[robjh80]

My Fez spent last night at the Auto Electricians .. :(

Took it to a Mechanic down the road first up who seemed to really know his stuff, he checked out the air-con and found that the pressure was building in the system very quickly, (off the gauges apparanty!) ... he said the compressor was fine, the system had heaps of gas, no leaks etc but something electrical was not quite right and arranged for me to drop it off at the auto-electricians to get it checked out ... once they find the fault the Mechanic could then sort the air-con out

The auto electrician found that the radiator fan motor was faulty and wasn't starting up when the air-con was turned on ... he got the local Ford Dealer to send him out a new motor (surprise, surprise .. they sent the wrong one!)

By this time it was getting late in the day and he had to return the wrong fan motor, Ford promised him they would send out the right one this time .. we shall see?

Waiting to hear from auto-electrician today to see how he got on

Incidently the Mechanic reckons the amount of gas manufacturers recommend is only a very rough guide ... there are far too many factors to determine an absolute correct amount for all geographical regions (different climates etc) to state a preset and absolute amount .. this may be why the sticker under the bonnet says 470 grams and yet the service book (which is from Europe) says 650 grams .... different climates

Even Ford recommending 470 grams for all regions in Australia is a tad optimistic to say the least .. there's a big difference between Cairns and Hobart climates!

The Mechanic reckons overgassing a system is just as bad, if not worse, than not having enough gas ... the system will not work correctly at all, more gas does not equal colder air apparantly (quite the opposite in fact)

He said that the system pressure needs to be set according to what the gauges are saying on that particular given day (ie: what the weather is like on that day) ... they can then add or remove gas as required to get the correct pressure in the system and hence the temperature output at the vents

In essence, it appears that if you want nice cold air-con get the system serviced in the height of summer on the hottest day of the year!