Got my air-con recharged today

[GazCaff]

I noticed that the aircon in my car was not particularly cold, so with warmer weather (hopefully) upon us soon I decided to get the gas recharged in my Air-con system.

I took it to Kwik-fit who charged £45 for a drain, pressure test and refill of the system which took about an hour to do. I am really pleased with the result, my car now blows frosty cold and dry air when set to "LO".

I'm not usually someone who will recommend Kwik-fit, but they did a good job and £45 is hardly wallet-breaking. Kwik-fit will also only charge for the work if they can make your aircon at least 10% cooler, so its worth getting it checked if you are unsure your aircon is performing upto scratch.

 

[vijilants]

Funny you should say that, because I went down to Kwick Fit yesterday and for £45 I also did exactly the same thing

 

[Rory]

They can't really go wrong, as the machine does the whole thing automatically.

Although I have seen some reports that they've been unable to find the connection points on Mercs.

 

[The G.F.P]

cheers Gaz, ill go get mine done this week before they up their prices in the summer

im always dubious about things like this as id not know a good job from a bad one even if it was pointed out and shouted at me

ive had GFP2 since october 2005 and never botherd to get it re-gassed

 

[kingkong]

The aircon in my W124 300E has never worked since I bought the car about a year ago. Last week I paid £150 for John from Aircon Direct to come to my house, diagnose problems, check for leaks, fix the pressure switch, replace the drier (it was the original 1992 drier), convert from R12 to R134 and fully charge up the system.

The aircon is now ice cold and I am very happy with the service and would happily recommend Aircon Direct.

Thanks,
KK

 

[lynall]

KK i would say thats very cheap for all that work

We have the a/c machine at work and its plug in and tell if the quantities and walk away, workmate did a merc a while ago and didnt know about the connector behind the grill and still did the regas through the one point and worked okay afterwards.


Lynall

 

[del320]

Got mine done at K-F a couple of weeks ago. I knew it had never been regassed during the car's lifetime (12yrs) so got my money's worth.

Got an impressive printout showing they pumped in 1kg of refrigerant having recovered 0.275kg!

Now, like in all the best adverts, truly blows ice-cold.

 

[Roger Jones]

I reckon the surest thing to bet on when buying a used car is that the A/C will have been neglected. Two years ago I bought a high-mileage MB and found that it still had R12 in it, which became illegal on 01/01/2001. The irony was that in all other respects the car had been pampered, as the thick file of invoices, service reports and related correspondence confirmed.

I use a mobile service. The guy recommends a three-year interval. At less than £100 a time (unless problems are found) it hardly breaks the bank. As ever, use A/C or lose it.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=14

 

[vijilants]

They can't really go wrong, as the machine does the whole thing automatically.

Although I have seen some reports that they've been unable to find the connection points on Mercs.

When I had mine done they couldn't find the points on mine, so I had to show them. However the guy said that he could do it from just one point if required.

I guess wth soo many cars on the market with aircon, the KwickFit bod is not going to know where the points are on every model out there unless he has some sort of manual covering all points on all cars.

As far as the point of letting a KwickFit bod loose on your car, they really do nothing apart from connect the equipment - The equipment is fully automatic and does it all. The machine sucks out the gas and oil from the car, measures it, vacuum tests the system for leaks and then refills the system....simple as that really.

Ive used Aircon direct before and the good thing about them is they come to your home and do the job and if there is a problem on the system, they can diagnose it and also fix it, although I find with them, if you want to keep costs down, after their diagnosis, replace the faulty part yourself if you are handy with a set of spanners and get them to come and refill it.

What these guys did tell me though is they very rarely ever get called out to fix and recharge Jap systems....Germans cars are good business for them I have owned both German and Jap vehicles, and in the eight years I had my Honda I only had to get it filled once and that was because a hose was leaking from it's crimp connection. Whearas every German Ive owned has had to have its aircon system either refilled every couple of years or repaired due to component failure.

Kwickfit however will tell you that there may be a problem or a leak, but thats about as far as it goes with those guys......if they can't make it blow colder or if there is a problem you will not be charged any money, whereas with Aircon direct, there is a charge obviously as they come to your home and do this stuff.

 

[Carrotchomper]

Having read this I might get Kwik Fit to do mine in the week. I was tempted to hold on until Olly's do to have it recharged- How much is the MBClub discount price?

 

[vijilants]

Having read this I might get Kwik Fit to do mine in the week. I was tempted to hold on until Olly's do to have it recharged- How much is the MBClub discount price?

I think Olly is doing it for £35 as a special on the day of hs GTG.....I was going to get him to do it I did suspect a leak on my system, hence I took it to Kwickfit just for confirmation.