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Hi Folks,

The aircon on my XK8 was inoperative from purchase, I took it to a local garage who regassed after it after claiming they had checked for leaks. For next 3-4 weeks all was good, nice and cool, but now getting less effective, so presume there must be a leak. Have purchased a regas kit myself, plus some leak sealant, but the question is, does it attach to the port on the front right of the engine bay, on top of the compressor, or do you use the port near the pipe as it enters the bulkhead?

Thanks in anticipation.

Hi Andy - you will find that the kit will only fit onto the low pressure port as they are different sizes to prevent a mix up.
If you are having to put more gas in so soon that would suggest a leak. The prime suspect is usually the condenser radiator as that sits at the front of the car collecting all the salt and mess from the road and so corrodes. I wouldn't be surprised if yours has some pinhole leaks.

Thanks David. Yes I am sure there is a leak, the garage said they would do a test first, but they didn't inspire me with confidence to be honest. Worth a try myself anyway, all part of the learning curve

An update: having purchased an air con hose with meter, plus a can of sealant and a can of recharging gas, all for a shade over £50 from Amazon, I set about fixing this issue. Having established that the low pressure port is definitely the bulkhead one, once connected the initial reading was high. However once setting the aircon to it's lowest setting and having it on recirculate, the pressure dropped into the low zone. The sealant can was connected first and all of it entered the system, the pressure rose slightly just into the 'ok' zone. then connected the recharge gas and let just some in, enough to bring it up to around 35psi. So far it seems to have worked, but time will tell. At least I know I can recharge it myself and it's really quite easy!