Fiesta125

Isn’t it typical, four days before you are due to go on holiday (driving to Germany) the A/C packs up!

In the cabin the A/C button glows orange, but there is no cool air!

From under the bonnet there is a regular clicking sound (about 5 second gaps) and the engine revs go up and down. This goes on for as long as the A/C button is on.

Obviously it is not working – but any ideas what it could be and a likely figure on how much to fix???

PS I am guessing if it needs re-gassing and there is not enough pressure in the system it would deactivate the switch in the cabin? But obviously I don’t know for sure.

Fordtech.

Nope, sounds like the A/C is working alright- do you get any cold air at all from the heater? If not, it's the old heater valve problem, many posts around on this one.

backlash1

Hi guys
Sorry, but I have to (respectfully) disagree here. A 5 seconds cycling time for a compressor is way too short. Once your cabin is at the temperature you've selected you can expect a short cycling time, between 5-10 seconds, but not when you turn the a/c on for the first time. This could be due to a system that's blocked, overcharged or undercharged (which I think is your case). Only if you were unable to get hot air when selected (as well as cold air) would I blame the heater tap. cheers
marc
ps: The A/C button will never deactivate, as it is only a request to the control module. Even with no gas at all in the system it'll turn on when you press it, but the module will not turn the compressor on (to prevent internal damage) because it will be receiving a signal from the low-press switch.

Fiesta125

I thought I would let you know what the diagnosis was – it was indeed low pressure, so the compressor wouldn’t run.

The system was de-gassed and then re-gassed and phenomenally cold for about a week, but already the air is beginning to not feel very cool again.

Going to give it a month to see what happens and then take it back I think.

I Reckon there must be a leak?!

backlash1

Definitely a leak. And a big one too if you're loosing that much gas in only a week. Take it back to them now that there's still some gas left to see if they can detect where it's coming from. cheers
Marc