Mondeo Mk4 aircon

[456GT]

Help, I'm leaking gas!

It was re-charged a year ago but clearly I haven't noticed anything over the winter. The first bit of warm weather, though, and I was left sweating!

The guy at the garage last year said he couldn't see a leak but there is obiously a small one somewhere.

This is an ealry Mk4, has anyone else had any issues with their cars?

[LuS1fer]

No. Have you had the dye put in to try and trace the leak and has it been pressure tested?

[456GT]

Yep, they did that but couldn't spot anything in the few hours they had it.

What else could be the reason for losing gas?

[LuS1fer]

Could be the seals or it may not be the gas at all but the compressor.

[Mikeg500]

Hi, new to the forum but hopefully this is helpful I have recently been through issues with my Mk4 Mondeo aircon. When warm weather arrived I was getting no cold air. I had similar with Mk3 Mondeo which had a faulty compressor clutch so checked that and all was OK. Went to Kwikfit to have it checked and they recharged the system. All was OK for 24-48 hours then no cold air again. Called an aircon expert and he was pretty certain that it was the condenser radiator and confirmed this when he came out to check it. Seems that this started with 07 plates then appeared on 08 plates and is now happening on 09s which I have. His factor is shipping hundreds of these apparently. The radiator goes porous after about 4 years hence the creep through the plates. The sign is a damp looking patch in one of the lower corners of the radiator more prevalent on either inside or outside so you might need to hunt a bit. It apparently takes 24-48hrs to leak out and will pressure test OK hence the re-charge machine not picking up a leak. Had it replaced on Monday at a cost of £200 for parts labour and recharge. Had a round trip of 90 miles today in 28 Deg and the system is working perfectly again. Worth getting this checked before spending money elsewhere. I got a refund from Kwikfit on the basis it didn't fix the problem and I didn't ask for a recharge, I asked them to check the system as it wasn't working.

[Justin S]

Try asking a reputable company if they test the system with 'tracer gas' . This is 5 % hydrogen and 95% nitrogen. Any decent company will be using this nowadays. I am in aircon and have been for 27yrs and it has been shown to find the most minuscule leaks.

[Tooley71]

Hi all I have a mk4 mondeo . I went to halfords today to get the aircon recharged . They told me that after putting only a small amount of gas in that the pump was not running . Will the pump run with no gas or will it have to be fully charged for the pump to engage

[finlo]

Tooley71 said:

Hi all I have a mk4 mondeo . I went to halfords today to get the aircon recharged . They told me that after putting only a small amount of gas in that the pump was not running . Will the pump run with no gas or will it have to be fully charged for the pump to engage

It will need to get to a certain pressure to trigger the LP switch.

[bungz]

All Mk4 mondeos have a problem with riveted mounting hardware on the original condenser. These ALWAYS fail.

As above needs a certain amount of gas for the compressor to kick in.