Two lots of aircon, now restored

[chilled]

Andy

if you add refrigerant to a system to do a leak test are you not breaking the law?

i found that if you have a leak thats hard to find adding helium gas to the nitrogen for the pressure test some times helps to find the leak
helium as a smaller molecular structure then nitrogen therefore leaks at a faster rate and escapes from smaller holes

chilled

 

[Will]

Another morning spent at the aircon company's workshop.

Pipe was replaced (see pic) but there is still a hole somewhere. I asked about the receiver/drier but was told that they have never needed to replace one yet, mine is apparently aluminium and unlikely to corrode. Replacing stuff that is seemingly still working isn't a priority atm... the sound of escaping air was finally tracked down to the condenser!

A2028300770 : CONDENSER : EUR 389.64

He said they can get one from Hella or someone for £160 +VAT, still expensive

I will try MB Manchester on Monday and plead poverty!

Hi Shude,

I'll guess that the leak in the condensor is from behind where the cooling fans sit Been there, done that myself! In my case, the cooling fans had fluff/leaves/dead insects etc behind them which had been holding moisture and caused the condensor to corrode and leak through.

The receiver/drier does not get replaced because it corrodes, they are replaced as a routine 'service item'. They contain particles to remove moisture from a 'sealed' system, the fact that your system has been leaking is bad enough for the rest of the system, let alone an item that absorbs moisture.

Link

Without wanting to be presumptious, any Air Conditioning service centre worth it's salt should know this, it's totally standard practice.

Will they know to add compressor oil when replacing the condensor and the receiver drier too, and if so, will they know the correct type??

I bought a brand new Hella condensor that is 100% compatible and a perfect fit, it even looks identical to the BEHR original, except better quality (the fins are protected by being coated on the replacement!)

The receiver/drier is relatively peanuts in price, and is a very quick item to change (two bolts holding it in place, two pipes that unscrew and one pressure sensor that gets swapped accross).

What you want exactly to finish this job properly is the following:

New Condensor (get that Hella one!)
New Receiver/Drier unit (Hella replacement)
Four/Five new 'O' rings (two for the pipe connections on the condensor, two for the pipe connections on the receiver/drier, possibly one for the pressure sensor)

Then have the system fully pressure tested, then thoroughly evacuated, then recharged with fresh R134a and inject approx 20/30ml of the correct PAG ISO-46 oil (for the compressor)

It's definately a false economy to not replace the reciever/drier, if you speak to your main dealer I am sure they would agree that it MUST be replaced!

If you are feeling handy with the spanners then this is a pretty straightforward and simple job for a weekend morning, should only take a couple of hours and is a fairly basic mechanical task. If you are paying to have these items fitted, expect around a couple of hours labour on top of the parts.

The parts should cost around £200 all inclusive, so maybe shop around if they are quoting too much. Maybe £100 for fitting and say £50 for pressure testing, evacuating and recharging the system.

Best of luck

Will

 

[GregE240]

Sorry to hear its the condensor Nick.

Mine went year before last. Left it and left it, then we get a spell of warm weather......ah well.

Had the receiver/dryer replaced on mine too as a matter of course. It wasn't too much, from memory (condensor was )

Cheers,
Greg

 

[Shude]

Booked in for Saturday.

new Hella condenser (£161 +VAT)
new Hella receiver/drier (£58 +VAT)
deep vacuum and recharge with oil (£60 +VAT)

labour is 1.5 hours for the job @ £35 per hour.

Total comes to about £400, not too bad really.

 

[Will]

Glad to hear that you are getting it sorted, although I can't help to say that you can easily save £50/60+ on those parts prices

You can't put a price on staying cool in warm/humid weather though!

Will

 

[Shude]

Glad to hear that you are getting it sorted, although I can't help to say that you can easily save £50/60+ on those parts prices

You can't put a price on staying cool in warm/humid weather though!

He has done me a deal where the parts are listed as internet sales and the recharge/labour is VAT free (cash), so the total is actually a bit less

 

[Will]

He has done me a deal where the parts are listed as internet sales and the recharge/labour is VAT free (cash), so the total is actually a bit less

Fair enough!

Will

 

[Shude]

Fair enough!

Well, you have to at least try don't you?

He has already spent about 2 hours on the car for free anyway!

 

[Shude]

It's fixed

The condenser was removed and new one fitted, along with a new receiver/drier. The system was pressurised with air and no leaks were found, so the system was vacuumed and then re-gassed and oiled by their computerised workstation.

Finally the blower was put on full blast and the temp set to minimum on the heater dials while the filters were soaked in anti-bacterial/fungicide treatment (which has made the whole car smell of mints now - Jimmy take note re. the lemon vs vanilla debate! ). After about 5 minutes the car's windows were covered in condensation on the outside .

You can pretty much guarantee that we're done with hot weather now

 

[Will]

Good to hear it''s all sorted and that they have replaced the receiver/drier

I can't be 100% sure, but it does look as though your old condensor has failed in the same way as my old one did, ie rotted behind the fans where the debris had collected? If it didn't leak there, you can still see what I mean about how the muck collects there from the two areas either side in the middle.

Look forward now to more pleasant motoring, even if the majority of the heat has now gone, it'll still come in handy for dehumidifying in the winter

Well done,

Will

 

[Shude]

I can't be 100% sure, but it does look as though your old condensor has failed in the same way as my old one did, ie rotted behind the fans where the debris had collected? If it didn't leak there, you can still see what I mean about how the muck collects there from the two areas either side in the middle.

Yeah, the guy said they always go there, in an undetectable way - there was no hole visible but it was definitely the condenser leaking.

I might swap the front fan-assembly for the 2000+ single fan type, will look into the parts and costs involved, it is entirely possible that the double-fan setup was changed in 2000 for this exact reason.

 

[Will]

Yeah, the guy said they always go there, in an undetectable way - there was no hole visible but it was definitely the condenser leaking.

I might swap the front fan-assembly for the 2000+ single fan type, will look into the parts and costs involved, it is entirely possible that the double-fan setup was changed in 2000 for this exact reason.

Could do, although IMO it wouldn't really be worth the hassle. The new condensor should last at least as long as the old one (at a guess, 5+ years and 100K+ miles?). Nothing stopping you from inspecting it every year or two and brushing/blowing out any leaves/muck that may have accumulated?

Another part of the A/C system will probably have failed before then anyway

Cheers,

Will

 

[Shude]

Another part of the A/C system will probably have failed before then anyway

The engineer said something similar

It was slightly satisfying to see that the same repair costs quite a bit more on a renault espace btw, the engineer had no kind words to say about working on french cars either...

 

[Will]

The engineer said something similar

It was slightly satisfying to see that the same repair costs quite a bit more on a renault espace btw, the engineer had no kind words to say about working on french cars either...

Yes, from memory I think the Espace is one of the most costly vehicles to fix in its class. A friend's wife has one (1999?) and it has had two heater matrix replacements (different sides!) in the space of a year or two - costing several hundred (nearer a grand IIRC) each time

Mind you, at least it hasn't rusted yet

Will

 

[Shude]

It took a nice warm day to find out, but the effing aircon isn't working again.

I wonder what's broken this time!

 

[Wezzel]

My aircon was pants and hardly working at all. It hadn't been serviced for at least 3 years and was well overdue for a top up. It has been becomming less and less efficient since I've had the car and I've been putting off getting it serviced.

On Friday I went into Kwik Fit in Reading (as recommended on the forum) and was pleasantly surprised. Even though the machine they use is automated, the lad there knew what he was doing and did a cracking job. No leaks but the refridgerant was down to 0.325kg. He vaccummed the system and re-gassed with 0.85kg. The final temperature at the vents (on a hot day with the windows all down) was 7 deg. (nice an frosty).

The work all carried out for the princely sum of £44.95. Can't complain at that can you?

 

[big x]

My aircon was pants and hardly working at all. It hadn't been serviced for at least 3 years and was well overdue for a top up. It has been becomming less and less efficient since I've had the car and I've been putting off getting it serviced.

On Friday I went into Kwik Fit in Reading (as recommended on the forum) and was pleasantly surprised. Even though the machine they use is automated, the lad there knew what he was doing and did a cracking job. No leaks but the refridgerant was down to 0.325kg. He vaccummed the system and re-gassed with 0.85kg. The final temperature at the vents (on a hot day with the windows all down) was 7 deg. (nice an frosty).

The work all carried out for the princely sum of £44.95. Can't complain at that can you?

They where charging £25 last month.Must of ended the special offer at the first sign of warm weather !

adam

 

[Wezzel]

I did see the special offer price on the forum. Unfortunatley it was after the offer closed

I did ring a garage in Bracknell though and they wanted £29.95 just to check the system and £89.95 to top up

 

[PaulE230]

I can also recommend Kwik Fit. That place seems to have changed vastly over the last few years

They got my Aircon blowing at 2 C down from 7 C
Very polite and enthusiastic

 

[Andy W]

I can also recommend Kwik Fit. That place seems to have changed vastly over the last few years

They got my Aircon blowing at 2 C down from 7 C
Very polite and enthusiastic

Even if your system is leaking so badly that you can hear it hiss will once charged bring the temperature down from 7 to 2, it is guaranteed to do so ............. briefly. There has been a lot of talk in our trade about what kwik fit are doing, and beleive me they are giving a lot of refunds back as well, as they do not know how to leak test.