Possible Leaking Air Conditioning Evaporator on 6R 2015 Model

[ukguy]

Hello All,

I am looking to see whether anyone has had any experience of diagnosing and repairing an AC Evaporator on a VW Polo (6R) 2015 Model?

A bit of background. I saw low refrigerant pressure fault on my diagnostic kit so I tried the refill gas bottle method and got the low pressure line to 3 bar for about 10 minutes, before it dropped back to 0 bar. With the vehicle running, during those 10 minutes absolutely no cold air came out of the vents with the AC set to on. The compressor had supposedly kicked in during those brief minutes so it had me baffled

I have had my car in a local trusted garage for a couple of days to assist in diagnosing the source of the leak. They diagnosed a leak in the condenser so changed it to a new one (showed me the oily old one), only to say there was also another leak at the evaporator afterwards and that would be a big job. I need a second opinion on this, and was wondering whether anyone can recommend an AC specialist in the Manchester Area that has done this sort of thing before?

I don't want to just throw money at this if I can help it and I understand it's quite rare for the evaporator to leak on a relatively newer vehicle. I am even willing to have a go at changing it myself but all I can find are broken bits of info on YT etc, like how to take apart certain sections of the dashboard then put the evaporator into the heater box, but no HOWTO from start to finish, if anyone has seen one then please can they share the link... Perhaps better to leave it to the experts if I can definitely find the source of the leak first, and it isn't going to cost an arm and a leg

Thanks.

[ukguy]

I understand about air conditioners, I have fueled hundreds of cars and done so many more after services where fools work.
Seven years ago, the auto fiesta came back with a freon leak. Checked everything. After I closed the windows with the analyzer, I caught a leak signal through the deflector. I don't know the history of the car.
On VAG, I have never met problems with the evaporator due to leakage, except for the TRW connections.
And for understanding, it is necessary to refuel automobile air conditioners in serviceable systems, with vacuuming and only BY WEIGHT.
On VAG, I have never met problems with the evaporator due to leakage, except for the TRW connections.
And for understanding, it is necessary to fill car air conditioners into serviceable systems, with vacuuming and only BY WEIGHT. You can check for leaks by loss of vacuum, or blow out the system with nitrogen.
Там все просто, и при заправке не нужно заводить. Это только когда жара и надо увеличивать процесс, задувать по боковой стороне.

Hi. Thanks for your input. I have heard of a few horror stories about the Evaporator leaking, but not on this particular age of vehicle. I probably need a good diagnosis by somebody in the know that has access to the sniffer, uv dye etc...

[RUM4MO]

My wife's August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS SEL with auto AC ended up losing its fridge gas when it was just over 4 years old, that is going by the first "low pressure" fault logged by the car. I checked the car over visually for any sign of fridge oil escaping and found nothing. One thing though, when it came back after its first service (in summer time) at VW dealership, I spotted what looked like an oily fluid being thrown around in line with the auxiliary belt - the oil was mainly on the engine undercover, with some also on the side of a coolant hose. So, I cleaned everything up and no more oily fluid appeared until the following summer, but the AC was still working as normal. Again over the next year the AC remained working and same for year 4. Now, I have a fridge gas handling certificate so I can legally mess about with fridge manifold with gauges - but for some stupid reason, while I intended to check the system every year when the weather was hot, in Central Scotland that situation can never be predicted as to when it will or if it will happen, so I messed up!, so in November 2019 the system was basically "empty"! Then Covid happened and it was mid 2020 before I got it recharged at an ATS outlet - a Groupon or other deal, just over £34. So that summer the AC worked okay, but again it lost its gas by January 2021, this time I had used VCDS to check system pressure at the time of getting recharged, but failed to follow that up but regularly checking it again. This time got my AN 134 sniffer out and could find any leak sites soon after it had been re-charged. Next, summer 2021, again I found an ATS re-charge deal and they happily re-charged it and this time in desperation I checked the inside of the cabin and the vents for traces of R134A - and there was nothing, so I bought a new condenser in an ECP special deal - it was their best price for a while! Again it is summer and the gas has gone and I'm considering changing the condenser and hopefully that will have a slightly oily patch on the rear of it - out of sight from me so far, I've bought VW Group seals for all points that I'll be opening up and have a grease that is not affected by or causes any issues when mixed with R134A, just to smear the new O-rings to make sure that they "seat" properly when I've replaced the condenser.

If it is the evaporator then I'd think that I'll suffer without AC, LHD cars might be slightly difficult to replace the evaporator on, RHS cars seem to be worse, so the dash will need moving about!

I final comment, and I should have known this from my past, if you ever want to sniff or leak check a car that uses R134A, do not plan to do that just after cleaning and polishing the inside of the car, for comparison I checked the inside of my 2011 Audi S4 which still does not have any AC issues, the the measured leak rate was "higher" in it than in this 2015 VW Polo - reason being, I think, I treated the leather trim to "food" to keep it supple - now that was a completely stupid plan!! I had a similar experience with a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza, I cleaned up the compressor body as I suspected it was leaking at the body joint - turns out I created that "leak" by using that smelly engine cleaner, ie old style GUNK on that compressor, and the fumes of that, even when washed off with water, sent the AN134 mad!!

Edit:- the leak site on that late 2009 SEAT Ibiza was the usual one - the pressure sensor!! So far no such luck with this 2015 Polo.

[ukguy]

I final comment, and I should have known this from my past, if you ever want to sniff or leak check a car that uses R134A, do not plan to do that just after cleaning and polishing the inside of the car, for comparison I checked the inside of my 2011 Audi S4 which still does not have any AC issues, the the measures leak rate was "higher" in it than in this 2015 VW Polo - reason being, I think, I treated the leather trim to "food" to keep it supple - now that was a completely stupid plan!! I had a similar experience with a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza, I cleaned up the compressor body as I suspected it was leaking at the body joint - turns out I created that "leak" by using that smelly engine cleaner on that compressor, and the fumes of that, even when washed off with water, sent the AN134 mad!!

Edit:- the leak site on that late 2009 SEAT Ibiza was the usual one - the pressure sensor!! So far no such luck with this 2015 Polo.

Hi,

Thanks for the extensive insight into the 2015 Polo. It does sound like a pig of a job to change the evaporator on this vehicle I've done a bit of car DIY in the past so feel I could give the job a go if someone had done a write up on it, but that is proving pretty elusive thus far

A couple of niggles I have, if the leak is indeed coming from this part, should there not be some residue leaking out into the foot wells? Also, if the pressure was holding after the regas (albeit for 10 mins only), why was there absolutely no cold air coming out of the vents. I used vcds and a manual gauge to check live pressures during that little time.

I really need someone competent to do a leak test using UV dye/sniffer so I can be sure all other obvious places are eliminated. Thanks

[ukguy]

Guys, remember, a leak is hard to find, but easy to fix.
In any car that is just running or jerking, everyone sticks in a computer, and then they change the parts, if it doesn’t help, they go to a specialist. The time to find the disease can be several days, and to eliminate -15 minutes.
The owner who seeks information on the Internet and forums will always turn out to be a fool. Like now. we do not know the car, its refueling rates in grams, how much was filled and after what time the pressure disappeared????????????????????????????????? ??????
My last friend contacted me. on a sonata from Korea. They also told him something, refueled him and told him to go to an electrician. The advice was, Let them take the freon and fill it with nitrogen, We smoked a couple of cigarettes in the yard, as I put a variable resistor instead of the sensor and showed the pressure to the climate unit on the scanner. In my opinion, he changed the sensor, if friends do not call, then everything works))

Great story, thanks.

Does anyone know of a decent AC Specialist in the Manchester area please?