air con servicing/recharging

[VapourTrails]

had to have mine done this week as nice weathers here and there was no gas at all in it, found out theres a leak possibly on the condenser or the pipes leading to it. they put a die in the gas to trace future leaks quite common appartently but being a friend doing it i got abit of a bargain, he was going to charge me £40 for doing it half that was his cut. The normal charge £85+vat which sounds lot and i seen it all over the place for differnt prices. anyone had this done and how much did it cost you? the charging that is not the rest thats goner cost me 1 condenser loads of labour and a few rounds in the pub.

[Len]

last time I had it done was on my Pug and that was £80 including a tiny valve. Dunno what it was or what it did but said valve was leaking.

[topher]

£40 cash for a vac/recharge last year

shame it cost me £300 + fitting for a new compressor and condensor before that..

[clipperjay]

Oh dear seems a lot of money for such simple work to be honest!
The small valve is just like a bike valve you can buy them really cheap and the leak foam detector is cheap aswell. Compressors rearly go wrong unless there has been too much acid build up with moisture and Poe oil and gas. The only thing you can do to minise damage is service it and to vac the system clean of moisture and air every year and go to halfrauds and top it up with one can.
I've got the equipment I might offer services at these meets for peanuts as more cars get it done the cheaper the gas and parts. The other thing you really must maintian is the evapourator keep dust, leaves and crap out of it so the compressor doesn't over work to cool the gasses.
If you have any questions don't hestiate to ask me. I'm not in the trade but did lots of experimenting LOL.

Jay

[topher]

experimenting with gas is always fun..

[VapourTrails]

mate had mine apart today didnt need the uv light the condenser was bright green in day light think its been filled a few times.

300 for a condensor and compressor is cheap a compressor is like £600 to buy, thats from eurocarparts not vw im so glad its not there

experimenting with gas is always fun..

especially bright green enviromentaly unsafe noxious gas since when do u use ur air con chris lol i remember u telling me about how much fuel it uses lol

[topher]

when mine broke i got a brand new compressor off ebay for 300 notes. when it turned up it had a condenser with it too.. result.

[VapourTrails]

the words bar and sted come to mind lol lets hope my compressor is good

[Len]

when mine broke i got a brand new compressor off ebay for 300 notes. when it turned up it had a condenser with it too.. result.

See he really is a jammy get!

[DubFan]

I had an aircon top up and diagnostic last summer at Kwik-Fit, £40 I think. Worth doing just before the summer. Didn't need any other servicing though.