Wondering if anyone can help before I bite the bullet and send it to my local dealership who will be waiting to relieve me of buckets full of readies.

When I turn on my aircon the clutch engages briefly i.e 20-30 seconds then goes off. I bought a can of DIY refridgerant believing it may be low in the system and the gauge that came with the can indicated so. I filled to the correct level but still have the same problem.
I've tried jumping the clutch relay and it wil engage but no cold air whatsoever. Also should the fans engage when the AC button is pressed. I've also jumped these to engage the fan(s) but again no cold air.
The charge of refridgerant seems to be holding, alas i'm at my level now as to what could be wrong

 

The First step is to get it properly recharged.....Take it to any Air Con specialist (not Kwik Fit) and they will vacuum test it and recharge it for about £50. That may fix it. If it dose not fix it then further investigation is needed, but an Air Con specialist can do this much more cheaply than a dealer.

Its hard to say exactly whats wrong with your system, but getting it vacuum tested and recharged will eliminate alot of possibilities.....out of interest, is your outside temperature display in the car working ok?

 

The outside temp seems to work fine although I would say it can sometimes seem to read a degree or two cooler or hotter than it actually is. I will get an independant ac specialist to recharge it properly and see where to go from there. Thanks for your reply

 

Outside air temp display is the same in mine.....a degree or two out, but thats fine, if the outside temp probe fails the display permanently reads -10 or something. This causes the a/c to never engage as the control module thinks its really cold outside. So thats not your problem. Too much or too little refridgerant could cause your symptoms so the recharge should eliminate this possibility.

Let us know what happens when you get it recharged.

 

Recharge booked for Thursday 14th so will let you know the outcome one new development though the aircon is engaging or trying to (same symptoms as original post) even with the A/C button off