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[MikeDundee]

You say that the system is still working fine.  How cold is it?  Did you use it yesterday when it was quite hot and did it cool the car?  A non technical test I use is put the A/C on, fan speed fairly low and breathe out slowly into the stream of air.  If your breath condenses (i.e. you see steam) then the system is cooling adequately.

If the above is the case, I wonder if you have a leak at all.  How do the MOT people know that you have a leak?  Did they do any sort of test?  Is there UV Dye in the system?

The air con is working fine had it on yesterday, just for a short while though but cold air pretty quick; there is dye in the system from when they done it last year, they left a sticker under the bonnett advising of the dye.

I have just been running the engine with air con on full, air con is working fine no problem there, the only water under the car (under the passenger footwell) which I assume is coming from the air con system has no signs of any dye in it, unless needs checking under flourescent light or something. no signs of anything leaking under the bonnet either.  :-/ :-?

[markrl]

The water under the car will be simply condensation fron the cold pipes etc showing that the A/C system is running and is quite normal. If your still worried about leaks you need to get it checked by someone with the correct equipment, however its sounds like its running fine and may have been a false alarm.

[x25xe]

its sounds like its running fine and may have been a false alarm.

Agreed.

[MikeDundee]

Thanks for all the advice lads, could well be just a false alarm, I'll keep an eye on it for now

[Admin]

The schraeder valves are easy to spot. The 2 air con pipes on the right side of the engine bay, near the front have valves on them. These should be sealed with what can be best described as oversized dust caps! If you can see the valves (think of oversized tyre valves) then you need the caps as they seal the valves.

[MikeDundee]

The schraeder valves are easy to spot. The 2 air con pipes on the right side of the engine bay, near the front have valves on them. These should be sealed with what can be best described as oversized dust caps! If you can see the valves (think of oversized tyre valves) then you need the caps as they seal the valves.

Yes I do recall seeing them, I will double check tomorrow, its pissing rain outside at the moment - I don't want to soumnd stupid but what have these valves got to do with the compressor?

[cdx25]

The schraeder valves are easy to spot. The 2 air con pipes on the right side of the engine bay, near the front have valves on them. These should be sealed with what can be best described as oversized dust caps! If you can see the valves (think of oversized tyre valves) then you need the caps as they seal the valves.

Yes I do recall seeing them, I will double check tomorrow, its pissing rain outside at the moment - I don't want to soumnd stupid but what have these valves got to do with the compressor?

Not a lot - they are charging and gauge points, but they are a good potential for being the source of any leak...  Which might otherwise get blamed on the compressor.  

[MikeDundee]

The schraeder valves are easy to spot. The 2 air con pipes on the right side of the engine bay, near the front have valves on them. These should be sealed with what can be best described as oversized dust caps! If you can see the valves (think of oversized tyre valves) then you need the caps as they seal the valves.

Yes I do recall seeing them, I will double check tomorrow, its pissing rain outside at the moment - I don't want to soumnd stupid but what have these valves got to do with the compressor?

Thanks for that, thought it might be

Not a lot - they are charging and gauge points, but they are a good potential for being the source of any leak...  Which might otherwise get blamed on the compressor.  

[Matchless]

Mike, the bearings you had replaced were almost certainly in the compressor pulley, there are others inside the compressor its-self but it is a ful re-con job to replace those.

If the compressor has any leak visible to an MoT man it would be some of the lubricating oil and will be flourescent green or yellow due to the dye. Any oil leak will also be losing refrigerant so eventually the system will shutdown due to low refrigerant pressure. Leave it alone and see what happens.

Could the MoT guy have seen oil which had run down onto the compressor from a leaking camcover?
When the A/c is working it will condense moisture from the air, this drains from pipes either side of and above the gearbox. This will be clean water.
If there is any sign of antifreeze coloured (or smelling) water dripping from the same area its likely to be the heater by-pass valve.

[MikeDundee]

Mike, the bearings you had replaced were almost certainly in the compressor pulley, there are others inside the compressor its-self but it is a ful re-con job to replace those.

If the compressor has any leak visible to an MoT man it would be some of the lubricating oil and will be flourescent green or yellow due to the dye. Any oil leak will also be losing refrigerant so eventually the system will shutdown due to low refrigerant pressure. Leave it alone and see what happens.

Could the MoT guy have seen oil which had run down onto the compressor from a leaking camcover?
When the A/c is working it will condense moisture from the air, this drains from pipes either side of and above the gearbox. This will be clean water.
If there is any sign of antifreeze coloured (or smelling) water dripping from the same area its likely to be the heater by-pass valve.

Thats right, e.g., what happened yesterday when I left it running to check , the camcover seals have all just been done. The bits replaced when done last year are as follows:

Part no; 52482791 set tank dehydrato
Part no; 9146202 pipe-aircon

Inlcuded all the checks for leaks fourodye, regas, refridgerant etc.