Hyundai AC over £600 to fix, is this Correct?

Goudy

fatbelly said:

JohnSwift10 said:

My 2011 Hyundai i10 AC stopped working so I had it checked out at a local garage specialising in AC.

I was quoted over £600 to fix it as 2 pipes are corroded and leaking and these pipes can only be supplied by Hyundai at a cost of £200 odd each and there are none in the country so have to be imported from Korea.

I had a new compressor fitted 4 years ago so that was a waste of £500 as the AC stopped working last winter but I never got round to having it checked until now.

This car has been nothing but bother with brake pipes needing replaced because of corrosion.  suspension parts needing replaced as well because of corrosion and a MOT warning that the other side suspension is corroded and needing replaced before it's next MOT.

Time for a new car but what for an 80 year old whose health problems could suddenly cause him to stop driving.?

That's older cars for you.

If you want to stick with a city car, Hyundai and Kia continue to make the i10/Picanto  to this day and the later ones are probably the best car in the sector.

There's nothing wrong with the 2014-19 model but if that's your price range you may want to take a look at the Up/Mii/Citigo, which had a lot of fans, me included, until they stopped making them.

I'd suggest a 1.2 engine'd Fiat Panda, but not all came with air con in the UK, so you'd need to check which has.
We've had a few and they are cheap, cheap to run, parts are easy to come by and the seating position is very good for the older driver, it is a chair rather than a low slung seat.

Fiat have been making them forever and they didn't get too much wrong in all that time.
The 1.2 FIRE is almost bullet proof apart for the sump can rust up if not wiped other with an oily rag every now and then.

MattMattMattUK

daveyjp said:

Metal corrosion after almost 15 years is no surprise.

Equally the period around 20 years ago was when cars seemed to largely stop rusting. I remember in my childhood nearly all cars had rust issues, sills rusted through, floors rusted, even the chassis rusted away, modern cars not so much. A few months ago I sold Golf I had owned for fifteen years that was eighteen years old, no rust anywhere, only wear and tear parts had needed replacing etc. Now I did look after it, had it serviced, did minor bits myself but it was still in good condition until an idiot drove into the side of the passenger door in a car park, even then fully mechanically sound, but I also decided that I can justify buying myself a newer car now. Anything less than twenty years old should really not be having issues with rusting, metal protection and preservation has come a long way from a shoddily applied coat of paint in the factory and rust appearing before the car made it to the showroom. 

Grey_Critic

MouldyOldDough said:

On a similar vein - my 8 year old Suzuki Baleno headlamps are clouding over and would cost me over £600 each if / when the car fails its MOT on them ! 

Is this due to scarring on the outside? If so Brasso may well restore them, Try it.

HillStreetBlues

daveyjp said:

Metal corrosion after almost 15 years is no surprise.

Back in the day you'd contact a breakers yard to find the part you needed.  Turn up with some spanners, take the bits off, pay £10 and leave happy!

Now it's an on-line search, I doubt they are none in the country.

forgotmyname

Find a local company that will make the pipes for you, I was in Chesterfield years back collecting some hydraulic
pipes from a company and had a good chat with them. They could make almost anything with whatever connections
you needed at either end.

GunJack

Grey_Critic said:

MouldyOldDough said:

On a similar vein - my 8 year old Suzuki Baleno headlamps are clouding over and would cost me over £600 each if / when the car fails its MOT on them ! 

Is this due to scarring on the outside? If so Brasso may well restore them, Try it.

Nah... get the T-Cut on them!! Anything with plastic headlights that are "fogging" on the outside, give 'em a good T-Cut and buff, they'll be like new. Have to do it on my Ford Fusion couple of times a year (but it is 21 years old ) 

MouldyOldDough

EssexExile said:

MouldyOldDough said:

On a similar vein - my 8 year old Suzuki Baleno headlamps are clouding over and would cost me over £600 each if / when the car fails its MOT on them ! 

You can polish the headlights back to clear. Don't buy a modern Volvo, headlights are about £1200 each.

No - they are clouding over in between the "double glazing" layers.

I am unable to split the layers apart !

And you try to find a "Baleno" in a scrapyard - there aren't any !!

nb) This is a modern Baleno - not the 90's version

oldagetraveller1

"No - they are clouding over in between the "double glazing" layers."

The headlights on my Toyota Yaris (2014) are exactly the same. Fortunately the double skinned section is on the top of the unit and doesn't affect the front lens section through which the light shines.

There must be a reason for this flawed design, but I can't think of one?

MouldyOldDough

oldagetraveller1 said:

"No - they are clouding over in between the "double glazing" layers."

The headlights on my Toyota Yaris (2014) are exactly the same. Fortunately the double skinned section is on the top of the unit and doesn't affect the front lens section through which the light shines.

There must be a reason for this flawed design, but I can't think of one?

Mine are clouding over where the LED  sidelights are - they are pretty bright though so don't appear to stop much light from getting out

Goudy

MouldyOldDough said:

EssexExile said:

MouldyOldDough said:

On a similar vein - my 8 year old Suzuki Baleno headlamps are clouding over and would cost me over £600 each if / when the car fails its MOT on them ! 

You can polish the headlights back to clear. Don't buy a modern Volvo, headlights are about £1200 each.

No - they are clouding over in between the "double glazing" layers.

I am unable to split the layers apart !

And you try to find a "Baleno" in a scrapyard - there aren't any !!

nb) This is a modern Baleno - not the 90's version

There are five or six being broken on Ebay, just search "breaking Suzuki Baleno".
Synetiq also have a few later Baleno's that they are breaking.

There are also a few headlamp units listed on Ebay.