Just returned from having my local dealer confirm, what I already knew (centre bolt sticking out and not spinning), that the Delphi AC compressor has failed on my 59 VRS CR diesel. Since they would not order the part till they had confirmed it it now has to go back to have the actual work done.

What I am a little concerned about is that all they intend to do is swap the Delphi compressor for a new Sanden one. (they have not actually had it apart yet)

Back in the bad old days of the Zelex/Valeo compressors standard process seems to have been to swap out other components such as the expansion valve and condensor at the same time as the compressor due to contamination. Bogwoppit gave me a copy of the VW TSB on the subject.

So my question for the community is does anyone else have experience with Delphi compressor failure? Am I being paranoid or is just swapping the compressor going to be OK? My warranty has only 6 weeks remaining on it and I don't want to be left picking up the pieces.

You can insist the part and the AC system, is warrantied for a further year. If the work done is to standard, then there is no reason to suspect a failure. Apart from wear and tear etc. I assume a gas change is part of the work, maybe phone up a local AC specalist or two and ask for some friendly advice.

Oh, another idea, phone up another Skoda dealer and tell them the repair you need (out of warranty and see if they suggest other parts need to be changed.

Or ring Skoda customer services and ask them if anything else should be replaced at the same time.

Well

I did ring some Skoda dealers and got quite uncertain replies but certainly no one said "yes the drier and condenser should definitely be changed" so in the end I decided to "trust" them and let them do what they thought was necessary i.e. the minimum.

Fast forward a month I get a phone call from the Dealer. It went something like this

Dealer - "Hi You remember when you had your AC compressor replaced and you were asking is anything else ought to be changed at the same time and we said no. Well it turns out you were right. We rechecked the documentation and realised we ought to have replaced the drier at the same time. Could you bring your car back so we can do it please"

Me - "this drier change is because of possible contamination yes?"

Dealer - "Er yes"

Me - "So my new compressor has been running in a contaminated system for a month and may already have suffered damage"

Dealer - " Um.........well I suppose its possible but you have a 2 year warranty on the work"

Me - "Well according to Skoda work done under warranty is only guaranteed until the end of the Warranty period on the car which in my case is about 3 weeks"

Dealer - " Oh well under the circumstances we will warranty the work for 2 years"

Me - "resigned sigh - OK fair enough"

I won't put up a transcript of what I felt like saying.

I should have known they had no clue after this previous conversation with the dealer

me - " do you have a lot of problems with these Delphi compressors"

Dealer - " No not really but I don't know who told you you have a Delphi compressor your car is fitted with a Sanden

me - " No one told me. I just assumed it was a Delphi based on the fact that it has the word "Delphi" printed on the side of it!"

Did they flush the system?

I would push for the compressor to be done again, who is to say the dealer will be there in two years? They should have done the job right in the first place!

Some credit should be given to the dealer for admitting their mistake and ringing up to tell you.

It would have been far easier for them to have done nothing.

Are you serious?? ^^ lol

Sounds as if you went to Newmarket in stirling with that transcript.

Some credit should be given to the dealer for admitting their mistake and ringing up to tell you.

It would have been far easier for them to have done nothing.

This was my initial reaction but then I started to think about it. They want the Car for 2 days to do the work. apparently its a big job. The bumper etc needs to be removed to access the drier so the cynic in my says they realised that they had missed out on a big payday ( warranty work is better than no work) and saw a chance to cash in. They probably didn't anticipate I would call them on the possible damage their negligence might have already done.

Did they flush the system?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Ask!

When you replace the compressor, you need to flush out any bits of the old compressor from the system. You can't flush the TXV/throttle or the drier, so my guess is this has not been done. Not flushing correctly is the number one reason for a replacement compressor failing.

Ask!

When you replace the compressor, you need to flush out any bits of the old compressor from the system. You can't flush the TXV/throttle or the drier, so my guess is this has not been done. Not flushing correctly is the number one reason for a replacement compressor failing.

I will but if they say they did should I believe them at this point? Even though I knew they were not replacing anything apart from the compressor I thought they would at least flush it but I have no idea whether they actually did.