Primera Air Con

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Thu 17 Jun 2004 20:04
Primera Air Con - Carl
I have a 98 Primera and have noticed in the recent hot weather that the air con is not cooling as much as it should.

The system seems to behave OK at motorway speeds, but seems to cut out completely at 30 - 40mph

It was regassed last year, and the problem does not seem to be getting any worse i.e. hopefully not leaking

I assume the problem is that the gas level is too low?, but I have not experienced the same problems between it's usual 2 yearly regassings

Just out of interest, how long do compressors last as the car has done 125,000 miles?
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Thu 17 Jun 2004 22:29
Primera Air Con - Dave N
It could be low on gas, or maybe the fan isn't working, so the cooling drops out at slow speeds.

Last time you had it gassed, did you fix the leak? If not, then it's low gas again, as leaks don't usually fix themselves.

How long will the compressor last? Depends how long you keep running it with low gas really.
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Thu 17 Jun 2004 23:09
Primera Air Con - Carl
Sorry it has never leaked gas before, I just have to regassed every 2 years as I am aware that there is a degree of natural leakage

My concern is that the lack of cooling seems to have come on suddenly, although it seems to have stabilised.
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Fri 18 Jun 2004 13:55
Primera Air Con - Collos25
They normally do stableise as the pressure has dropped ,Have it tested by sticking a pressure gauge on the valve if it is low it needs regassing.Pumps eithe work or the don't like a fridge pump.
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Mon 28 Jun 2004 17:43
Primera Air Con - Carl
I have a 98 Primera where the air con is not getting cold enough. It has recently been regassed, and checked for leaks which showed the system was OK

However I have noticed that the system is cycling a lot, with the compressor cutting in and out every 1 - 2 minutes. When the compressor is engaged, the air is ice cold. Furthermore the radiator fan seems to be coming up a lot more than usual even though the temp guage reads OK and is in the middle as normal, and there is enough coolant with no leaks

Am I correct in saying that the system has pressure switches (high and low)? Would these problems be caused by a defective switch? or what else can cause these symptoms?. I have the factory manual on CD but unfortunanelty this for is for the P11 model with climate control, so is of no use

I had the system regassed at Halfords and also paid for a full system dianostic, but all they told me is that the sysytem is OK but they noticed it was cycling a lot and did not give a reason or suggestion why. They do not instill a lot of confidence in me, as I think that all they can do is plug cars into the machine which regasses them and nothing else !!!

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