hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

The new wagon`s aircon stinks of old dog and worse !! It was little used for the last 2 years, and also mists badly on starting up and turning off. I was advised by main dealer to go to another manufacturer and get an aircon purge bomb to sterilise the internals. Is the filter easily accessible, or does it need to be overhauled by a specialist? Cheers

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

A/C needs to be done by a speciallist as the gas is a hazzard and you can face a rather large fine if you release it into the atmosphere
A full regas should fix the problem as they vaccum the system out which should kill all the bacteria in there
£45-60 quid normally.

Tony

fordrsrickc

iTrader: (5)

i had exactly the same problem it stank like sweaty feet which is the only way i could describe the smell lol,.i had mine regased and the smell was still evident then i changed the pollen filter and the smell disappeared. hope this helps

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

Thanks Tony and Rick,
The air con chills and heats fine; if the gas is in a sealed unit it should have nothing to do with the smell. I was told at the dealer that various bugs like e-coli can develop in there, and as my throat was sore after 3 hrs in and out of the car I`m not keen to have it on. My own theory( what do I know) is that it has not been used much ( 2000 miles in 2 yrs) and there is moisture sitting in there with a dirty filter. I`ll check if it was changed. Thanks again,
Leb

cster

It was the air (pollen) filter in mine. A real damp/musty smell.
Just make sure your model has one before you go in there.
It is located behind the glove box assembly, which is not too tricky to remove. Do a search.
The actual filter is quite expensive, but as some models don't have one, maybe try without?

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

Nice one Cster,

I would have been under the bonnet !! Sounds right
Thanks

Bungleaio

iTrader: (1)

Pollen filter definitely, takes about 10 mins to get to behind the glove box.

As for the filter being expensive it depends if you go to the dealers to get it. I got one from eBay with a carbon layer for £10 delivered.

I posted about changing pollen filters a couple of weeks ago so if you search my posts you'll find the thread quite easily

fordrsrickc

iTrader: (5)

I opted for a genuine Subaru pollen filter as I'm a bit **** like that lol but sorted it out for me. They are available elsewhere for ten quid but you get what you pay for in my experience

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

I was quoted £ 110 fitted at main dealers !! Me thinks I will have a go myself !

ozzreid1964

iTrader: (32)

i fitted my own a few weeks ago i can assure you if i can do it anyone can as i got 2 left hands when it comes to fitting things

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

Use an air conditioning sanitiser, then replace the pollen filter.
If that doesn't work, get it serviced by an aircon specialist.

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

Job done; £13.89 carbonised filter from Japarts ( they took the trouble to double check correct part no.) No more smell, thanks for all advice. £ 96 saving over main stealer

cster

SN rules!

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

£96 to spend on mods then?

Bungleaio

iTrader: (1)

I can't believe the dealers wanted £110 for such a simple job!

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

It`s outrageous, and has made me realise how much I am being charged for servicing my Legacy whilst it is under warranty. Shocking. I am still getting alot of glass misting though.

awdx4

Hedgecutter, I'm a bit late on this thread and it seems you have been offered some great advice already.

A few facts about your air con system, are as follows. It is correct that that gas in the cooling circuit will not contribute any odour. Even if it leaks refrigerant it's not something that you would associate with the kind of smells you've described. In a general sense, if the gas is present in the system at the correct charge and the compressor is working correctly, and the hot gas side of the circuit is correctly cooled the function will be as expected. It's not very easy to establish the function of the system in respect of poor performance without hooking up to the system to check the pressures. There are two sides to a cooling system, one where the gas is being pulled (low side) and one where it is pushed (high side). The high side is where gas is compressed until it condenses and gets hot, the low side is where it expands and boils off and gets cold. The area which gets cold will cause moisture in the air circulating through it to gather in that cooling element and surrounding air passages, any contaminant in that air will collect over time and can produce an odour.

Common conditions which influence air con performance are poor airflow through cooling side. This means that less warm air is available to make the gas boil, hence when the gas is compressed through the hot gas side, it hasn't been fully expanded so can't expel as much heat as it would if it had boiled off fully.

Poor cooling of the hot gas side, means the heat is not dissipated fully, which in actuality is the heat energy the gas used to boil on the cold side of the system which normally gives the results one might expect from the air con.

The demisting property of the air con is down to the fact that the air passing over the cooling section has a large proportion of the moisture contained within it, captured by the coldness of the low pressure, boil off part of the system, often called the evaporator.

A system which struggles at start up to work at normal efficiency, is possibly suffering an airflow issue, on high or low side, or a lazy compressor which does not pump as hard as its original specification, due to the pump within it becoming worn. Excess heat in the engine bay will definitely compromise the air con. The most common Gas that I've encountered in car air con systems is R134a. It is a CFC type gas which must be collected when purged from system and is usually handled by people who have undertaken a course and hold a safe handling of refrigerants certificate.

On a lighter note, many domestic household cooling products are charged with R600 isobutane, which would have some interesting implications if present in a car at the quantities used in air con. The domestic appliance charges are very small which is why they can be used in safe manner for that application.

I hope there is something of use in my reply,

Regards

Tim

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

Thanks Tim;I have just read your intro, so welcome to SN ! That was a very technical explanation, you old boffin,you! I was just waiting for a refrigeration expert to come along. So,cut to the quick; I should go and get the pressures and compressor tested by an air con expert? This unit, I suspect, has been been hardly used in the last 2 years; how much of a bearing will that have on efficiency? I understand that any aircon should be run for 20 minutes a week,
Regards,
Caleb

awdx4

Caleb, I think the logic behind the advice of running car air con periodically is that a small amount of the oil that's present in the system migrates around the pipework and prevents it from becoming dry, thus reducing the likely hood of a small leak occurring at one of the crimp joints on the flexible pipework. I had a skim of the Subaru manual over breakfast this morning and it would appear that the filter if present on your car type is situated behind the glove box, and filters all air that's circulated by the cabin air system regardless of the air con being used or not. So that's an area to consider.

The compressors used on the cars are backed up by a valve which according the manual will allow refrigerant to vent to atmosphere if excessive pressure occurs in the system, it also protects the compressor if low pressure occurs too. I've read somewhere that some models in the Subaru range don't have the filter, so it might be worth establishing if your car has one and try running the car/air con without the filter on a couple of decent runs to see how it behaves once it has been run for a while.

The cabin heater and air con cooling elements work in conjunction with each other to balance the outputs through the various vents in the car to what the driver selects via the controls on the dashboard. For some strange reason the air con in my Forester used smell of breast milk from time to time, It wasn't wishful thinking either, and I'm presuming that the units can take on contaminants from anything that's been present in the cabin over a period of time.

My advice if you do end up getting a refrigeration systems engineer to check the pump pressures and gas levels, is find one who knows what they are talking about. There are plenty of people who will simply purge the system of gas and then drop a new charge into the cooling circuit without fully understanding what the issue was with it. It's a bit of a catch all approach which rectifies a symptom but doesn't actually tackle the underlying cause, which will ultimately resurface at a later date, probably ten minutes after any guarantee on the work done has elapsed.

It is certainly worth running the system without the filter if present, to get a better understanding of exactly which of your expectations of the air con are not being met. The likely hood of getting to the problem and solving it from a specialist's perspective is much enhanced by the quality of the information provided by the user of the equipment that's to be checked and repaired as required.

It might be the case that your air con problems are caused by a marginal short fall in the function of the system, which could be either improved by running the system or if that fails, having the gas checked and restored to a known, correct level.

If that then means that the pressures on both high and low sides of the system are as expected when the compressor is running, and providing that the air turbine which is at the heart of the cabin air distribution system is working properly, your air con will be fine.

all the best

Tim

GREGGYG

iTrader: (2)

Keep it simple.

Go to Halfords and spend £10.99 on a tin of Comma air con cleaner which you let off inside your car on the floor behind the back seat, with the air con on, and this process completely cleans the air con system, specifically killing bacteria!

Greg