Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord

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Tue 10 Feb 2004 10:19
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - The Grey Man
At the last service the Honda dealer told me that they could see a few bubbles in my 1996 Accord air con and that it needed regassed, cost around £65 plus VAT. I think they are probably right as it dooes feel a little less cool than previously.

Does anyone know a good alternative place to go to get this done that may be cheaper?

Cheers
TGM
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 10:21
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - Dynamic Dave
cost around £65 plus VAT


I would take them up on that offer. £76.38 is cheap compared to some places.
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 10:32
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - Roger Jones
Agreed. I pay £75 to an independent A/C specialist.
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 16:11
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - NormanB
Agee the advice above.

I would add that it is worth observing the sight glass yourself with the AC in use. Watch it for about 5 minutes - it is possible to get a stream of bubbles as the system first kicks in but once running for a couple of minutes if you still have bubbles then it may well be undercharged. I offer this in case the mechanic jumped to a conclusion! In any case a reputable AC chap should see you right.

NormanB
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 16:42
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - A Dent{P}
Thread Hi-jack.
Do all air con system have sight glasses? or is this a Honda thing.
Thanks
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 16:51
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - NormanB
Well I am no expert here but you do not need a sight glass on an AC circuit for it to function. Indeed as a maintainer you can diagnose and charge the system without it - but it does help. I suppose cost driven production may hhave seen it excluded on some cars.
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 18:55
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - frostbite
It's also a Ford thing.
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Tue 10 Feb 2004 19:50
Re-gassing Air con - Honda Accord - Dave N
Now be very careful guys.

Sight glassses were used only for pre94 cars running with R12, and CAN'T be used reliably for post 93 running R134a refrigerant. The simple reason is that with R134a there will nearly always be bubbles, so if you fill it until the glass goes clear, then the system will be overfilled and on a warm day the system will go pop. If you do have an old car (pre93), then in order to use the glass it needs to be at least 18*C outside. But as R12 is no longer available, you can't top it up anyway, and if you use an alternative (or R134a), then because it's not R12, you still can't use the sightglass.

They're still fitted to some cars for a couple of reasons. Some countries are still allowed to use R12, and some designs haven't changed. The only way to tell rerfrigerant qty is to recover it. There is no other way, and the dealer should know this.

There is one exception though, and that is the very latest Toyotas, where, due to system design, sightglasses have made a comeback.
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