Is This Right ?

[mickey.j.]

HI. ALL.

I dont know if any one has had heard of this but,do you know your air conditioning system can empty it self.! Strange but true,allow me to explain.

We have just picked up the wifes 2007 yaris 1.3 zinc up from the stealers having just had the second years service.so far so good,however we asked the stealer to have a look at the air con as it was blowing warm air,just our luck on the hottest days of the year.

Any how on collecting the car we were told it will need `re-gassing`. the car or the missus i thought..So i queried this as we have only done 7000 miles in the two years since buying it new,``WELL ITS FULL OF GAS AND IT CAN EVAPORATE`` said the service receptionist.

My concerns were met with `lets see if it has a leak. If not then we cannot claim off toyota for this,so the cost to re-gass is down to me``. £60.00 is the estimate.It is booked in to have it checked in a weeks time.

Has anyone else heard of this strange case of empty air con.systems on such a young vehicle and should we refuse to pay as i believe it should be a warranty item.

ps this is our fifth toyota and i must say things do seem to be breaking a lot more often.

thanks for reading rant over. :D

[waxxy]

[kiwk fit re-gas them for 40 pounds if there charging you 60 that does seem alot .

[stantheman1]

HI. ALL.

I dont know if any one has had heard of this but,do you know your air conditioning system can empty it self.! Strange but true,allow me to explain.

We have just picked up the wifes 2007 yaris 1.3 zinc up from the stealers having just had the second years service.so far so good,however we asked the stealer to have a look at the air con as it was blowing warm air,just our luck on the hottest days of the year.

Any how on collecting the car we were told it will need `re-gassing`. the car or the missus i thought..So i queried this as we have only done 7000 miles in the two years since buying it new,``WELL ITS FULL OF GAS AND IT CAN EVAPORATE`` said the service receptionist.

My concerns were met with `lets see if it has a leak. If not then we cannot claim off toyota for this,so the cost to re-gass is down to me``. £60.00 is the estimate.It is booked in to have it checked in a weeks time.

Has anyone else heard of this strange case of empty air con.systems on such a young vehicle and should we refuse to pay as i believe it should be a warranty item.

ps this is our fifth toyota and i must say things do seem to be breaking a lot more often.

thanks for reading rant over. :D

Hi, have you had the car from new? if so when did you notice the air con. wasn't working? I ask these questions because if the A/C is not run regular i.e. at least once a month(even in winter) for a minimum of 10 mins, the seals in the system can dry up and leak gas, but by using it often will keep these seals lubricated by the oil present in the system.

[Zwart_Verso]

My concerns were met with `lets see if it has a leak. If not then we cannot claim off toyota for this,so the cost to re-gass is down to me``. £60.00 is the estimate.It is booked in to have it checked in a weeks time.

Sorry I would not accept this!

If the gas was in there when you bought it new and it is not in there now then it has leaked! (unless of course someone deliberately let it out!). The fact that the dealer can’t find the leak has nothing to do with it. It is faulty and should be fixed under warranty.

Also if the dealer can’t find the leak then it will happen again, leaks don’t usually fix themselves, unfortunately.

The only relevant information I can give you was I had my Carina E for 10 years and never did anything to the Airco. I asked the dealer about servicing it, but the answer was why fix what isn’t broken, so I didn't.

Hope this helps,

Andy

[TheNissanMan]

Modern air con units do need regassing from time to time, especially if not used regularly exactly as stan says....

It's not a matter of not accepting stans description, its what happens...

If you don't want the accurate answer to your question I'm sure we could make one up although Mr T may ;augh at you if you go to them with it :)

[stantheman1]

In the good ol' days (before the ozone layer was invented) the refridgerants used consisted of larger molecules and larger molecules mean less leakage so that it wasn't necessary to run the A/C in the winter months. The refridgerant used nowadays is R 134a which I'm told is much much smaller and thus by nature easier to escape to atmosphere from minute gaps created in the seals. So in the past you could have had a car for 10 years or more and not have had any problems with the aircon.

That is how I understand it but I stand to be corrected.

[Parts-King]

Any proper A/C service will also include replacing the OIL in the system as well as the GAS. It is VERY important this is done during a service, as the seals do leak if the system is not used on a weekly basis. Cheap A/C servicing usually entails just a re-gas, thats why Krap Fitters Inc will charge a cheaper fee, ask them if they also replace the oil

Kingo

[Madasafish]

I had a similar problem on an Audi A4. Condenser had gone. Replaced under warranty.

[Richard Davies]

My Dad has at least once said that it's a case of use it or lose it.

[Zwart_Verso]

Any proper A/C service will also include replacing the OIL in the system as well as the GAS. It is VERY important this is done during a service, as the seals do leak if the system is not used on a weekly basis. Cheap A/C servicing usually entails just a re-gas, thats why Krap Fitters Inc will charge a cheaper fee, ask them if they also replace the oil

Kingo

Sorry I am still a bit confused about this, looking at the Toyota Service scheme for my Verso (as given by the Dutch importer) there is no mention of any service requirements for the Airco. So why would you need to have it serviced, surely Toyota would not risk problems nor want to miss the extra service revenue involved. This seems to suggest that Airco's are maintance free, which is what my dealer told me when I asked for my Carina E. Also a car airco is exactly the same as a deep freeze, there are no service requirements for these either.

So do you need to service the airco regularly or not? and if so why? and how often?

regards,

Andy

[Madasafish]

No need for service. BUT

If you do not use it regularly..the seals dry out and gas escapes...

[TheNissanMan]

On a lot of manufacturers the aircon is not a required part of the service intervals as it will not effect the mechanical running/reliability of your car, most manufacturers list an aircon service as being recommended every couple of years...

[Parts-King]

You dont HAVE to get the A/C serviced, but over time the gas escapes and the efficiency level drops off

Run it for ten minutes a week ALL year round, regardless of the weather conditions

Kingo