air con

[toylexus]

Hello all

Ive a 04 2.0 petrol and got the air con recharged last year with Toyota, lasted two weeks but worked well, I assume ive a bad leak somewhere so any advice appreciated. Do I leave into Toyota or get a local garage to look at it, I believe Halfords do a leak sealer but always dubious about sealers.

[TomdeGuerre]

When the Toyota garage serviced your air con last year they should have found the leak and told you about it. They are supposed to evacuate the system, weighing the existing charge in the process, then isolate the system under vacuum to check for leakage. They should not have (and I don't believe they would have) re-charged the system with a known leak. So possibly your system had developed a leak some time after it was charged. It might even be something other than a leak eg a fault with the compressor.

I'd get an independent garage to check it out (most of them have the equipment and someone who is familiar with A/C systems) since their labour rates are generally lower than the main dealers. It's not a system you can repair yourself.  

 

[Luthier]

I had my air con serviced a few weeks ago at a Toyota dealer. They noted that there was very little refrigerant left in it so they had topped it up and also added a dye. I then had to return the car after a week and they would check for leaks - the dye indicating where the leak was. When I returned they found the leak to be due to an faulty o-ring. This will be replaced and the refrigerant topped up this weekend. I would have expected your dealer to have done something similar. Why not return and see what they can do?

By the way, I was charged £59 for the original service and £99 to repair the leak. Hope that helps. 

[toylexus]

Thank you both for your replies. Ive it booked into a independent dealer tomorrow, Toyota charged me £30 for a full recharge and said they had put a dye in to see if there was any leaks but said all was well and off I went, hopefully will find out more tomorrow 

[Konrad C]

Ever since I have had a car with air-con, Mk1 Avensis, It has worked well up to the time I sold it recently. It had three 3 recharges (twice during my ownership), and was used all year round to clear the window during winter, as well as keeping cool during summer. I also ran it to keep the seals from shrinking every so often. That was from 2003.

I remember the first time I noticed the drip and discovered it is a normal function of air-con. 

I do the same for my current car.   

[toylexus]

Was in with dealer today, air con rad is leaking, they quoted £330 for rad, i'll need to gat a second hand one and fit it and then take it from there,

[alan333]

Try a radiator specialist.  I got one for a Citroen C4 a while ago for about £100 instead of the dealer's ridiculous three hundred or so.

[toylexus]

Thanks Alan, tried europarts and a new radiator from them is £165, gonna look for a rad specialist first

[toylexus]

Just ordered a new rad from these people http://www.autoairconparts.co.uk/ may be useful to someone. Got my airco rad for £60 with two year warranty. Happy days