Air conditioning service - every two years - really? 22 December 2022 at 1:16PM in Motoring 29 replies 1.4K views

Doc_N

Every two years is the standard recommendation for servicing an aircon unit.  Seems a bit of overkill to me.  Three years OK?  Four?  More?

Car's coming up for 9 years old - last done early 2020.

facade

Doc_N said:

Every two years is the standard recommendation for servicing an aircon unit.  Seems a bit of overkill to me.  Three years OK?  Four?  More?

Car's coming up for 9 years old - last done early 2020.

Depends on the gas.

If it was an old design and could get away with R134a then you can pretty much run it for ever without a service as long as you use it regularly to avoid the seals drying out..

If it has R1234yf you will be lucky to get much more than 2 years before enough gas has leaked out to make it noticeably poor at cooling and needing a top-up..

R1234yf is ferociously expensive too.

Doc_N

facade said:

Doc_N said:

Every two years is the standard recommendation for servicing an aircon unit.  Seems a bit of overkill to me.  Three years OK?  Four?  More?

Car's coming up for 9 years old - last done early 2020.

Depends on the gas.

If it was an old design and could get away with R134a then you can pretty much run it for ever without a service as long as you use it regularly to avoid the seals drying out..

If it has R1234yf you will be lucky to get much more than 2 years before enough gas has leaked out to make it noticeably poor at cooling and needing a top-up..

R1234yf is ferociously expensive too.

Thanks! That’s useful information. R134a, luckily, so I’ll skip it and just have the brake fluid changed, which does need doing every couple of years.

facade

You still need to change the pollen filter every other year though, and one of those anti-fungal/bacterial air-con sanitisers used regularly will keep it free from bad smells (and hideous diseases).

Bigwheels1111

WOW, never heard of that one.

My Car is 6 years old and I change the pollen filter every year, run the air con every week or so for 10 minutes.

Still works like new.

gord115

Doc_N said:

facade said:

Doc_N said:

Every two years is the standard recommendation for servicing an aircon unit.  Seems a bit of overkill to me.  Three years OK?  Four?  More?

Car's coming up for 9 years old - last done early 2020.

Depends on the gas.

If it was an old design and could get away with R134a then you can pretty much run it for ever without a service as long as you use it regularly to avoid the seals drying out..

If it has R1234yf you will be lucky to get much more than 2 years before enough gas has leaked out to make it noticeably poor at cooling and needing a top-up..

R1234yf is ferociously expensive too.

Thanks! That’s useful information. R134a, luckily, so I’ll skip it and just have the brake fluid changed, which does need doing every couple of years.

Brake fluid doesn't always need changing every 2 years. Get a brake fluid tester and check it every few months then just change it when necessary. Saves you a lot of money.

Grey_Critic

In my time in the motor trade I came across many things but the one thing that created the most problems was people who ignored or thought what the customer manual said did not apply to them.  

The instruction book - which is what a customer manual is - is not a New York Times best seller - it is not a work of fiction. If it advises/recommends you do something - Check your oil weekly - check your tyre pressures, service every X miles or Y months whichever comes first are to help you enjoy trouble free motoring.

If you know better and ignore what it says that is OK just don’t complain when things go wrong.

For all who say they have ignored the book and never had a problem you will find an equal or greater number who have.

One of my Granddaughters has just had to have 4 new tyres because she did not bother checking them - as it says in the book - and was very lucky not to get 12 points.

Car_54

Grey_Critic said:

In my time in the motor trade I came across many things but the one thing that created the most problems was people who ignored or thought what the customer manual said did not apply to them.  

The instruction book - which is what a customer manual is - is not a New York Times best seller - it is not a work of fiction. If it advises/recommends you do something - Check your oil weekly - check your tyre pressures, service every X miles or Y months whichever comes first are to help you enjoy trouble free motoring.

If you know better and ignore what it says that is OK just don’t complain when things go wrong.

For all who say they have ignored the book and never had a problem you will find an equal or greater number who have.

One of my Granddaughters has just had to have 4 new tyres because she did not bother checking them - as it says in the book - and was very lucky not to get 12 points.

Not all that lucky. If she’d been stopped with four bald tyres she’d only have got four points.

gord115

Grey_Critic said:

In my time in the motor trade I came across many things but the one thing that created the most problems was people who ignored or thought what the customer manual said did not apply to them.  

The instruction book - which is what a customer manual is - is not a New York Times best seller - it is not a work of fiction. If it advises/recommends you do something - Check your oil weekly - check your tyre pressures, service every X miles or Y months whichever comes first are to help you enjoy trouble free motoring.

If you know better and ignore what it says that is OK just don’t complain when things go wrong.

For all who say they have ignored the book and never had a problem you will find an equal or greater number who have.

One of my Granddaughters has just had to have 4 new tyres because she did not bother checking them - as it says in the book - and was very lucky not to get 12 points.

Would you replace tyres if they had plenty of tread left on them after 2 years because it says so in the manual? Of course not. So  why charge the air con or change brake fluid when it's not needed. This is to make the stealers more money.

flashg67

gord115 said:

Grey_Critic said:

In my time in the motor trade I came across many things but the one thing that created the most problems was people who ignored or thought what the customer manual said did not apply to them.  

The instruction book - which is what a customer manual is - is not a New York Times best seller - it is not a work of fiction. If it advises/recommends you do something - Check your oil weekly - check your tyre pressures, service every X miles or Y months whichever comes first are to help you enjoy trouble free motoring.

If you know better and ignore what it says that is OK just don’t complain when things go wrong.

For all who say they have ignored the book and never had a problem you will find an equal or greater number who have.

One of my Granddaughters has just had to have 4 new tyres because she did not bother checking them - as it says in the book - and was very lucky not to get 12 points.

Would you replace tyres if they had plenty of tread left on them after 2 years because it says so in the manual? Of course not. So  why charge the air con or change brake fluid when it's not needed. This is to make the stealers more money.

But it doesn't say that in any manual I've seen. I agree with the OP, ignore at your own risk. What's a few quid on a machine worth thousands?

subjecttocontract

Just had my Mercedes air con serviced for the first time......car is 11 years old. Didn't need doing, there were no problems but I thought it was about time to get it checked.