the air conditioning on my y reg ford mondeo has stop working I.E. it blows very hot air. could this be a filter problem or does the aircon need recharging, it did work ok last summer but when I tried it this week IT was like being in a fan oven

peter maher, July 2006

You can fix it yourself. Check the coil next to the radiator for holes, chips etc. Thats called a condesor coil- its where the refrigerant vapour condenses back to a liquid form. Now follow ALL the pipes you can find and check all of them for any signs of oil leaks. This is sometimes died yellow or orange to aid finding the leak. If this is the case, it wil need to be pressure tested and vacced which needs expert attention. If all seems well, get down to halfords and get a R134a recharge kit for £25. Follow the instructions and it should work. The reason cars ac systems fail is because in the winter, as nobody uses ac, the oil on the compressor shaft seal, which needs oil to seal it, dries and lets the gas out. Alwyas run your ac at least once a week during winter to prevent this again.

ollylewin@hotmail.co.uk, January 2007

Air con is not really DIY because you need a machine to do the discharging/charging. You could have a gas leak in which case the leak needs to be fixed before the car is charged. My local place will do a check for about £20+VAT which comes off your bill if you have the job done there.

Terry, July 2006