When do you do yours, mines apparently due as approaching 2 years....

 

Have you been tempted by Skoda combined offer for both?

 

I'm surprised they don't actually have any checks for the aircon, like my aircon specialist who can tell you exactly what is going on via his machine.They will just "service" and charge you accordingly regardless.

 

Hence why I think the independany maybe perhaps better to deal with, just a thought.

 

Had my aircon service in March.

No mention of brake fluid at that time.

When I did an air con service I recovered, vacuumed and refilled. Run up and check pressures hi and low. Cleaned the condenser out as much as possible and checked fault codes. Then checked performance with a temperature probe. That was the given at most of the dealerships I worked at.

Brake fluid change isn't due for the first time until the vehicle is 3 years old.

brake fluid change is due at 3 years for the first, and every 2 years after, I believe.  mine just had its second service and no mention of it then

Brake fluid is 24 months in Aus. May be a hot climate thing.

Mines 35 months old. Aircon still feels as good now as when it was new. No need to waste your money unless it's performance has noticeably deteriorated.

It's not about wasting money; keeping items such as the air con serviced prevents problems down the line. How many people have complained over the last couple of months on here about their A/C not working then going to admit they've never had it serviced?

The idea of the air con service is to prevent the build up of bacteria on the evaporator which prevents undesirable smells and chest problems and to replenish both the refrigerant and replace the oil used by various components such as the compressor.

Your air con system looses gas through natural leakage. Keeping the seals plump with fresh oil prevents this. Also the compressor is basically a small engine, you have the oil changed in your car Engine so why not the compressor?

Every A/C system I service has a noticeable drop in refrigerant from the specified value. If a system looses 60g of gas every year but only holds 500g then by the time 5 years has gone by its lost over 50% of its capacity, putting increased pressure on components such as the compressor and it soon leads to failures.

Not wanting to argue here but do you expect me to believe that garages strip down interior to get to the evaporator and give it a good scrub? All of my cars prior to my Octavia were 10 years old or so when I sold them and most had never had the air con systems touched... they still worked great with ice cold air and no funky smells

Now I can understand the value of changing "sealed for life" fluids like the A/C system and I did do powersteering, gearbox and differential fluids on some of these cars and they were rank even though they were specified as sealed for life so I guess the A/C can do with a fluid/gas change occasionally but I'm sure it will go for 5 years easily unless something is wrong with it.

You don't need to strip it down. Ultrasonic cleaners like the Wynns unit that is part of a dealer tool spec is very effective at removing the spores and bacteria from the evaporator.

As it is permissible for the system to loose 60-100g has a year in 5 years it could well be empty and efficiency of being able to circulate the oil will diminish before that.

You are looking at what, £50-£70 for an AC service? I've seen members on here spend over that on crappy LEDs and HID kits that do naff all for maintenance and upkeep of a vehicle. Go figure.

How do you get to the evaporator which is often deep behind the dash? Without taking the car to bits? I know somr cars it can be accessed by removing the cabin filter but not all... just to spray some aerosol cleaner into? Can see that's much better than one of those antibacterial odour bombs you leave spraying in the car with the AC running

You say that but like I said I've had cars twice that age that haven't been touched and they still work fine so are obviously not empty. Once the sysyem drops to an unsafe level the pressure switch will stop the AC working to protect parts... the AC is seen as sealed for life just like many other fluids in a modern car.

I won't argue with other stuff that people put before maintenance though.

The A/C system isn't sealed for life and it's a stipulation by practically every manufacturer that it be serviced at least every 2 years.

Edited 29 June, 20169 yr by James@RRGRochdale

That's why you leave the aircon set to Auto all year round. The seals dry out and cause the leaks and they only dry out if unused for long periods of time.

That maybe true for older systems where it was literally on and off but with a modern variable displacement compressor it turns and circulates gas and oil whenever the engine is running.

Never had a dealer even offer it to me before or try and charge me for it... and that's with many different manufacturers. Most service books don't mention it in their service breakdowns, other than swapping cabin filter and on inspection services check AC system pressure?

Interesting feedback thanks all round. I definitely must get both done but feeling its about a year too soon at the moment to worry and I can always have the aircon checked on a modern machine printout and see about their opinion on refill or not.

That maybe true for older systems where it was literally on and off but with a modern variable displacement compressor it turns and circulates gas and oil whenever the engine is running.

Even if the aircon's not switched on?

Even if the aircon's not switched on?

Yes, there is no clutch.

That's why you leave the aircon set to Auto all year round. The seals dry out and cause the leaks and they only dry out if unused for long periods of time.

 

 

I'm with Sheldon, even if only to get the climate I want with little faffing about other than minor adjustments of a few degrees in the temperature.

Yes, there is no clutch.

 

 

So why's there an on/off switch? Some people (not me) would be very unhappy about the aircon doing its own thing.

So why's there an on/off switch? Some people (not me) would be very unhappy about the aircon doing its own thing.

When the AC is off the compressor still runs at a 2% load to keep things circulating. But as its not doing any work due to the low load the impact on economy is minimal. Skoda have been doing it since the Fabia was introduced on 2000.

They've been in place on the regular since circa 2005. They've more efficient and cause less strain on the engine thus reducing fuel consumption and more critically emissions.

It doesn't really do its own thing. It just reverts into a sleep mode where the pump still turns but circulates a bare minimum amount of refrigerant. This prevents seizure of the pump and helps to lubricate the seals.

Edited 29 June, 20169 yr by James@RRGRochdale

Does that mean it's safe to leave the air con turned off for long periods of time?

In the spring and autumn I usually prefer to get fresh unconditioned air at the outside temperature. I only turn the air con on if the windscreen is in danger of misting up.

The compressor shouldn't seize up if it's not used but using the system every now again will ensure that it's functioning correctly.

Does that mean it's safe to leave the air con turned off for long periods of time? ...

 

Yes.

 

 

Thanks Tech1e and James@RRGRochdale - one learns something every day.