Thanks to the forum of miata, I was able to start fault finding on the air con. My mx 5 roadster or as on the american sites is called a miata.
I have never used the aircon, air conditioning as when I pressed the button the revs would rise and only more air would flow warmer if any. I was also scared of the high costs. Not having any experience I searched on the net for help in diagnosing the air con. One of the first issues is that pre 1993, most cars were fitted with R12 gas which is now illegal to use. Only R413a, isceon 49 or R143a can be used for recharging. Although trying to find a good site or forum link to provide the correct info is difficult. It also seems that there are some air con engineers that will take advantage and advise high costs to replace items that do not need changing.
The first issue I had was the connectors on the air con under the bonnet would not fit on the local test unit from halfords. (www.halfords.com) They tested my Peugeot 806 T reg 1999 which I have owned for 7 years but has the larger connectors. I found the adaptors on ebay for mine and fitted them on. I had a problem with one of the adaptors as the rubber seal when tightened stopped the valve from opening and closing when pressed. I fixed this by removing the seal and using less of the connector and a good quality sealing paste. Next i checked the compressor was working by disconnecting the low pressure switch at the front by the rad, shorted the switch for enough time to see the front of the compressor clutch kick in. As this was working, I took a gamble that the air con would work ok with the gas topped up.
I took the car to kwikfits and had the system vacuumed and topped up for £49. This was a good price as i was quoted three times as much from smaller garages. Now the air con kicks in and the air coming out is as cold as ice....nearly.
Next I wonder if the air con will work with the top down, hopefully with some sun soon.
