Air Con not working

mx-3

My Air con is not cold. I have been told it needs re-gassing.

Can you buy kits to fill these, or is it a garage job. What kind of money should it cost ( vauxhall vectra).
thanks for your time..........

Quinny_2

Yes you can re-gas them yourself,but it is a dangerous thing to do.

Far better take it to an engineer to do,names of which you'll find in your local Yellow Pages,probably under Air Con,or Garage Services

Don't bother going to the dealers,because all they do is sub contract it to one of said engineers,then rip you off for the privilage.

However,if you pipes are porous,then in a short time the gas will escape,and you'll be back to square one.When you find someone to do it,see if they test the system for leaks,and then decide what you want to do.

Hope this helps.

Ken.

wingnuts

I have just had the same problem with my Vauxhall Zafira 54 plate.

Took it to a vauxhall garage and they wanted £116 to regas as it's not on warranty.

They did put some dye in the gas and two weeks later they checked and found a leak. They changed all the pipes and i got a full refund as well.

So if your car is still under 3years old it might have a leak and if it does it will not cost you.
The gas can loose it's effectiveness and/or Disappear which then will be chargable.
hope this helps

highguyuk

Take it to an independant garage and get it regassed - around £50-60.

Nationwide Autocentres are currently doing free Air Conditioning tests. Wouldn't do any harm to take it there and get another opinion?

balsingh

£60 is the going rate. The guy I use actually comes out to me - now thats service!

wdyw

Firstly check if it is covered by the warrenty. Secondly, check to see if you have got a hole somewhere. Most common damage is due to a stone hitting the condenser, though if you are lucky it might just be a pipe. If its a pipe then cost to repair is not too bad, if its the condenser you are talking quite a bit ..anything from 500 to 2-3k.

I had my air con go at 18 months. Got the dealer to check it out while getting a service. Identified the problem, I asked if it was covered by warrenty, they said no as the condenser leak was caused by a stone hitting it, I asked them to check on their computer system. Turned out Renault would cover the cost. Got it fixed, they then hit me with a bill for £800. I pointed out that they had checked to see if it was under warrenty, they claimed to have no record of this and as it caused by a stone it wouldn't be covered. I again asked them to check on the system and begrudgingly they agreed it was covered.

mr_accountant

Mine wasn’t feeling as cold as it should so just had mine gassed this evening at my house for £45 (cash in hand- you understand)! But the guy is a full time refrigeration engineer, not one of these 'gas and go types' found in the yellow pages

I will wait and see how it is tomorrow afternoon but the air at the vents does feel much colder measured by be around 5.5C, and there’s a big puddle of water condensation where the cold pipes are near the radiator, so looking good.

So much for the clown who supposedly pressures tested, vacuumed and then recharged it 2 years ago, it was working fine but just not cold enough. My guess is they did not vacuum properly and left moisture in the system and then put to little amount of gas in.

moonrakerz

Don't forget to run your aircon regularly, even in winter, if you don't, the seals in the system dry out and leak.

Scooby_Saver_2

mr_accountant wrote:

Mine wasn’t feeling as cold as it should so just had mine gassed this evening at my house for £45 (cash in hand- you understand)! But the guy is a full time refrigeration engineer, not one of these 'gas and go types' found in the yellow pages

I will wait and see how it is tomorrow afternoon but the air at the vents does feel much colder measured by be around 5.5C, and there’s a big puddle of water condensation where the cold pipes are near the radiator, so looking good.

So much for the clown who supposedly pressures tested, vacuumed and then recharged it 2 years ago, it was working fine but just not cold enough. My guess is they did not vacuum properly and left moisture in the system and then put to little amount of gas in.

I think the enigneer has over gased as you get refirgirate boil once its gone past the evaporator hence you get ice build up on the suction side - i use to be a fridge engineer ok not on cars but domestic / pub and cellar eqipmeant

dawnydee73

How often would you need to re-gas, I had mine done last year but its not as cold as it should be, so I think I must have a leak somewhere. I also went to a dealer and it cost just under £100 then I saw it advertise for £60 in a few places.