We've had two nice days in a row unbelievable. So travelling from work yesterday revealed poor performance from the aircon. The car had a new compressor fitted a couple of years ago so for now I'll presume that's ok. I have a diy regas can bought from Halfords for my last car which seemed to work fine. Without popping the bonnet ( stuck in work ) can anyone tell me where the refill valve is on the system? The car is a 170tdi vrs pd.

Don't use the air con can of death from halfords. Air con gas is filled by weight not pressure, it also needs to have the correct amount of oil. Get the air con checked properly with gas and oil removed weighed, dried, system vacuum tested for leaks, refilled with correct weight of gas, correct amount of oil and also dye so any leaks that occur can be found.

Just had mine regassed, but unfortunately my Compressor is dead

 

Going to eat away the money I'd set aside for mods now :(

Just had mine regassed, but unfortunately my Compressor is dead

Going to eat away the money I'd set aside for mods now :(

Its a common problem apparently. I only found out because the previous owner told me it had been changed. Unless that one is faulty too.

Don't use the air con can of death from halfords. Air con gas is filled by weight not pressure, it also needs to have the correct amount of oil. Get the air con checked properly with gas and oil removed weighed, dried, system vacuum tested for leaks, refilled with correct weight of gas, correct amount of oil and also dye so any leaks that occur can be found.

Ok i havnt heard that i didn't think there was a problem with them. I used it on my mk1 no issues with that. The aircon was blowing cold when i sold the car. I've booked in the garage this afternoon anyway for a regas. Hopefully everything is good. I'll update later.

http://www.car-aircon-basingstoke.co.uk/beware-diy-air-con-top-up-kits

Yes, those kits were bad enough when they contained the 'proper' refrigerant. They were useful perhaps as a bodge to get the aircon working for a while on an old banger that wasn't worth spending money on. However since the law changed a few years ago they are no longer legally allowed to sell refrigerant to DIY users so the cans now contain a substitute that's highly flammable. Not good!

Edited 11 June, 201511 yr by nick74

http://www.car-aircon-basingstoke.co.uk/beware-diy-air-con-top-up-kits

Dear me! It's in the shed thankfully. It's in the garage as i post this so i havnt used the regas kit. I think that may be going to the tip!!

All done. £48 with vat. Compressor good no leaks anywhere blowing cold. Just looking at the reciepts that came with the car, its had a conpressor fitted by the last owner in sept 13 and regassed. My mechanic said the system was about half full. So every twoyears looks about right to regass.

Just had mine done for £29.90. It had 2 grams of refrigerant in it. It now has 595 grams :sun:

Just had mine regassed, but unfortunately my Compressor is dead

 

Going to eat away the money I'd set aside for mods now :(

Do you have the 5n Delphi unit on your car. I just got a new replacement (Nissens) for my car from a place on ebay. £170 deliverd to argos FOC

I'm guessing it's the original compressor, so probably a Delphi.

 

That's not a bad price, cheapest my garage has got is £250

Is it Diy-able do you know?

 

I know it's a bumper off job, but is it straight forward after that?

There's no mention in the Haynes manual about bumper removal. It looks easy enough access from underneath. But obviously it mentions draining the system but it will be empty anyway if the compressor is faulty. More for future reference, where would be the best place to buy one?

http://www.car-aircon-basingstoke.co.uk/beware-diy-air-con-top-up-kits

well that looks good enough to scare the hell out of most people---whilst there may be some questionable cans for sale on fleabay I don't believe Halfords would sell any thing that may bite them back--in fact I am on my second (refillable) can and have done many top-ups over the years without problem to date (hope I'm not tempting fate)   my Seat is now 12 years old and still blowing cold   I suspect a lot of the tales are from systems that were already shot before someone went out and bought the kit then blamed it-----a stitch in time saves nine -so they used to say

I regassed my previous car last year with one. The day i sold the car, i tested the aircon to check if it was working ok honestly it was blowing freezing cold air. I would say it felt colder than this car after a proper regass.

There's no mention in the Haynes manual about bumper removal. It looks easy enough access from underneath. But obviously it mentions draining the system but it will be empty anyway if the compressor is faulty. More for future reference, where would be the best place to buy one?

 

My garage says that the system is full, so they won't need to charge me again for refilling.

 

If thats the case, changing the compressor doesn't mean you need to empty it first.

 

Ive seen some compressors on ebay for £150-180

 

If I supply it, they will fit it for £135

 

Still a big bill I didn't want :(

I regassed my previous car last year with one. The day i sold the car, i tested the aircon to check if it was working ok honestly it was blowing freezing cold air. I would say it felt colder than this car after a proper regass.

 

Probably too much gas in the system, so the compressor is working to hard.

I was in my dealer today and I was suprised at how cheap it was for an regas...£29 and a full aircon service wasn't much more

I was in my dealer today and I was suprised at how cheap it was for an regas...£29 and a full aircon service wasn't much more

 

 

That is a bargain!

 

Just paid £48 for mine :(

I used one of the Halfords cans in an old car some years ago and in fairness it did make the aircon run slightly colder. However that was when the cans were still allowed to contain the correct r134a refrigerant. Personally I wouldn't use one of the current offerings if only due to its greater flammability. I don't want the pipework just behind my front bumper full of highly flammable gas thanks, regardless of whether it makes the aircon cold or not.

Edited 12 June, 201511 yr by nick74

My garage says that the system is full, so they won't need to charge me again for refilling.

 

If thats the case, changing the compressor doesn't mean you need to empty it first.

 

Ive seen some compressors on ebay for £150-180

 

If I supply it, they will fit it for £135

 

Still a big bill I didn't want :(

wel,  l it will have to be emptied and refilled to change any of the components

I used one of the Halfords cans in an old car some years ago and in fairness it did make the aircon run slightly colder. However that was when the cans were still allowed to contain the correct r134a refrigerant. Personally I wouldn't use one of the current offerings if only due to its greater flammability. I don't want the pipework just behind my front bumper full of highly flammable gas thanks, regardless of whether it makes the aircon cold or not.

according to my can supplied by Halfords it contains R134a  and I believe them !!!!!!!  R134 is not illegal or otherwise banned(only in cars more later)  It is widely used in the construction industry,   I know that the older versions of refrigerant were widely used in fire fighting systems for things like computer suites but not sure about this one--------if anyone is worried about flammability,   better not   buy a car built after Jan2014  as it's is likely to be filled with the "New Wonder Gas"   "R1234yf"  this apparently has a greater propensity to escape due to molecule size,  the fill volume has to be scrupulously monitored (no more home top up)  is  highly explosive under pressure and a refill is likely to cost about £300  ( wonder if that's why (I believe) Merc' were the only car company with the integrity to stand up to you know who--------------the bloody interfering EU----nothing new there then--    hands up whose voting for Dave to keep us in??       

OK, I stand corrected, the one sold in Halfords does still contain r134a, although many of the other brands don't.

ISTR the ban was actually on supplying refrigerant in disposable containers and the ez chill product appears to get round that by being in a reusable canister with a £10 return deposit?

Edited 12 June, 201511 yr by nick74

Just read about the R1234YF. Under tests Mercedes witnessed major fires due to just small leaks. Funnily enough the euro bigwigs couldn't find any problems with it. From what i read it's use isn't compulsory but the EU is offering incentives for its use. Like you mentioned my Halfords refill can has R134A gas too. What i do know is, this mk2 aircon is nowhere near as cold as my old mk1 that i filled myself last year. It wasn't overfilled, no leaks or compressor issues and that car was 14 years old.