Air Conditioning system will explode in the air compressor if not recharged with freon and take out the heating system at the same time

[seema]

Hi,
I have owned a Nissan Leaf 2018 for 19 months. This past August the air con quit and I wasn't too concerned. 6 weeks ago we started to have problems with the heat too. I live in a cold place where heat is required to stay alive. After my regular mechanic failed to figure out how to fix it I took it to the dealer and after 3 hours of diagnostic was told the entire Air Con and Heating systems need to be replaced. It was accompanied by a picture of the broken pieces of the inside of the compressor. The car has just over 50000 km and 5 years and 4 months old from date of manufacture. The fix is 11000 dollars. I spoke with the dealer and they said this was due to the freon not being charged by the previous owner and that it is supposed to be charged every 2 years. Does anyone know if charging the freon is in the guide for regular maintenance.

Nissan knows this is a problem or they wouldn't create a warranty with such serious time/range limitations of 3 years or 60K. I'm well within one aspect of the warranty but was already beyond the time range at time of purchase. This is a serious design flaw. Be careful if you are buying one of these cars and get the freon charging done as part of the maintenance and find out if the past buyer did as well. This is what in the inside of the compressor looked like - completely full of broken pieces. The dealer only told me about the freon after several phone calls with different people at different nissan places. They clearly know this is a problem but I don't think the public do and certainly non-EV garages have no idea as all.

 

[LeftieBiker]

That catastrophic outcome isn't as commonplace as you imply. In fact I've never heard of it. I'm guessing that something else happened as well, like refrigerant without oil or with the wrong oil was used to charge the system...

 

[TobyHolland]

Hi,
I have owned a Nissan Leaf 2018 for 19 months. This past August the air con quit and I wasn't too concerned. 6 weeks ago we started to have problems with the heat too. I live in a cold place where heat is required to stay alive. After my regular mechanic failed to figure out how to fix it I took it to the dealer and after 3 hours of diagnostic was told the entire Air Con and Heating systems need to be replaced. It was accompanied by a picture of the broken pieces of the inside of the compressor. The car has just over 50000 km and 5 years and 4 months old from date of manufacture. The fix is 11000 dollars. I spoke with the dealer and they said this was due to the freon not being charged by the previous owner and that it is supposed to be charged every 2 years. Does anyone know if charging the freon is in the guide for regular maintenance.

Nissan knows this is a problem or they wouldn't create a warranty with such serious time/range limitations of 3 years or 60K. I'm well within one aspect of the warranty but was already beyond the time range at time of purchase. This is a serious design flaw. Be careful if you are buying one of these cars and get the freon charging done as part of the maintenance and find out if the past buyer did as well. This is what in the inside of the compressor looked like - completely full of broken pieces. The dealer only told me about the freon after several phone calls with different people at different nissan places. They clearly know this is a problem but I don't think the public do and certainly non-EV garages have no idea as all.

All aircon systems on all cars SHOULD be pressure checked annually.
Biannually at most.
This is even more important on EVs where the HVAC system is used for heat as well as cooling.
I see maybe 2 aircon pump failures a year, across all makes and all models - a good Independant Garage or aircon specialist will resolve this for you
#MnMSzerviz

 

[henrydehoja]

I've had my 2018 Leaf for 5 years and never had issues with the heat or A/C systems. Both get used year round in my area. I've never even heard of your issue for EVs or ICE vehicles.

I checked my Nissan Service & Maintenance Guide and see no mention of recommended maintenance for the heat or A/C systems after specific miles or months of service. The only mention of air conditioning is in the section for replacing the in-cabin filter.
(That aside, I typically only get my A/C or heat systems checked when they become a problem, which has been very rare in my 30 years of driving and owning various cars.)

You can get a copy of the 2018 Leaf Service & Maintenance Guide here:
https://owners.nissanusa.com/conten.../2018/2018-LEAF-service-maintenance-guide.pdf

 

[cornbinder89]

And nowhere in the guide to they even suggest a pressure check or leak check of the HVAC system, never mind replacement of the refrigerant.
I designed and built my own custom AC system, as well as working on all kinds of vehicles and never heard of anyone suggesting opening a sealed system with no reported problems, for "maintenance".

 

[GerryAZ]

The heat pump system has a hermetically sealed compressor much like a home heat pump so it should not leak refrigerant unless some seal, hose, or other component fails. I have had zero A/C or heat pump problems and have been driving LEAF's since 2011. I presently have over 75,000 miles on my 2019 SL Plus without issue and the heat pump gets a lot of use.

 

[cornbinder89]

That scroll unit looks like lack of oil is the cause of the problem. Likely someone "boosted it" many times rather than sort out a leak.

 

[GerryAZ]

I looked at the photo--the compressor failed and the debris from the compressor has probably migrated throughout the refrigerant system. The proper repair would be to replace everything that contains (or should contain) refrigerant since any debris left in reused parts would cause premature failure of the new compressor. It sounds like that is what the dealer recommends.

 

[cornbinder89]

Agreed, and what can be flushed and re used, is very little on modern A/C systems, the passages are too small to flush like the old tube and fin units could be (with 5/15 or 3/8's tubes).

 

[dean]

It's a big job to replace the entire A/C system, mostly because of the labor to replace the evaporator coil, buried deep behind the dash. You have to remove everything all the way to the firewall.

You don't have to have it done at the dealer, a good independent mechanic or A/C shop can do it for much less. I had my leaking evap coil replaced last year for $1100, dealer was more than $3k.

However, the car has developed a small rattle since then. Not sure if related, not sure if dealer would have done any better. The rattle is minor, and certainly an acceptable trade-off for the significant savings.