Xantia Air Con

Scorbs · Post by **Scorbs** » 17 May 2004, 18:40

Is there any easy way of telling if ones air con. needs re-charging?
and if it does where is the best place to get it done?

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 17 May 2004, 20:06

There is a sight glass on the top of the air-con dryer bottle (its in the front drivers side corner of the car next to the radiator header tank / washer bottle / ecu etc). With the aircon running, there should be a clear stream of liquid running past this glass, with no-air bubbles in it. Any air bubbles generally indicates that your system is short of refrigerant.

np · Post by np » 17 May 2004, 20:09

I had mine changed 2yrs ago now.When hot,i have it set at 18degrees,and leave fan on auto.It did`nt seem 2 b very cold,& running it on max cold & fan speed made no difference.No record of it being changed when i got car(4 yrs old)Under bonnet on drivers side at top is the drier bottle/canister,black with sight glass.Checked that as in manual,came 2 conclusion that it needed changing.Also,bottle was very rusty.
Took it 2 a local auto electical place who changed bottle,checked & re-gassed 4 £150 all in.Said that it should b done every 2 years or so,though next time would just need a re-gas at £70.What a difference it made!!Took it 2 Italy that aug,42degrees,worked great!
Still good now.
Have a look in Yellow pages.Some places will do a free check 4 you.Prices vairy.
Hope this helps.

np · Post by np » 17 May 2004, 20:13

Kowalski,i`m sure i read on back posts that that only applied 2 cars with the old type gas.Dosent seem 2 run as in manual on mine(sight glass)

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 01 Jun 2004, 03:23

Wheres the drain for the water....I think mines blocked

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 01 Jun 2004, 03:33

I think you'll find they're directly under the evaporator (cooling coil) and someone posted a while back that if the console or one side of it was removed, you can gain access to it and clean it from the top.
Be careful prodding around though particularly in the vicinity of the actual evaporator; doesn't take much to poke a hole in them and that's major drama if you do. Compressed air is as good as anything and mould combined with dust is your most likely culprit.
Alan S

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 01 Jun 2004, 03:57

Sorry to be a dork, but where the evaporator? (never had air-con before)

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 01 Jun 2004, 04:44

Near the heater matrix; behind the centre console.
On a BX it can be accessed by removing the glovebox; on a Xantia I can't say but possibly the same could apply.
Alan S

paulstow · Post by **paulstow** » 03 Jun 2004, 21:36

For cleaning the drains on many cars ( not had to do this on Citroen yet ) it's often easier to find the drainpipe from underneath the car and use an airline to clean it through.
To keep the seals on the a/c system in good condition and prevent leaks it's best to run the system for a few minutes every week even if it's not actually needed.
Cheers - Paul

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 03 Jun 2004, 21:51

The pollen filter seemed to be in the same housing as the evaporator. Aircon equipped Xantias have a smaller glovebox than non-air con equipped ones, since the evapourator takes this space up.

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 04 Jun 2004, 13:17

looking through sightglass, and no bubbles or anything looks like fluid in there, this is normal then ? Air lovely and cold.
Thought bubbles were a sign it was ok? never had air-con and i want to keep it in good condition any tips?

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 04 Jun 2004, 14:14

Bubbles are a sign that there is not enough gas in the system. No liquid is a sign that there is not enough gas in the system. Milky coloured liquid indicates the system is saturated with water.
The reason that you have to run the air-con once a month to 'maintain' it is that when you run the compressor, it lubricates its seals and prevents them from drying out, it also pushes the gas through the drier bottle so removing any moisture that may have collected in an inconvenient place in the system i.e. where it could cause corrosion.

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 04 Jun 2004, 14:25

Theres definately something under the sightglass, and its ice cold, its just hard to see any movement?

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 04 Jun 2004, 14:52

It gets a bit weird with all these gases these days.
In the days of exclusively R12 it was a case of looking for bubbles as a sign of gas getting low. If it got too low it didn't show anything, just the same as when it's fully charged; that got a bit confusing, but these days all systems using R134a and MP52 drop charge the systems and the sight glass no longer is relevant.
If it's cold as charity, it's working OK. All you have to do is give it a run occasionally so the seal doesn't lift on the compressor, keep the condensor cleaned and watch for qny oil stains at the connections.
Alan S

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 04 Jun 2004, 21:36

Thanks mate, I have only had to have the Air-con on 3-4 times in anger since I got the car, can't live without it now[:D]
Been putting it on for the last 5 minutes of the journey once a week before that.