Good afternoon Ladies and Gents.
IS300h F Sport 63 plate. (Had since new)
I have read a previous post headlined, 'AIR CON FAULT'. My problem is very similar, and I went to the same places, Halfords, KwickFit. Can i just add very quickly say that both companies were fine. The chap at Halfords stopped as soon as he realised there was a problem with the pressure on the low pressure side being far to high. I was not charged for this service. He indicated that there was a problem and after a search in the obvious places could not find any leaks. That same day I booked in to KwickFit, explained what the problem was, and on arrival to their garage a young lad took the car and placed it on a large machine hooking the Low and High pressure lines up. He dumped the refridgerant and refilled. Once he realised there was a pressure problem, he dumped the refridgerant again. This time he place another attachment on, Minutes later he came to me and explained the pressure was too high on the low pressure line.
I explained that I had already informed his supervisor of this problem, to which he he replied, 'Well its part and parcel of the fault finding procedure we have to go through' He then explained that he was vaccumming the system and would take about 1 hour 20 mins.
On completion, he regassed the system. Again, its reading was far to high although he placed the correct amount of refridgerant in the system. At that point he spoke to me again and said sorry, there was nothing more he could do. There was No Charge for their services, although he had spent around 2 hours plus working on my car.
The next day I booked with a specialist. Due the the recent weather there was a very high demand and the earliest he would arrive at my home would be 20:30hrs that day. I had to leave the car with my oldest son. I had to pick the wife up from work at 20:00. Anyway, on returning home the specialist was already at my home, bonnet up on my car and pipes fitted. He was in contact with his boss on his mobile. He had already dumped and refilled the system and guess what? Yep, the pressure was too high. I had already explained this to his boss during the initial telephone conversation and I did ask him for a diagnostic. The guy who performed the refill actually looked lost in his thoughts. Speaking to him again he suggested that the compressor must be broke, and he could change it for £1.5k and the car would be taken away and garaged for the work.
Now I'm no AirCon specialist, but even i know that a diagnostic would have been the correct procedure. When i asked him if he had done one, he said, there was no need. The compressor is the problem. This coming from a guy who didnt even know how to turn the car on, and when my son did it for him, and got out out to stand next to him, he pointed at the engine and said, turn it on then. To my sons surprise he told him that it was on and the car was a Hybrid. Anyway. I paid £70 for nothing, I didn't find out anything I didn't already know. (Just to add this specialist company are listed on the trust sight)
Ok, I have simple mechanics and electrical knowledge but am about 20 years out of date. I sat for the next 2 days checking various sites. Hidden on one particular site was a video released in the US by an owner who has vast amounts of info on Hybid AirCon systems. During this time he indicated checking the electrical flow from the Pressure sensor on the High pressure line. First checking the continuity of the plug itself. There was no continuity after checking all three pins.(Apparently there should be) Then checking the input voltage on the plug itself. The readings were correct being 5v - 8v range
I guess what i am asking is, is he high pressure sensor linked to the compressor by any means and would the faulty sensor prevent it from starting. Plus why would the new refridgerant automatically overpressurise in each instant.
Thank you for taking all that time to read this.
Regards
Shaun