lack of gas. It's had a complete regas and is now blowing freezing cold air.

Thanks for all your help.
James