Heating dead on my beloved R51?

[GavinUK]

Hello!

The air con my old 2006 Pathy wasn't doing anything so I took it to the garage to get refilled. They said there was a hole in the air con radiator (condenser?) and that the gas was just coming straight out as they refilled.

My question: is that something that can be easily resealed or do I have to replace the whole thing? And secondly, the heating is strange in my Pathy. Setting the temperature doesn't really do anything except at the highest setting. Setting it to, say, 71F/22C, works for the first five minutes of travelling and then seems to blow cold air. Only setting it to the highest setting actually seems to consistently produce heat (and it's excellent heat). Would the two things be related?!

Thanks for any help. (The Pathy is the first car I've actually enjoyed owning and I'd like to keep it on the road for as long as possible. It's well maintained and only has 118000 miles on the clock which I don't think is too much for a beast like this. Thanks again.)

Gavin

[Mad dawg]

I had a new condenser fitted a couple of years ago to a qashqai. I think it cost over £700 + .It was a hard pill to swallow but it was a baking hot and I had to go on holiday with the car.

Having looked into it a bit later it looks like a job I could have tackled myself given the time .

there is a video on youtube  of it being done. I think the actual fitting could be done yourself and then you could have the system re gassed by a garage .I don't think it answers your heating problem tho