Normally I leave the air-con turned off in my car (as i think it affects the fuel economy), but, with this warmer weather, i have been using it a bit.

I have noticed it pongs a bit – am i going to catch some horrible disease?

Should I use it more so that the smell goes away?

You should use it every now and then as your book of words will tell you.

I’m not an AC engineer but it may just be a bit of “what have you” where it should not be.

It has an off button? 😉

If you have not been using at all there is a good chance the seals on the compressor have dried up meaning it is knackered. The smell is caused by the bugs in the ducting, either crank the heat up to full and run it at full blast to kill them or if this does not work buy something like Comma aircon cleaner which fills the car with a gas that will kill them.

+1 for running the a/c at least 10 mins once a week, no matter what the temp- it’ll run warm too. AC is fab for clearing misted windows on cold winters mornings 🙂

I only got the car 2 months ago, so I can’t comment on how much the previous owner has used the air-con.

i’ll get into the habit of using it.

Whats this ‘re-gassing’ that I have seen advertised?

over a period of time the gas used at the coolant leaks away and so needs to be topped up or ‘re-gassed’.
Run the a/c and check that cold air blows out. IF only warm air comes out then a re-gas will be required.

re gassing is pumping any lost coolant back into the closed system, the compressor “compresses the coolant, hey presto you get magic cold

deffo got cold air coming out – so re-gas not required.

Ta, folks.

I have heard of people sticking their a/c on re-circ at full whack & spraying a heap of Neutradol spray into the car & letting it circulate.

Probably best attempted while you are not in it!

on a related note, how does AC affect fuel consumption? never understood that, it runs of the battery surely 😕

i thought the compressor pump was driven off the engine – its one more thing that the engine has to power and thus uses more juice – i think.

Its the turning of the compressor off the engine, more load to turn the compressor means more fuel.

rs – Member
on a related note, how does AC affect fuel consumption? never understood that, it runs of the battery surely

And how do you suppose the battery gets charged!

never ending battries now there is a thought, rushes to the shed in that Heinz Wulf kind of way

Switching on A/C increases the load on the engine and thus has a detrimental effect on economy – generally the smaller the engine size the greater the effect it has on economy. However if you try to save money by winding down the window fuel economy will be affected due to the increased air turbulence.

I use my air con button as a turbo boost.

“Turbo Boost Kitt” *turns air con off*, the wheezy engine comes to life, well sort of, certainly feel an instant difference! 🙂

Oh & mine smells of stanky mould. I believe its the intake being covered in leaves and things. I stuck a de-humidifier pot in the car, and it removed the smell for a couple of months.

If you drop by Halfords (or another equivalent shop) I think you can get a special aircon decontamination kit.

Park the car up on the drive with the engine warm and running. Set the aircon to recirculate and maximum temperature and set off the decontamination thing. Works like a smoke grenade. Do not sit in the car, obviously!

Climate control usually doesn’t run if it’s for heating and it isn’t particulary humid.

i thought the compressor pump was driven off the engine – its one more thing that the engine has to power and thus uses more juice – i think.

Correct. The compressor is driven by a belt from the crankshaft, via a clutch. When you press the button it brings the clutch in and turns the compressor, taking energy to do so. Again though, modern climate control systems will just run it on and off periodically to save fuel, and it’ll also turn off temporarily if you bury the pedal.

what’s the pong when you turn it off? it’s the same in all AC cars i’ve driven. Weird smell

Bacteria build up.

Forte is one of the best Air con cleaners to use, I bought some cheap off Ebay.

Also remove the Aircon filter when doing the cleaning, or else it restricts the circulating of the mist.

“Turbo Boost Kitt” *turns air con off*, the wheezy engine comes to life, well sort of, certainly feel an instant difference!

I am always quite impressed that my old 1991 car automatically disengages the A/C when over 75% throttle – now thats forward thinking from the little men in Japan! I’ve since stripped the whole lot out anyway as it was 20kg of excess baggage to be dragged around.

my aircon wouldn’t hold a recharge of gas for more than a week so I stopped using it. Is there any way of repairing ac units, my guess is the seals are perished?

You can get the seals etc replace but i don’t know prices. The drain on the engine from the air con is constant where as the drag from having the windows open rises as the speed goes up they cross at some point and the general rule is about 45mph so above this its more economical to have the ac on and the windows closed below open the windows and turn the ac off.

And is it normal that old AC blows warm air if I drive slowly and cold when faster?

I’ve just had the seals replaced on my car. Including a re-gas it cost £70. Well worth it when driving yesterday when it was 29′ outside!

I found it’s made nextto naff all difference on comsumption on my diesel Passat – that said mine’s climate control so it runs flat out when you start up to get the temperature right, then just runs at a really low level to maintain it. Run mine all year round – as mentioned above its fantastic for demisting in winter too.

I am always quite impressed that my old 1991 car automatically disengages the A/C when over 75% throttle – now thats forward thinking from the little men in Japan! I’ve since stripped the whole lot out anyway as it was 20kg of excess baggage to be dragged around.

CK, I was considering installing AC in my car – got any bits lying about?