Aircon Service

[alfiejts]

I had a really good conversation with an aircon specialist today, so just thought that I'd share with the forum.....

I had the aircon on my Audi A3 serviced as it was seven years old and although it was still working, it wasn't cooling at well as it used to.

Firstly - if you want to test the performance of your aircon, hold a thermometer in front of the outlet vent with the aircon on full. If you have got one of those "meat probe" temperature sensors, you can stick it into the centre vent to take the temperature of the air as it comes out of the vent.

His basic "standard" is that if the output temperature is 8 degrees or lower, then the system is working to an acceptable standard. If its chilling but doesn't go as cold as 8 degrees (mine was 10) then it definately needs a regas...

After being serviced, the air out of the airvent was down to 5 degrees - much colder.

Out of interest, I took our kitchen meat probe and stuck it into the centre vent of our three year old Yaris - and the temperature went as low as 3 degrees. Yippee - that's still working just fine - and even colder than the just serviced Audi....

So theer's your benchmark if you want to test your Yaris. Working perfectly, it should be able to chill the the temperature of the air coming out of the air vents down to 3 degrees...)

Secondly (I did know this but share it for anyone who isn't aware) - you should run the air con for at least ten minutes every week or so. When you run it, the oil inside the system circulates and lubricates the rubber pipes and seals. If you don't run it regularly, they dry out and that can lead to premature failure and leaks.

Finally, (and this is the nugget of info that really was new to me) even if the system is still working perfectly, you should change the refrigerant every 3-4 years. (Garages will try to get you to do this every 2 years, he says, but only every 3-4 years is really necessary according to my man...)

The reason you need to do this is preventative. Moisture gets into the system over time - but it doesn't just make the system less efficient, the moisture combines with the refrigerant and it turns it acidic, so that it actually starts to corrode the pipes and seals from the inside.

So you really do need to get a proper service every few years to remove all the contaminated refrigerant and replace it with fresh, to stop the internal corrosion damaging the system.

So that's why, even if the pressure is low, its not worth buying one of the top up DIY cannisters - you need a proper professional vacuum system to extract all the contaminated fluid and replace it with fresh. If you just top up the pressure with a diy can, you've still got the original moisture-ridden refrigerant in your system.

Better to spent £50 on a proper job than £30 on a DIY can....

Hope this helps inform the group.....

[Heidfirst]

£9.95 aircon check & cleanse

https://rsc.toyota.co.uk/summerchecks/

[acetip]

Do they remove the gas and reuse after cleaning as opposed to to regassing then?

[alfiejts]

The system that was used on mine removed all the old contaminated gas, vacuumed out the system to ensure that it was completely empty of old stuff and then replaced it with fresh new refrigerant, new lubricant and uv trace element (to show up future leaks).

He dialled in the exact amounts of each required, based on the vehicle type and a label under the bonnet.

All in all, it took the machine about 30 mins to do all this whilst we just stood and talked. Given that he was on a "fixed price deal", he wouldn't have hung around for the heck of it, so the machine was obviously doing a fair bit of activity - A lot more than just squirting some extra gas in to get it up to full pressure....

[acetip]

what i meant was a check and clean is £9.99,so to clean do they have to vacuate the system ? how else are they going to clean it.yet a regas is £59.99,is it £50.0 for new gas?.

[Madasafish]

Go to Kwikfit in winter when they have an offer and for £25 they will evacuate all the old fluid and insert new. takes about 75 mins. My air temp at vent before was 7C. After 3C.

£10 seems implausibly low . (KF's normal price is £50 and aircon firms charge £60 to £100)..

[alfiejts]

The aircon "clean" will be for putting an aerosol through the "outside" of the aircon system to clean the heater vents. Completely different thing to cleaning out the gas that runs around the "inside" of the system.

Something like this....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-Air-Sanitizer-Cleaner-150ml/dp/B003V9QHOA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1310410260&sr=8-9

Serves no purpose unless you're getting a bad smell from bacteria accumulating within the heater vents - and when I used one of these on my daughters Yaris it caused so much condensation on the inside of the car that the car was steaming up for the next 12 months until it eventually all dried out....

[acetip]

The aircon "clean" will be for putting an aerosol through the "outside" of the aircon system to clean the heater vents. Completely different thing to cleaning out the gas that runs around the "inside" of the system.

Something like this....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-Air-Sanitizer-Cleaner-150ml/dp/B003V9QHOA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1310410260&sr=8-9

Serves no purpose unless you're getting a bad smell from bacteria accumulating within the heater vents - and when I used one of these on my daughters Yaris it caused so much condensation on the inside of the car that the car was steaming up for the next 12 months until it eventually all dried out....

thanks alfiejts,thats answered my question.thought the 'clean' was too good to be true.

[Parts-King]

An air con service should be all those things! Remove gas, re-oil, Re-gas, check before and after temps, replace pollen filter and clean the vents/ kill bacteria

Anything else is a half c0cked job................don't start me off again

Rant over

Kingo

[acetip]

An air con service should be all those things! Remove gas, re-oil, Re-gas, check before and after temps, replace pollen filter and clean the vents/ kill bacteria

Anything else is a half c0cked job................don't start me off again

Rant over

Kingo

HI Kingo,then its toyota them selfs who are half cocked,as its there advert for this phantom aircon service at £9.99.even a section to book it in your chosen toyota dealership.

i was offered it in an email from toyota,as i suppose were many others.

[Parts-King]

I personally don't like the name check and cleanse, but I don't work in the marketing department and we are where we are with the terminology

It is a way of bringing in customers to meet their dealers, many of whom never step over the door, for many reasons, we sometimes dont see people for years, they dont do the mileage or maybe just dont have the resources to maintain their cars. The customer can always opt for just the check and cleanse, but our guys would advise on a proper AC service, especially if the AC temp was above 10 degrees, otherwise just a cleanse would not suffice

There are also summer accessories on a special offer too, all part of the summer check offers

Kingo

[pajjy]

i got one of those email too,offering a air con check an cleanse.no doubt they would suggest a pollen filter change too, even if not rquired.well some would.

[Parts-King]

i got one of those email too,offering a air con check an cleanse.no doubt they would suggest a pollen filter change too, even if not rquired.well some would.

It's a 2 minute job, so you could ask to see it first, however most filters that have been in, even for a very short time will be dirty, its how they work, drawing and filtering micro particles, it would be difficult to know when it was last changed

Kingo

[pajjy]

i got one of those email too,offering a air con check an cleanse.no doubt they would suggest a pollen filter change too, even if not rquired.well some would.

It's a 2 minute job, so you could ask to see it first, however most filters that have been in, even for a very short time will be dirty, its how they work, drawing and filtering micro particles, it would be difficult to know when it was last changed

Kingo

the handbooks advise also you can clean them.thats with an air gun,if not too bad.

[Sico2]

Great info, thanks alfiejts.

You're being ripped off on every corner today. Starting from a cube of butter ending on an pollen filter in your Toyota... :o