Air Con Quote
 

Decided I'd get the aircon fixed, has anyone got any idea of cost? Going to use a mobile company. Gold resistor fitted and the fan works, feel the condenser and pump are good but gas won't stay in the system. £200 maybe? really have no idea.
Cheers.

How long is a piece of string?
It will depend on what is amiss and what if anything has to be replaced. A simple aircon recharge can be got for a lot less than £200. Condensers are actually a very weak part of the system and appearances are deceptive.



TC

drain and refill with gas about £80, condenser radiator from Rimmers, £110'ish, labour?, O rings from Jules????

£200 without labour is not far off the mark.
Nor all mobile engineers will undertake replacing the condenser radiator, some only drain and refill the gas as well as locate the leak.
I changed my condenser radiator last year?, not to bad a job to do

macafee2

As above Heddy, the condenser is the likely culprit. Close inspection with the bumper off can reveal an area where dirt has stuck to the escaping oil and a UV dye check or nitrogen test will confirm or otherwise. If it is the condenser, I think your estimate of £200 is a realistic one.

Simon

On the diesels it is common for the air con pipe to rub through and pinhole if it touches the (IIRC?) power steering pipe. Look down to the offside of the radiator for any wear.

having mine looked at in a hour
so lets see.

The aircon rad replacement is straight forward to do.
If it is leaking, the garage will not continue with the recharge of the system. The machine does a leak test first. Mine was leaking so I replaced it and returned to the garage a week later. £50 for cash. You’ll be lucky to get it any cheaper as the cost of refrigerant gas has spiralled upwards recently.

Mine was working but really not as cold as should have been (had it checked/recharged almost 3 years back when it was found to 20-25% down). Just putting the V6 back together (with a new condensor [OEM Chinese??] and O rings off DMGRS - £85 +P&P) after a very good local mobile guy emptied it for me last week and found it was just 30% filled so something was leaking; as far as I know the condensor was original so IMHO it was way past it's best.
Mobile empty/recharge etc. (that's two separate visits) £70, so far that's £155 plus a lot of swearing extracting the lower AC union from the old condensor (anodic corrosion build-up).
I'm about to refit the two pressure junctions to the new condensor and I'll be lubricating the O rings with PAG oil, what can I use to prevent the anodic corrosion again (it's on the ambient side of the joint so there shouldn't be any system contamination).

If anyone needs an aircon radiator, pm Dave Lincs he has a few new ones for sale.

Here it is - again

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D...7-no/upload_-1

Photo by Jules

TC

30 quid for my test.
and yes has a leak in the condenser radiator

I spray my radiator fins with ACF50. If it's good enough for aircraft carriers, it's good enough for my old Rover. Excellent stuff but don't use it near brakes!;) (Also good for bikes and trikes!)

They're easy enough to do when you get the front end off, did mine last year I think, I had some black marking around one of the fittings, did think about just replacing the O rings, but thought it false economy as I didn't know what the condenser was like. As it turned out, it crumbled when i removed it. I got a mobile engineer to come and drain it and re-gas it after fitting the new condenser, before I fitted the front end back on the car (just in case)

Something along these lines would improve the rather shocking picture T-Cut posted earlier :eek:

https://media.carparts4less.co.uk/im.../222750070.jpg

Anyway, carparts4less have Hella condenser radiators for £91.35, and with the addition of an extra 20% off this weekend, making them a shade over £73.

LINK

That is of course if you can't sweetheart dave lincs to supply one at a fabulous price ;)

Brian :D

Great response, thank you all. I really have to remove the bumper etc to find out (maybe) what's required. I do have the time after all.

Test and recharge £60.00 Chris.S.

The aircon in my car has never worked - the previous owner told me he had never used it either! Whilst for completeness, I would like to get it operational, I live in Scotland, where such luxuries are totally superfluous at least 50 weeks of the year...:D

Wot I paid. :shrug:

Supply/fit a/c condenser £273.95

Kev.

Air con can be used in winter to help demist the cars windows, it is not just a summer tool for keeping the car cool.

macafee2

It's recommended you run the air con a few times in the winter months to keep things hunkey-dorey. As above helps demist too.

Some car manufacturers used to say in the handbook that A/C should be used for 5 mins every week. This keeps the seals from drying out and stops it leaking.

On cars that the A/C defaults to on have more reliable systems than cars that get it switched on when the temp goes above 25 degrees.

Re the cost of gas, my brother runs a one-man mobile regassing service covering Enfield, North London and surrounding areas. Yesterday he mentioned that the cost of gas has gone down a bit recently...perhaps just through lack of demand at the moment.

Plug for my bro.... http://autoregas.co.uk/

The refrigerant is different now and it’s 4x as expensive so cheap recharge days may be over. I replaced my condenser when I replaced the fan, I also polished the headlights whilst the bumper was off too. I don’t recall the condenser being difficult, it took longer to clean the leaves out etc.

Yes mine looked similar to that🤣

But they come into their own in winter for removing moisture and condensation which most seem to not realise or forget.

Air Con Update
 

Phoned a guy with 5 star reviews going back 10yrs, recommended by my friend who does other repairs for me. Rob Lane (Honiton) was here within the hour and tested the system using one (I assume air) hose, a bottle of weak washing up liquid and a torch. He declared the condenser was leaking. I could have supplied my own but he couldn't guarantee the job, fair enough. So, to supply and fit condenser, re gas and test etc £200 +vat. less if I could remove the bumper myself. Gonna go for it, after several re gases I feel mobile is the way to go.

Excellent. That's the way to do it. Just for the record Heddy, it's usually nitrogen that is used for this diagnostic procedure.

Simon

Yep, bite the bullet, you only get around 4 re gases for 200 quid and you still have the leak. Many claim to do a leak test first but how definitive is this? I believe now that a re-gas is a 'quick fix', you go away with cold air but it doesn't always last.

Removing the bumper is the easy part ;) its the rest of the front that as to be removed which takes the time, slam panel / crash bar, lights, fan, before you can get to the condenser.

Changed a couple early this year before lock down, my own & a local members, as always photos taken :D

air con compressor
 

hi all ,
I am looking to buy a new compressor.
the o rings on the pump are shot and thinking the pump is geting on now.
so while the front is off may as well put a new pump on.
compressor thats on was not used for at least 5 years and is unkown if it worked befour that.
the condenser was shot just fell apart when took out .
so anyone know where i can get a new compressor from at a good price.
some i have seen are 500 quid.

thanks all

steve

All machines go into vacuum as part of a leak test, generally around 20 minutes. It’s possible to get to 20 minutes and the vacuum is then held for a couple more minutes but there’s no guarantee that there is no small leak, after this point the machine will just refill. Keeping an eye on actual vacuum readings throughout the vacuum stage is more of a help if there is a small leak.

All Done.
 

Nitrogen test, empty system, trace leak to condenser.
Supply and fit condenser (bumper removed by customer)
Carry out air con service (refrigerant recovered 10%)
Nitrogen test 10 bar
Vacuum system and test
Add oil and dye
Recharge with R134a
£180 inc vat.
Pleased to say all working fine.

Hi, I hope I'm not hijacking this thread but my aircon is working despite my having left the Tourer in a compound for near 18 months. Cost more than I'd get for the car to put it back on the road despite (thanks to the advice on this forum) fitting the HPFP and Hydramount myself. Not a long way to go now before I hit 100K in this car.

But when stationary the cooling system makes the same odd "whooping noise" that it always did. It doesn't do it when on the move. I usually have the internal recirculation on as it seems sensible not to try and cool down the whole world!


Any thoughts?


Found the threads I needed to explain the whoop and will do the relevant tests before coming back on here.


JohnnyBG

120 quid is a great price, will be coming to the midlands next time, or your guy can come to me in Exmouth. Well, he's mobile isn't he? The thing to remember/learn here is to book a mobile guy. I think too often, when just having a regas, faults are missed and you end up using a specialist anyway.

I was born in Walsall and go back to visit my youngest in Great Wyrley. My eldest lives in London but often visits her sister, getting her car fixed or going to the hairdressers. Things are so much cheaper. Next visit I'll see if it coincides with a nano.