Aircon not working on 2008 Xsara Picasso

[danamino]

Thank you for having me in this group. I have just joined and made a donation. I appreciate any help you can give me.

I live in Portugal and today I have just bought a silver 2008 Xsara Picasso. It's our second. We moved here 2 years ago in an Irish registered Picasso of the same year.

I was aware that the AC wasn't working but the seller took it to a garage while I was with him and they diagnosed a leak. I wanted the car as it is in overall really good condition and he gave me a good discount after a bit of hard negotiation (I swore I wouldn't buy a car with faulty aircon as it can reach 42c here in summer so I wanted some cash to help rectify this).

Apart from it not getting cold, the fan is very weak compared to our other Picasso. It is like the max power is similar to the lowest fan setting on our other car.

The displayed temperature can be lowered to 14c.

And I could be wrong about this part as I've only driven it the 250km home tonight, but when I raised the temperature control, the heat did go up, but when I lowered the control, the air didn't feel like it went cool again.

Does this sound like something more than an Aircon system that needs fixing and regassing?

Should I book it in with our Citroen main dealer, and ask for diagnostics to be done, with a view to having it fixed there or somewhere else. Can they fix this sort of thing? Or would I need an Aircon specialist to do this?

We live in a very rural part of Portugal and specialists of any kind are few and far between.

I appreciate any help you can give. Cars are very expensive here although this is not a new car I plan on keeping it for a long time.

Thank you.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi and welcome.

Think of the '14' is more of a setting than an temperature. This is correct for the lowest you can set it.

Your issue is likely to be:

A leak in the system (pipes / condenser)
A re-gas is required
The compressor itself

The best thing I can suggest is that you either get a mobile A/C vehicle specialist out (I can't imagine these don't exist in Portugal, as I can get these in Wales!) or take it to an A/C specialist.

They will fill the vehicle with a gas and dye and test the circuit first to see if there is a leak.
They will use tools to detect where the leak is and that all the actual schrader valves and connectors are ok
If all is well it may of just needed a re-gas, they'll vacuum out the system, then replace with the correct volumes of oil and gas and check that it is still holding pressure - and if so job done.
If it is losing pressure, they'll need to undertake further checks.

[danamino]

Thanks, and this is really helpful.

No mobile A/C specialists around here, but I've just been texting with a mechanic who says he does A/C who I located. I will translate the list you gave me and give it to him.

Do you think the weak fan could be related to this? And that it appears to blow warm (but not hot) air even when it is set to 14?

Cheers

[GiveMeABreak]

Without A/C working, (or with a low refrigerant level) the climate control cannot cool the air so it just pumping round outside air, but if the A/C has a little refrigerant then it may only be able to slightly cool it. When the refrigerant gets too low it will switch off the compressor to avoid damage.