Took my motor to the Skoda dealers to investigate why my aircon wasnt blowing out cold air. Found out there was no gas in it, it had all leaked out! Reason being that it had been damged by a stone chip. What's this thing made of tinfoil or what?!

Anyway, the dealer has quoted me five hundred odd quid to repair it!!:eek: Cos its a stonechip, its not covered by warranty.

Looks like i will be doing without aircon for a while then. :(

And yes, sometimes it does get quite hot in the North of Scotland. :irked:

Forget the dealer for fixing the aircon, go independent. Get a mobile car aircon company to fit the new condensor and regas for a fraction of the cost.

Dont forget A/C is not just about cooling, it can help in damp conditions and stop the car steaming up.

The dealer got the price from a company round the corner from them who is an independent aircon company who they subcontract aircon jobs to. However I will be calling other companies as you say, to see what they will charge.

Yes i do use it to clear the screen, well i did.

Well i have just booked an aircon specialist to fix it. He is charging

The dealer got the price from a company round the corner from them who is an independent aircon company who they subcontract aircon jobs to. However I will be calling other companies as you say, to see what they will charge.

Yes i do use it to clear the screen, well i did.

No doubt the dealer will add a mark up on to it...

I'd also be wanting to see the damaged condensor to make sure the dealer is not trying to pull a fast one.

IMO if the condensors are positioned where they are likely to get hit by stones from the wheels then they should be strong enough to withstand it. I'd push for some sort of compensation or contribution towards the replacement as a goodwill gesture.

I'd also be wanting to see the damaged condensor to make sure the dealer is not trying to pull a fast one.

IMO if the condensors are positioned where they are likely to get hit by stones from the wheels then they should be strong enough to withstand it. I'd push for some sort of compensation or contribution towards the replacement as a goodwill gesture.

Definately, because after shelling out a load of cash, what's to say that the next day the same thing couldn't happen?

Thankfully stone damaged condensers are pretty rare. Sorry to hear about your problems.

The first thing to do would be to find an A/C engineer who can confirm it is out of gas and then shove a little Nitrogen through it to confirm the leak is indeed the condenser coil.

The coil is a series of tubes and aluminium fins and they need to be as thin as poss to allow efficient heat rejection. Normally when a stone strikes the condenser the aluminium fins bend and absorb the impact, for a stone to pierce a tube it must have been a big, pointy bugger.

Maybe some sort of mesh in front of the coil is worth considering.

Thankfully stone damaged condensers are pretty rare. Sorry to hear about your problems.

The first thing to do would be to find an A/C engineer who can confirm it is out of gas and then shove a little Nitrogen through it to confirm the leak is indeed the condenser coil.

The coil is a series of tubes and aluminium fins and they need to be as thin as poss to allow efficient heat rejection. Normally when a stone strikes the condenser the aluminium fins bend and absorb the impact, for a stone to pierce a tube it must have been a big, pointy bugger.

Maybe some sort of mesh in front of the coil is worth considering.

This unfortunately is not totally unheard of - someone on this forum had exactly the same problem with a Mk1 Octavia (think it was a L&K TDi from memory) - you can always claim on your insurance for the damage, subject of course to excess and no claims bonus issues.

John.

Still pretty rare on the whole though eh.

Considering where the condenser sits it is a surprise it isn't happening more often.

**wanders off to the shed to find some chicken wire in preparation for the new arrivals**

I did this damage to the condenser on my mazda 3 (the bottom of the condenser should be straight!) Still didn't leak though.

What hit it? A small house?

It's normally the sharp pointy stones that pierce the copper tubes (might be ally on a car) and cause the leaks, they can bend quite a bit without splitting as the Mazda clearly demonstrates

What hit it? A small house?

a large board whilst on the M6, large chunks went through the lower grill, bent the bumper out of shape, cracked the black plastic front panel you can see, broke the undertray, ripped off the numberplate.

Not a Skoda driver, but was searching for this phenomenon as my local BMW dealer has just informed me that my airconditioning failure has been caused by a stone puncturing the condenser! They too have tried to quote me

ouch, is the condenser on the front on the octy? might get some mesh and do a bahnstormer special

I know people were looking into a proper solution on here but I'll be going the DIY route soon if it's not available as I've just lost a windscreen to it.

A genuine condenser is over