tommorow morning i have a mobile guy comming out to my car... £37.50+vat to service and check for leaks and another £35+vat for refill/charge does this sound about right

also is there anyother additives they can put in to keep it smelling fresh???

craig

That sounds about right mate, I paid £35 for the discharge and £35 for the recharge, they did the whole check with no problems, it only takes about 20 - 30 minutes to do the lot, looking for leaks etc... took a while longer.

Not sure about the additives for the sweeter smel but there is a spary for the A/C that you can spray in the vents, leave over night for the the stuff to do it's work and this is meant to last for serveral months. Not used this myself as mine is still working OK with no smell differences.

BR
Paul

I had mine recharged at a refrigerated trailer depot. The guy did it in his lunch hour and charged me £25. Easy money.
As for the spray, I have just used a wynns product called aircool. It got rid of the nasty smell for about 2 days and then it returned.
I have heard of something called an air bomb (?).
Can anyone shed any light?

regas cost me £35 at lexus stockport

[quote name='Lexus Jim' date='Jun 16 2004, 10:01 AM']regas cost me £35 at lexus stockport[/quote]
(Fish Brothers) Lexus Swindon have quoted me £95 (and they take it to (Fish Brothers) Honda to do).

Amazing how the price varies so much for the same thing.

[quote name='randyreindeer' date='Jun 16 2004, 08:00 AM']I have heard of something called an air bomb (?).
Can anyone shed any light?[/quote]
Gas bomb? Basically a use-once aerosol that you leave for a few minutes in the car with the engine running and the aircon on full blast. I bought one from Halfords (about 15 quid I think). Seems to have done the trick as it got rid of the musty smell.

well i have just had it done... full check and overhall including dye in system just in case of leak..and pressure test the guy said that it was one of the top air con units and for its age it was in remarkable condition ..

its now icey cold ...lovley oh and all in all it cost me £99.88 and he was a mobile call out guy so did not have to take the car anywhere.. which was nice

craig

That's good, I must get mine done while the weathers nice.

I will probably get mine done through Lexus as it's due a service too so I can get them both done on the same day for convenience.

Was there a Massive difference in the cold air output Craig?
my car's 5 years old and the aircon blows out chilled air but its not really really cold, Ive had aircon before so im not sure what its supposed to be like, is there a way to check if it needs regassing?

[quote name='Brettster' date='Jun 16 2004, 01:01 PM']Was there a Massive difference in the cold air output Craig?
my car's 5 years old and the aircon blows out chilled air but its not really really cold, Ive had aircon before so im not sure what its supposed to be like, is there a way to check if it needs regassing?[/quote]
Brettster look in the sightglass under bonnet and while the car is ticking over if you see bubbles its probably time to get a re-charge.

yes it blows very cold now.. enough to give you goose pimples up your arms on a hot day like today.. very happy with it now..


craig

I checked my sight glass thingy and I couldn't see any bubbles but for £35 I got it regasses anyway. I can't notice any difference really and I think it should be a lot colder than it is, will there be anything else wrong with mine or has it not been regassed properly?

Is it on outside intake?.....thats normally colder.

Yes

Well i had to ask!!!

[quote name='Lexus Jim' date='Jun 16 2004, 10:53 PM']will there be anything else wrong with mine or has it not been regassed properly?[/quote]
One of the things that was suggested to me was to see if the pollen filters were blocked up, apparently this can cause a lesser circualtion of air con air.

Just had it replaced on last service

I got mine recharged a couple of weeks ago and it's nice to have the cold air. As an air con virgin, until my GS, I have a couple of questions:

The engine has to work harder with air con on, so in turn it revs higher, but I was using mine last night and after driving for about 10 minutes with it on my revs settled back to normal when in Drive and 750rpm in Neutral. Is this normal, I thought the engine revved higher until the air con was turned off?

Does my climate control only work when I use the Auto mode?

[color=green]No, the engine revs should stabilise when the air con is switched on. However, these only switch on the compressor when needed, so it will be constantly switching on and off in normal use. The idea is that the engine revs should remain as normal even with extra load on the engine.

When in auto, everything works automatically for example vent direction, fan speed, recirculation on/off etc. All you do is dial in the temperature and it does the rest. However, if you change say the vent position from face vents to footwell this disables this function in automatic, but everthing else still works automatically. Obviously, the more automatic things you change, the more automatic functions become disabled.

[/color]

Does the climate control only operate when the Auto function is used and/or does it work during manual fan use?

[quote name='jac114' date='Jun 16 2004, 11:11 AM']well i have just had it done... full check and overhall including dye in system just in case of leak..and pressure test the guy said that it was one of the top air con units and for its age it was in remarkable condition ..

its now icey cold ...lovley oh and all in all it cost me £99.88 and he was a mobile call out guy so did not have to take the car anywhere.. which was nice

craig[/quote]
Jac

Can i get his contact details my sister lives in Croydon and her mazda 626 AC has packed up

Thanks

Whilst the AC is on the revs should be higher and remain that way. Even with the AC switched on it will cut in and out automatically so it may have been off when you checked the idle speed.

[quote name='SHAHZ' date='Jul 16 2004, 09:07 AM'][quote name='jac114' date='Jun 16 2004, 11:11 AM'] well i have just had it done... full check and overhall including dye in system just in case of leak..and pressure test the guy said that it was one of the top air con units and for its age it was in remarkable condition ..

its now icey cold ...lovley oh and all in all it cost me £99.88 and he was a mobile call out guy so did not have to take the car anywhere.. which was nice

craig[/quote]
Jac

Can i get his contact details my sister lives in Croydon and her mazda 626 AC has packed up

Thanks [/quote]
yep i will dig out his details for you... not sure if he will travel out to croydon though... but no harm in asking

Lexus Croydon just quoted me £164.90 inc!!

o.k there web addy is www.air-care-automotive.co.uk

tel: 01252703702..
tell him you he was recomended by craig with the lexus that he went to jewsons to do


craig

I sat in a '95 Seven series BMW recently and the fans were set to 18 degrees with the air con on and it was very cold. Mine's cold, but was not as chilled as the BMW's and mine goes as low as 16 degrees.

I spoke to the place where it was recharged prior to this experience, because I wanted to know more about it, and they told me they pressure test, put ultra violet dye in and regas to the manufacturer's specification.

Compared to before the recharge mine is now working, but my expectations if air con were how the BMW's was (especially now I've been able to compare another car to mine).

How do I know mine is producing the correct temperature of air? The only thing I can think of is to try my Dad's GS and see what his is like.

I tried my Dad's and mine side by side and his is a little bit colder than mine, but he thought mine was alright.

Not sure what year they changed over to the non CFC refrigerant but the old type gave better results which may have been in the 7 series.

[quote name='ColinBarber' date='Jul 18 2004, 12:54 PM']Not sure what year they changed over to the non CFC refrigerant but the old type gave better results which may have been in the 7 series.[/quote]
They said an environmentally friendly gas was used to recharge mine (I forget the exact name).

It was a '95 BMW (5.4 litre V12 ).

I've always thought air con was more hassle than it's worth, but then I've never had it before and will probably be very grateful of it on hot days, then wonder why I never had it.

[quote name='eMJay' date='Jul 16 2004, 09:01 AM']Does the climate control only operate when the Auto function is used and/or does it work during manual fan use?[/quote]
[color=green]It's not really climate control then, if you alter the fan speed yourself. The only thing I ever alter is the vent control, because i'm not a big fan of the face vents (unless it's really hot), and that's what it selects in auto for normal cooling.

The whole idea of climate really i suppose is that you set the temperature, and the car does it's best to keep it there.

Or do you mean air conditioning? Climate control is the whole thing, air con is the cooler/de-humidifier.[/color]

[quote name='ColinBarber' date='Jul 18 2004, 11:54 AM']Not sure what year they changed over to the non CFC refrigerant but the old type gave better results which may have been in the 7 series.[/quote]
Yes this is true, the old CFC gas was called something like R12 which was a very effective refrigerant, however now we have to use R134 or something of the like which isn't as good but keeps greenpeace at bay.

[quote name='sjrainsford' date='Jul 19 2004, 07:41 PM'][quote name='eMJay' date='Jul 16 2004, 09:01 AM'] Does the climate control only operate when the Auto function is used and/or does it work during manual fan use?[/quote]
[color=green]It's not really climate control then, if you alter the fan speed yourself. The only thing I ever alter is the vent control, because i'm not a big fan of the face vents (unless it's really hot), and that's what it selects in auto for normal cooling.

The whole idea of climate really i suppose is that you set the temperature, and the car does it's best to keep it there.

Or do you mean air conditioning? Climate control is the whole thing, air con is the cooler/de-humidifier.[/color]
[/quote]
After reading your reply and my question again it all makes sense.

[quote name='jamesholden' date='Jul 19 2004, 08:06 PM'][quote name='ColinBarber' date='Jul 18 2004, 11:54 AM'] Not sure what year they changed over to the non CFC refrigerant but the old type gave better results which may have been in the 7 series.[/quote]
Yes this is true, the old CFC gas was called something like R12 which was a very effective refrigerant, however now we have to use R134 or something of the like which isn't as good but keeps greenpeace at bay.[/quote]
So that explains why, although it's working, my air con feels crap?!

I used it on my way home from the gym tonight: the car was a bit warm so I vented it with the windows open for a bit and then closed them and put the air con. It's not as chilled as I expected it to be, even with the fans on full speed.

It was only recharged a couple of weeks ago and my Dad's GS, which we have no history of when or if it's ever been recharged and is a year so older than mine, feels marginally cooler than mine.

I'm going to give Lexus a call and see what they say.

I took it to Lexus last night and they tested the temperature, and it went as low as 8.9 degrees and they said they got the same from an LS430 parked next to mine. They also said my compressor was fine, so at least I know everything is working as it should (I just thought air con would have a bit more of a bite to it).

When I use Auto mode and change one of the settings, so that one becomes manual while everything else is still on Auto control, the Auto light goes off. I never noticed this happen before, I thought the Auto light stayed on when I've done this in the past. Is the light going off once a setting is changed normal?

[color=green]Yep, the minute you change a setting other than the temperature the Auto light goes out. But every other control you haven't touched remains in automatic operation.

[/color]

[quote name='sjrainsford' date='Jul 27 2004, 06:03 PM'][color=green]Yep, the minute you change a setting other than the temperature the Auto light goes out. But every other control you haven't touched remains in automatic operation.

[/color][/quote]
Thanks.

Firstly I apologise for digging up an old thread, but it's the most appropriate place to post this.

It's now just over a year since I had my air con recharged by the local dealer and I have made sure that I use it on occasions to maintain the charge, but when I used it on one of our recent very hot days it doesn't feel very cold and definitely not as cold as air con should be.

They claimed to have pressure tested it before it was recharged, so would air con run out of gas so soon? How/where else can I get it checked?

If there is no leaks then it should be good for a good 3 years or more ,after a recharge.Theres a good Aircon firm which i used in the Bristol area,not so far away from you.The guy is very trustworthy and does a complete and proper job.If you want his number i cant dig it out for you.

cheers chips.

[quote name='chips229' date='Jul 15 2005, 09:17 PM']If there is no leaks then it should be good for a good 3 years or more ,after a recharge.Theres a good Aircon firm which i used in the Bristol area,not so far away from you.The guy is very trustworthy and does a complete and proper job.If you want his number i cant dig it out for you.[/quote]
That would be great.

What if he finds problems, is he able to fix them?

I'm annoyed to have the feature and to have wasted my money on it as it's not working properly, especially in this heat.

The work was done over a year ago so I don't think I can take it back to the dealer.

Has anyone tried the DIY recharge kit that Halfords are currently selling?

[quote name='randyreindeer' date='Jul 16 2005, 10:21 AM']Has anyone tried the DIY recharge kit that Halfords are currently selling?[/quote]
I haven't seen those.

If the car has been sat outside in the heat for most of the day how soon should the air blow cold if you turn the air con on straight away?

mine takes a few minutes to start blowing cold air .but i never switch it on straight away as i always let the car warm up first for a few minutes as the aircon puts a big stain on the engine in this weather from cold

[quote name='mudzs' date='Jul 16 2005, 12:56 PM']mine takes a few minutes to start blowing cold air .but i never switch it on straight away as i always let the car warm up first for a few minutes as the aircon puts a big stain on the engine in this weather from cold
[right][snapback]263705[/snapback][/right][/quote]

Yea... don't wanna be wiping the engine over every time