My 2002 Renault Espace Race 2.2 DCI is 4 & 1/2 years old with 45K and has been owned by me from new. 2 months ago the air conditioning (with climate control) stopped working. I took it to Kwik Fit who offer a re gasssing service at £44.95.
They confirmed there was little or no gas left in the system and set about re-charging it - a process that took about 1 hour. The airconditioning was now working (albeit not as stong when the car was new) . The air-conditioning then worked for the next six weeks and now has stopped operating all together. Kwik Fit were very good and gave a complete refund although they did offer to recharge the system again, an option I felt was pointless since it appears I have a leak.
Has any other Espace owner experience a similar problem? what was the solution and how much did it cost to fix ????
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It is impossible to say how much it will cost to fix. On the assumption there's a leak, it would depend on where it is leaking and whether it's just a bad joint or if a new component is needed. You need to take it to an air con specialist who will put dye in the system and looks for leaks using a UV lamp. I don't think Kwik Fit get involved in sorting out leaks.
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I have a 2002 Espace Dci. I have an air con leak. It could be coming from anywhere . I had Renault top mine up and profess there were no leaks either, even after pressure testing th system on th car. Yet two monhts later, all the gas had gone.
I took it to a specialist air con company who told me that most air con systems on cars over 3 years old develop leaks, mostly in pipe seals and so forth and can be fairly easily traced by any comptent air con repairer using proper testing gear and tell-tale dye. If it was a seal, they could put a substance into the sytm that would plug the leak and offer a seal for at least a year.
In my case they pressure tested it and said that while there was not one whiff of gas, their system was not showing up any leaks on the car - and they have £8,000 quids worth of very expensive vacuum computer controlled stuff to check things like this, unlike I'll bet, Kwik Fit.
Puzzled, they kept the car all day, filled it with fluorescent green dye (so they could se where it was laking from) and ran it until they eventually found the leak. It took them 3 hours - not by the way that they charged me for this - only the standard £39.95 top up fee. It was actually coming through the aluminium cast housing of the air con compressor itself, but was almost impossible to see, so small was the leak. There is no way to 'fix' the compresor housing - its just cracked and effectively scrap.
They contactd Renault Technical, who told them this had been an issue on a number of vehicles fitted with whatever type of air con compressor my Espace had. My dealer said this was rubbish.
I have not replaced it yet - about £400 for the part plus an hours labour, plus gas. As it tends to last about 2 months, I have been buying gas from halfords for £19 a cannister and periodically re-filling it myself - a five minute job.
Will get it fixed later in the year when I have some spare cash
I have been told by a number of people that :-
1. You have to regularly use air con, not just in summer, or the oil seals in the compressor (the thing hat pumps round the gas), will dry up and the gas will leak away.
2. Over time - 2 or 3 years, the gas will still very slowly find a ay out of most systems and if not, will degrade, so it should be periodically replacd anyway
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