Air-con recharge

[Ali C]

How often do you require the aircon to be recharge my vRs mk1 is on a 02 plate

[Lummox]

There is no strict guidelines but every 2 years is recomended.

[cheezemonkhai]

Had mine cleaned and done at 3 years.

Made it a bit cooler and means the system can keep it all at reasonable temps on schorching days. Worth it I think with the anti-back flush as it kills off the nasty germs that build up over time.

[PJW -VRS]

Make sure you use the aircon throughout the winter
as well even if its only 10 minute a week .. this keeps
the coolant on the move and prevents smells .......
its also the best way of de misting in the winter

[johnjohnhealy]

Had mine done at 3 years, didn't make much difference even though the guy said the gas was low, did leave a nice minty chewing gum smell inside though!!

Turns out there is a fault with my climatronic, it's registering some kind of a flap fault code, interestingly despite my protestations at how crap the A/C was Saltdean said it was fine when the car was under warranty, it was only when another dealer actually plugged it into a computer some 3 years later that the fault was discovered!! not worth fixing now either. cars going soon enough.

[ag.morley]

I'm a bit green on air con.. I always assumed it was for cooling but now I am reading it can be used for heating/demisting........Can someone explain please..Thanks

[johnjohnhealy]

Yep, besically because its a condenser it dries the air out so is the most efficient way of de-misting your windows, also provides a nicer drier heat than normal heaters in wet weather, mines on most of the time, it doesn't seem to use any more fuel than when it's off either, although as I said, mines not working brilliantly.

[ScoobyChris]

My climate stays on auto all the time so the air conditioning gets a workout all year round (except when the outside temp drops below 4 deg C) Mondeo is probably due a regas in the next year, but the air it pumps out is uncomfortably cold at the moment anyway, so no rush

Chris

[ginandtonic]

My previous car (Hyundai Coupe) went for nearly 4 years without a re-gas, and the air-con worked fine throughout. Maybe the efficiency dropped a little, but not enough that I noticed.

My current Octavia RS (5 years old) was still chilling effectively - up until one of the high-pressure hoses developed a leak, and I lost all the coolant :-( £133 for a new bit of pipe! (And then 3 hours labour to fit it!)

I've seen figures that suggest around 10% leakage per year, so re-gassing at 3-4 year mark is probably worthwhile. I would recommend leaving the climatronic in "auto" mode pretty much all the time as well, so that the compressor doesn't sit idle and cause the seals to dry out and leak.

[Quinten]

Mine hasn't been regassed in 5 years... Still working though, and I run it on CC at 20C 99.99% of the time.

[colin42]

I've had my Octavia air con recharged several times over the 2 years I’ve had it. Here's the history (Stick with me- what I'm saying will make sense in the end)

The 1st time was the summer after I brought it – took it to a Car stereo place who plug in onto a machine and went back to work for 45 minutes. This cost somewhere in the region of £80!
Earlier this year discovered my air con didn’t work again. Decided to try one of these self gas kits (£40 from Halfords) – Bad idea!!!! It worked for about 1 week if that. Next took it to an Air Con Specialist in Leicester (Cool Runnings – 0116 2248233). After a 30 minute lesson on Air Con’s discovered that there are many different types of oil that different cars use (and they don’t agree with each other) As a result these air con machines can over time block the compressor! This guy did the whole process manually, from extracting the old gas (if there was any in the system) to running a decontaminant through the system and the adding the gas, correct oil and ultra violet dye. This cost £57 and came with a 6 month warrantee i.e. would regas for free in that time (Sounds cheep compared with the Halfords kit). This worked for about 3 weeks. I took it back to them to discover a leaking condenser. Got a couple of quotes from a dealer, and specialist – both over £600. This guy charged me £325 – now works a treat!

From this I’ve learnt…

Never ever use a self gas system
Not to use one of these machines – You’re just asking for trouble down the line
So either find someone like this or take it to a specialist / dealler who should use the right oils etc.

I know we’re not meant to advertise services on this forum but I feel this guy is such a find that other car owners (Skoda or not) would benefit from it

[johnjohnhealy]

Another question thats just sprung to mind -

Why does it only go down to 18c on my climatronic? thats not particularly cold to me? i'm sure my Peugeot used to go down to 13c?

Perhaps my Climatronic unit is not set up properly? are there any changes you can make to it via VAG com?

[ScoobyChris]

Mondeo goes down to 15 or 16 deg C I think and then anything below that is Low (aka freezer mode!)

Chris

[colin42]

The 18deg is the target temperature for the cabin, not the vent air out temp. If the aircon is in good working order it should get down to ~5deg for a 25+ deg ambient temp when on max cooling. Any lower than this and you'll get frezzing in the unit which basically isn't good!

[Ali C]

If aircon is left off for a while will it make a noise if you go round a right hand corner or is this a stupid question.The reason I`m asking this is I get a noise when I take a right hander,not knowing where the aircon unit is situated in my Vrs.What is the best setting Auto or econ

[DGW]

Originally Posted by Ali C

What is the best setting Auto or econ

Select ECON if you want aircon off. Select AUTO if you want aircon on and are happy to leave the system to decide what fan speed and vents to use, OR else select a different fan speed or the vents you want in which case AUTO will disappear from the display but aircon will still be on. I always use the latter options when I want to use the aircon.