[ozsubrosa]

No, it's wasteful (not very eco, if that concerns you) and, although Kwik Fit used to (don't know if they still do) make no charge if the regas doesn't cool the car, it's money spent for nada. Not knocking Kwik Fit - I've been through all this routine including AC "specialists" and paid for regasses several times for little or no effect - but a machine is wheeled up, stuff sucked up, stuff pumped in and the people in the blue workwear leave it unattended.

First off, see if you have AC. As an easier visual than suggested, get your bonnet up and look down at your radiator area. The compresser that Opcomdiagnostics mentions is a slightly difficult spot for the new owner so, look down at the rad and scan your eyes to the left. you should be able to see the drier - it looks a bit like a zinc thermos flask. There will also be fairly narrow metal to rubber pipework that does not look like coolant pipes. They will lead to a pair of metal pipes feeding into your bulkhead, quite high up near the middle. None of this present means you have a useless button.

If you have, then something isn't working. The fan noise isn't related to the AC, but 4 is fairly noisy, 3 not too bad and 2 or 1 very easy on the ears. If 4 isn't noisy, your blower isn't performing but I'll concentrate on your AC for now. I'm in another country from my Combo (that I did finally fix the duff AC - many don't work because it can get expensive and the car is cheap now) so I can't tell you about whether those fuses need to be there. Missing ones (or blanked off) sounds ominous to me, though.

Some of this video might help you check if you have AC installed.

How to Add Refrigerant to a 2000-2006 Opel Corsa 2006 Opel Corsa C Van 1.3L 4 Cyl. Turbo Diesel

How to add freon to recharge the ac system in a $YearMakeModel in this how-to video

www.carcarekiosk.com

If you definitely have the bits, I'll go through the things to troubleshoot before regassing but not right now as it takes a lot of writing and not much point if Plod took it out.

 

[ozsubrosa]

* and I should have typed condenser, not compressor. I often mistype between the two but Omicron is fogging my head more than usual. Both are present, but the condenser is like a second radiator for the refrigerant - right in front of the coolant one and can be difficult to confirm in situ compared to the drier.

The Kwik Fit offer is a good one (they did not charge me for my Focus, which required replacement hosing) whereas ATS tried to hand it back to me with the fan on 4 and I returned inside 5 mins saying the regas had failed. They plugged in a laptop and pretended that it was telling them I had some body control module problem. I asked if they used Opcom or Tech2 and they scuttled off shrugging "no refunds". Although the machines should tell them during evacuation that there are leak problems, most places just go ahead and pump in R134a anyway. I can't help thinking cynically that - unless the system leak is catastrophic or the compressor is burgered - you'll notice the lovely cool air and pay up only to be back to square one in days or even hours.

HST, if plod really has removed the installed AC then they will have no high and low pressure valves to hook up to and you'll have an answer really quickly. It might just then be that it was well overdue for a regas and you're back to cool cabin but, if not, any parts replacement means evacuation and regas again.