The air con has failed in my 2 month old Yeti. I booked it in with the dealer who called back to say the compressor was damaged by a stone thrown up from the road and would not be covered by warranty. Cost £650 or more. Can it really be broken by normal driving and if so is this not a design fault?

If it's the compressor then I doubt a stone would damage it. If it's the condenser, then that could be damaged by a stone. Same as a stone hitting the windscreen, or a headlight, or the radiator and breaking that, it wouldn't be covered under warranty.

The air con has failed in my 2 month old Yeti. I booked it in with the dealer who called back to say the compressor was damaged by a stone thrown up from the road and would not be covered by warranty. Cost £650 or more. Can it really be broken by normal driving and if so is this not a design fault?

Just before I returned my first Yeti I had a stone go through the

air con radiator, it has to be paid for and I knew Skoda wouldn't

pay. So I had it replaced then put stone grills on the front.

I was shown the hole by the dealer, I could push my little finger

through the hole.

I can't see how a stone can damage the compressor, or how a mechanic has decided the dent was made by a stone and not something else such as a dropped spanner.

I would ask them to demonstrate the trajectory of the stone as this sounds wrong and it sounds like they are charging for replacing more than the compressor casing.

As Rustynuts suggests more likely to be the condenser if stone punctured it.

Remember if you do pay for a replacement, you still own the old one, so say you want it back for independent testing to ensure the dealer diagnosed the damage correctly.

Better still, Remember the new sale of goods Act, it has to be fit for purpose, a vehicle that cannot be used on a road with stones is not fit for purpose, so could reject it forcing them to repair it. Honest John has good tips on this process.

I'm struggling to see how a stone can wreck an air conditioning compressor, which is a pretty hefty bit of kit, I would be surprised if a stone could damage it to a point of being written off. 

 

As previously echoed, the compressor must have been confused for the condenser at some stage. It's stuck right at the front of the radiator sandwich that is the intercooler, coolant radiator and air con condenser. As such, it's rather vulnerable to incoming FOD....

 

The condenser has to be reasonably fragile in nature to ensure there is sufficient heat transfer from the superheated refrigerant gas inside, to the cooler air flowing through it. 

 

I'd want the punctured condenser back if I was paying for the repair. The cost also includes pressure testing, evacuation and recharging of R134a. I would also expect the filter drier to be replaced as well. IIRC it's part of the condenser assembly anyway.....

 

The condenser itself isn't hugely expensive (OEM Valeo condenser + drier can be had for around £155.00 +VAT), it's the labour that hammers the cost. I would suggest getting a price from a good independent Skoda garage if you know any. 

 

The climatronic unit will also log some fault codes due to low refrigerant pressure, it's good practise to have these cleared when the repair is completed, although they won't impede normal operation. 

With all the shielding and gubbins in front, how could a stone get to, let alone wreck a compressor?.

Flip a belt perhaps but I've never heard of such happening.

With all the shielding and gubbins in front, how could a stone get to, let alone wreck a compressor?.

Flip a belt perhaps but I've never heard of such happening.

It cant, he means a condenser I'm sure.

Probably not worth claiming, depending on your excess, but if not covered by warranty and caused by a flying stone, it would be covered by your insurance.

That said, I think 'stone damage' is the default response to air con warranty claims so well worth pressing the issue, particularly if they are insisting it's the compressor that's damaged not the condenser.

Edited 2 August, 20169 yr by Falmouthboy

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am now not sure whether they said condenser or compressor but the £650 estimate was with a big discount on the labour. Either way I feel that a fragile items should be protected from damage from <2000 miles of normal road use. My insurer is sending a valuer to inspect the part and Skoda uk customer service are also looking into it. I accept the windscreen or paintwork analogy but neither of these items would cost so much to resolve. Will post the outcome here.

Having owned several marque of car over recent years, and being a member of the relevant forum, it's safe to say this is a common feature of new cars.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am now not sure whether they said condenser or compressor but the £650 estimate was with a big discount on the labour. Either way I feel that a fragile items should be protected from damage from <2000 miles of normal road use. My insurer is sending a valuer to inspect the part and Skoda uk customer service are also looking into it. I accept the windscreen or paintwork analogy but neither of these items would cost so much to resolve. Will post the outcome here.

Having owned several marque of car over recent years, and being a member of the relevant forum for each, it's safe to say this is a common feature of new cars.

Condensers getting hammered by flying stones has been a problem since A/C started appearing on cars. The coil needs to be stuck in the clean airflow at the front of the car to work effectively. Furthermore, the coil needs to be relatively thin and fragile to work properly, and to keep the weight down. The upshot being the coil is in the line of fire from flying objects - namely stones. Moderate impacts are enough to pierce the coil and dump the refrigerant charge.

 

I do believe manufacturers can - and should - do more to protect the coil with a mesh or guard of some description. It's not like flying stones are a new thing!

 

One could almost suggest the general design is unfit for purpose, as the manufacturer knowingly fits a vulnerable part to the front of the car that is exposed to stone chips with little or no protection whatsoever.......

 

Remember: if you do fit some sort of mesh or guard to the condenser, it needs to be as far away from the front face of the coil as possible. I would say at least a few inches clearance or more. 

The modern lean burn (high heat) engines need good airflow which is already hindered by turbo intercooler, AC condenser and a stone guard adds to the flow restriction........not so bad in cooler climates but in Australia with towing requirements it's problematic.

Just call yourself unlucky, pay for it changing and forget about it, it will probably never happen to you again. I don't think its worth looking for a solution to a problem that rarely happens

You have been very unlucky,but somebody put a very good detailed posting on here about fitting a mesh behind the grill to save this sort of thing happening which I considered doing ,but was too lazy but seeing the cost of replacing the parts I might now reconsider due to the exposed nature of the grill.

You have been very unlucky,but somebody put a very good detailed posting on here about fitting a mesh behind the grill to save this sort of thing happening which I considered doing ,but was too lazy but seeing the cost of replacing the parts I might now reconsider due to the exposed nature of the grill.

 

I think you are referring to two excellent guides in the "Yeti Technical Guides" Section (LINK):

1. By Wakev - Fitting mesh to the upper grill on the FL yeti = LINK
2. By 33Q (Nigel) - DIY Lower Grill = LINK 

Both guides show how to fit protective grills behind the vehicles own grill. Both well worth doing! and reasonably easy thanks to the two guys who wrote these excellent guides. Hope this helps..........Tony

Thank you all for the useful posts. I am not able to make any diy alterations as I have the car on a personal lease but have found the discussion fascinating. The insurance loss adjuster agreed that the failure was due to accidental damage. The dealer, Skoda Customer Service and the insurer worked together and agreed to get the work done with my excess payment reduced to £100. I have my car back and it is lovely and cool again. Now to drive it to Switzerland and back with 2 children in the back!