Got to get my air con regased,it works but it struggles in the extreme heat we had. No record of drier ever being changed so thought might aswell do that at same time.
So is it worth attempting to change the drier or spend extra few quid and change the condenser complete? From other people's experience what's the chances of getting the cap off to do drier?
Pop the plastic cap and take a squiz, if its crusty then the chance of getting it out without damage to the condenser is minimal. If its clean then you should be ok.
If you end up just doing the drier then you need a small slide hammer to get it out and then careful cleaning of the seal surface inside without letting any crap drop in.
I have just had a look side and I reckon it's been done at some point as the fibre glass panel has been opened out a bit.
Inside it had a bit of dust that wiped off but no crusty mess and more importantly no leaks present when doing soapy water test.
Gonna give it a go before I get it regased and see what happens hopefully will get some better cooling performance when done.
Cheers for info
Have you seen this (https://www.fordmpv.com/smf2/ford-galaxy/air-con-recharge/msg14593/#msg14593) thread? My 2004 model had a condenser where the internal cap had been greased upon installation therefore there was no corrosion, the biggest issue was the circlip which was nigh on impossible to engage the pliers into (long straight nosed set of circlip pliers needed to make that job easier) and the cap itself was quite tough to remove, can't quite remember how I did it but I screwed the long torx bolt back into the cap and with a bit of wiggling and wangling it did come free. If it was corroded it would have been a different matter though!
I do have a new and unused drier cartridge (Valeo) still in a sealed bag which I'd be willing to sell for not silly money if you're interested, the only snag is it wasn't supplied with a new cap and circlip as I would have expected it to be!
That was a bonus having someone give it some thought when doing previously saved a whole load of grief by being able to do just cartridge.
I am hoping as mine has been done before and there is no crustyness it will be as simple to change?
Cheers for the offer but I have just got back from ECP with a new one ready to go in. Just got to get whatever fridge is left in system evacuated out now.
please let us know if the performance of your aircon improves after your fix as mine is the still the same after getting it regassed
cheers
Tom.
If you can get the circlip out and get the cap removed without damage then the rest of it is pretty straightforward, just remember you need to free the condenser from it's mountings on the drier cartridge side to move it forward far enough so that the cartridge can clear the front panel.
I'm afraid if you're expecting a massive improvement by replacing the cartridge and regassing, I fear you'll be disappointed*. I had a slight leak from pipework (though the air con was still working) so did the repair work and replaced the cartridge before having the system tested for leaks (pressurised with nitrogen instead of seeing if the system would hold a vacuum) and then regassed, and I don't think it made much difference to the actual performance of the system. Trouble is it's a big cabin with a relatively small air con system and even if you've got rear air con it's still all being pumped by a single compressor which is the same physical part on both single (front air con only) and dual (rear air con as well) models.
(*- assuming that poor system performance wasn't being caused by insufficient gas in the system, in which case regassing with the correct amount may well improve efficiency of the air con)
Was yours low on gas prior to the regas?
Also did they do a good vac down of system?
Today mine is working fine nice cold air from vents and condensate from the drain so it is working,but on hot days it does cool but it struggles.
Having previous experience on cars and the past 15 years messing with train air con I have come to conclusion the receiver/drier is probably not performing like it should that along with system probably not fully charged to correct level. So my thinking is new drier,good vac down and 750g of fridge should hopefully improve things.
I have given evap and air box a good clean with envirocoil from work to help air flow.
The drier has a life span of 2 years apparently so won't do any harm changing as I am having regas anyway.
Will let you know if things improve next week.
Looking at mine earlier it appears the front panel has been cut away slightly to allow cartridge to be extracted,I will find out next week.
I was going to try and use gauges from work on it but as we use an old R12 system converted to r407c the points are screw type,would have preferred to do myself but had to resort to paying someone else.
Unfortunately I don't actually know how much gas was in it prior to regassing as whoever I paid to degas it for me either didn't know what they were doing, or their machine was defective as when I actually went to do the work on the air con system (having driven the vehicle away from the garage by this time), I went to release the air con pipe from the front of the condenser only for it to blow off in my face (once I'd removed the retaining bolt) and give me a gob full of R134! The whole lot then just vented to atmosphere! The machine could not have extracted a single ounce of gas from the system judging by how long it vented for once the pipe was removed! :o
Needless to say I didn't take it back to them at regas time, I took it to an independent specialist who vacced it and then pressurised it with nitrogen up to around 150psi to make sure it was gas tight.
As you say, no harm in changing the drier anyway, it's something that should be replaced from time to time but in the majority of cases probably never is. The bottom line is I.M.O I think the system fitted isn't quite substantial enough considering the cabin size. I've never thought my air con to be brilliant in really hot weather, and that's after replacing the drier element, testing and regassing the system with the correct amount of gas.
Certainly don't expect to have a face full of that stuff if it's allegedly been evacuated!!!! Just reminded me about someone at work being assured a s**t tank had been emptied prior to changing level sensor..... Let's just say it was a lot worse than r134 he had a face full of!!!
I know what you mean a lot of space to cool in these buses with a relatively small system. it is never going to freeze you but mine just feels weak,I only get about 6 degrees temp differential between ambient and cool air. I am used to working with a minimum 10 degree temp differential so kind of working to that.
If I can get an improvement on its efficiency I will be happy.
I followed the thread and it worked a treat, the only thing I did different, I took a Dremel to the fibre glass part around the lid of the dryer as the condenser bolts didn't match the holes in the cowling??
I just needed to loosen the bumper whole job took about 30mins
It looks like mine has already been done with a dremel previously so got a clear area to lift it out if cap comes free ok.
It's gonna be Tuesday's job when I have got a spare hour.
Just thought i'd drop in on this one. I've just fitted a brand new compressor to mine " Hella one from ECP" cost me Ã,£172.My air con before the clutch unit broke was ok but not great even though it was re gassed in the last 18 months. but now there is a new compressor on it the difference is really noticeable done 60 miles yesterday and hands were bloody freezing by the steering wheel, 23 deg out side temp yesterday in Suffolk.What i did notice when i took my broken compressor off was it wasn't the original either it was a reman unit from Belgium so maybe they just haven't got a great life. maybe the internals start to corrode or just wear out that's why i never tracked down a second hand one from a breakers yard i thought it was false economy. also on another note I've just added steel seal to mine for the head gasket probs and i'll let you know in a week if its made a difference.
Air con compressor problems do seem to affect the models fitted on the (Mk2) Galaxies, be it a petrol or diesel engine.
Regarding the access holes in the front panel (later models only had these provided as standard) to enable removal of the condenser bolts (a la here (https://www.fordmpv.com/smf2/ford-galaxy/air-con-type-question/msg14922/#msg14922)), I did also find that they didn't line up perfectly with the condenser retaining bolts, however, because the condenser/ radiator 'unit' is rubber mounted into the front panel I found that it was possible to use my 1/4" slim 10mm socket and ratchet on an extension bar to 'lever' (against the front panel) the bolts into line and remove them. Not ideal but it worked.
Despite the cutaway I had to release the condenser bolts to pull forward just like Paul said,circlip came out nice and easy as did the cap. M5 bolt and a little wiggle and it popped out.
The drier was covered in lots of UV dye and some dirt on the filter gauze,possibly picked up when extracting it??
When it was evacuated 580g of refrigerant was taken out,hopefully when I get it regased later in week with 750g it will work a lot better.
Quote from: johnnyroper on August 02, 2016, 05:10:49 PM
circlip came out nice and easy
LOL You must have had a more suited set of circlip pliers than I did!
I think it was probably to position of clip had it been rad side would have been a pig I reckon,but at front got on and released nice and easy.
Had regas today got 3 degrees supply from vents and after 45 minutes running got 11 degrees temp drop in cabin. That filter and extra 200g of refrigerant seems to have made a big difference.
Will see how it performs in hot weather over weekend.
Can't complain about garage either Ã,£35 for regas and disinfect all done inside an hour.
[GJ] That's a result then! We'll be back to winter again soon and then it'll be time for malfunctioning booster heaters! I still haven't installed the new one I bought..........
Naha that's very true,although after I services mine and got running I fitted a switch on dash so I run it every week or 2 so hopefully no winter issues..... In theory anyway!
3 degrees at vents,wow that colder than the fridge trailers at work😀
When i had new condensor (with dryer) last yr had 6Ã,°ish at vents,fitter was happy with that. I stuck thermometer on it last week still got around 6 Ã,° but interior temp wasnt dropping much after about 50mins drive.
However I was damn freezing!!😀😀 so think maybe temp probe was in sunlight or something
Think there might be a ford/vw chart somewhere on here or other site showing temps at vents
That was on recirc with just centre vents on and fan at about 80%. I used my infrared ray tech gun pointed down so exterior factors affecting it were minimal.
Now the sun is shining it is still 3-4 degrees at vents but temp drop in cabin not as good,better than before the work though so happy with it still.
How big is the trailer systems? Would expect it lower supply in them? On a good system on trains at work we can get supply down to about 1-2 degrees.... Evap filters,condenser grill and fan have to be tip top condition though,that's on 1980's design converted to r407 so it shows good cooling can be achieved.
Dunno mate Im just a driver😀
They will run -22 or better ,3 degrees for chill loads
Dave your not just a driver your a professional driver. LOL
Talking of trailer temperatures how long do you think you could stand facing the fans inside the trailer even at +3 I bet it's not long.
Bored and found the chart elsewhere
A is centre vent at 1500 rom after 10 mins
B ambient temp in shade
Curvy bit is where you should be
Not sure if for mk1 or 2 tho
Didn't understand graph at first (finished nights and no sleep so a bit thick today) but I see what it means now it would appear mine is in the right range now then.
I would say applies to mark 1 and 2 as they are essentially the same set up.