Before i post i think i may have the same problem as the post ac hissing..


here we go.

mine is a uk version so right hand drive, when i got the car the ac worked but wasn't cold. So a week ago i got a man round to re gass it. He done it and it worked fine. When i went in the engine bay a few days later to fill up the washer bottles, i noticed the front valve used for refilling the ac gas, the one nearest the front of the car, was leaking the green fluid out. Now it never had any caps to put on ( it does now ) So thats why i noticed it. It was leaking like a dodgy valve on a tire, by this i mean slowly, not tons of air pressure. I bought some caps and thought that would be ok...


NOW when my ac is on i hear a noise sometimes behind the passenger dash, and it sounds like a divers bottle being filled, or a tyre being filled with air. I know there is a big ac thing behind there, as i saw the pictures on here that someone had posted when they removed the whole dash.....

My ac today is now cold, but not freezing. So here are my questions

Is the valve hard to replace in the engine? or is it expensive, or neither or both?

and

The noise when the ac on of a divers bottle being filled--does that mean that part is knackered? or because there is a leak, thats why it makes the hissing noise? ( hope it is this !!!)

How long would it take for the ac system to cool down through loss of gas through the valve that was leaking? would it have leaked enough gas in a week to make the ac not as cold?

Sorry its long, but any help would be greatly recieved.
bradleigh