Noisy air-con and deminishing mpg...

[sangchuong]

Hi guys, I have noticed a minor problem with my 2002 1.4SE Jazz I bought it about 2 weeks ago with 93,000 miles on the clock and all was fine and dandy, i topped up the fuel to start my MPG calculation ball rolling. After doing 230miles i filled up again and worked out that i the Jazz had returned 41 MPG, after doing another 240 miles last week i filled up again today and to my horror the Jazz had returned 36 MPG! I've been trying to figure out what the difference was from last week drive and the previous week, I done roughly the same mileage cos i went to the same places but the only difference was that from last week up to today it had been VERY hot so I've been using the air con. I have also noticed that there is a kind of squeaky tappy noise which i have confirm only happens when the air-con is on and the AC fan is running, the squeaking is similar to when a cam belt is about to go...

Does anyone know what could be wrong with the AC that could cause such an increase on fuel consumption? Something is obviously not running efficiently and causing the engine to work harder thus using more fuel...

I also had a look at the so called AA 3 star cover that came with the car from the independent dealer and it doesn't seem to cover the air conditioning unit, that's under the 5 star covers' "optional additional cover" Stupid lame insurance covers never cover anything you need it to... they only ever cover the stuff that will never break within the cover period!

[ivorbeck]

Is the air con cooling okay? W

[sangchuong]

yeah but i have noticed that the cold air is much colder while the car is on the open roads like A roads and motorways than when around town at slow speeds. There was a couple of moments on Sunday when i was driving around town that i didn't think the air was cold at all.

[culzean]

May need gas topping up - you can get bottle of HFC-134a (R-134A) gas+lube oil with pressure gauge from halfords for around £35.  You can then turn the aircon and ventilation fan on full blast (to keep the pump running as much as possible) run the engine and attach the bottle tube connector to your low pressure fill point (look under bonnet, LH side -the blue cap on tube just by fuse box ) and check pressure (pressure gauge is colour coded green, blue, amber or red) read instructions and fill accordingly the only thing I noticed that you have to be careful with is to press down on the fill valve adaptor fitting while checking and filling because this gives a steadier and more accurate pressure reading on the gauge (remember too much gas is as bad as too little).

I have had a bottle for about 3 years now and it has topped up two cars once a year so far = about £6 a fill so far and still some left

[sangchuong]

I'll have a look but the dealer said they re gassed the air con during the service before handing the car to me...

[JazzyB]

I had my air-con regassed at Kwik-fit for just £25! Bargain I think considering it said £45 on the wall.

[culzean]

The squeaky-tappy noise may be the A/C pump, proper A/C gas should have a lubricant in it to make the pump run smoothly, but if they used cheap gas!!!!

You are correct about insurance and warranties only covering the things that never break, I never take out extra warranties because I figured out a long time ago that if you add up all the cost of the extra warranties you take out against the amount of times you can claim anything back then the insurance people must all be driving gold Rolls-Royces round Barbados!! 

[ivorbeck]

Culzean's info is spot on, The only thing I would add is to make sure you lift the cover over the refill valve when attempting to add gas I messed about for a few minutes trying to add gas before the penny dropped. Sanchuong go back and have a word with the dealer to set your mind at rest.

[sangchuong]

I laughed in the salesman's face when he told me about the standard 3 star cover that they give with the car. It covers the parts of the car which to be honest usually last longer than the car itself! and get this, the cover is only limited to claims of upto £500! Come on man! £500? that's peanuts if you do have to change/ repair any of the items on their list! Anything over £500 is paid for by yourself! So say for example you bought the car, drive away and a month later something goes wrong with the engine and the repair bill will come to say £2,000 hell engine parts alone probably cost more than £500! They will only pay £500 and you pay the remaining £1,500! That is soo wrong! What a waste of the paper this crap was printed on...

[ivorbeck]

This is the tpe of so call warranty that second hand dealers foist off on you, as you say it really isn't worth the paper it is written on, this is one reason for their stinking reputation.