I have just had my car serviced, 4 x new tyres, along with a few other things sorted, just under £800 to pick it up again today. :(

Anyway one of the faults, which has been ongoing for sometime is the air conditioning would lose its charge after 6 weeks or so. I have lived with the problem as it just about does the warm weather we get and when I took it to France I had it done just before so it worked from my holiday.

No garage had been able to find the leak until today, where Savilles in Kidderminster located it!

Its a stone chip in the condensor which sits in front of the radiator. To replace it is going to cost £628 alone for the part.

Does anyone know if the Mk1 condensor fits? Is there a cheaper way around this?

Thinking back to when I had dodgy radiators in my old cars, rad weld used to sort it! I didn't know if anything similar is possible as I understand it is a high pressurized system, 400PSI +.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Sounds expensive for what amounts to a radiator or am I misunderstanding the description of the part required?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIR-CONDITIONING-CONDENSER-RADIATOR-SKODA-FABIA-6Y-ROOMSTER-5J-/381004113354?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item58b59d65ca

Edited 8 January, 201511 yr by Prykey

Hi Richard I had mine done for around £280 all in on my Octavia.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/291323884391?_mwBanner=1

Ignore what car it says it's for. I searched by product number for best price

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Can you get second hand one?

Thank you all for your replies, that makes me feel a lot better! A fraction of the price. Did you guys fit yourselves, or is it a garage job?

I haven't done anything yet to this car, mostly booked it in at the garage, though used to do a bit of work to my older cars.

Thanks again.

I had the garage do mine as it's fairly involved. Give All Carz in Oswestry a ring. Speak to James or Dave. Say James with the Skoda Octavia VRS recommended them to you

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Hi Richard,

 

If its losing its charge after 6 weeks, the leak cant be that big considering the total charge is probably around 500grams?(ish) I am an air-conditioning/refrigeration engineer and would recommend u try a product called "super seal" its for small refrigerant leaks on smaller refrigeration systems which will more than likely run on the same refrigerant as your cars A/C (r134a)?? Im 95% certain this would work. The downfall is, a garage would not be able 2 do this as specialist R/AC tools are required. If u was more local, Id be happy 2 help. Might be worth having a look if theres any one man band/self-employed mobile engineers close-by who will take cash. I wouldnt go 2 a company direct as they will charge a fortune!! If u want any advice, feel free 2 ask.

 

Hope this helps.

Josh

any motor factors will get you a condenser.

 

I'm surprised no other garage could find the leak as they all use the same machines.  A slow leak like that may not show straight away, but they would have at least put dye in to then check after time.  In fact the machine tests the full system under vac and charge it's just a plug and play jobbie for the garage.

 

like said above a sealant would be a way to go, however bearing in mind most places will charge circa £60 for doing this it would make sense just to spent the £250 and get it all fitted properly with a new condensor.  You'll need to get the garage to do it that way it's warranted and plus legally you can't remove aircon parts yourself ( although we've all done it  sshhhhhhh)   A big lung full of the gas would be fatal so don;t try that.

Thank you Josh that is quite interesting and certainly worth knowing.

Not 100% sure how long I am going to keep the car, so ideally I wanted to sell it with working air conditioning if selling it privately. A cheap reasonable fix would be ideal!

So thank you all for your ideas, given me plenty to consider.