Hi Folks,
About 3 weeks ago, my car (T-reg pug 406) went into the garage for:
* Air-con service & regass (it hadn't been getting cold since last November, I left it over the winter as it was cold enough!) - I was told on collection that it had been totally out of gas, so they pressure tested it, added extra oil & die, and regassed it, and could find no leaks. (~£85 vat, 1yr warranty)
* Brake discs & pads (~£175 vat)
* tie-rod replacement (ends worn) (~£100) vat)
Now, it came out, and went back in very quickly when copper-slip on this discs & pads made the brakes a little dodgy (and took me a couple of hours sripping down and cleaning after a 100 mile drive when the squealing started and I noticed the problem). But we'll leave that for now...
The Air-con was lovely and cold when I picked the car up, I've been using the car (and thus the air-con) 2 or 3 times a week since, and over the last week or so have noticed it's not been managing to get as cold as it was when I picked it up, to the point this weekend where it wasn't changing the temperature of the air at all.
Took it back to the garage this morning and was told:
"well, if it's been out of gas for a while, the neoprene seals may have dried up and it may need one or two more regasses before it maintains it's pressure properly, but we'll check it over to make sure there are no visible leaks, as we don't want to regas it if there are, as that'll cost you another £40."
So, my first question is, does this explanation of how my AirCon system has lost its pressure ring true to anyone? or is the garage just saying this, regassing it, hoping to charge me £40 and send me on my way? Presumaly if it doesn't hold the gas again, i'll go back in another 3 weeks and be fed the same line...
If there is a leak in it somewhere they're not finding, i'd rather have it fixed up-front, for the sake of both my wallet and the environment!
Secondly, the liklihood of them wanting me to hand over another £40 when I go to pick up the car?
In your opinions, ought I to stump up the cash? My gut feel is no (possibly as i'm not too keen on the explanation provided above), that the possibility of my losing all the gas in a couple of weeks wasn't raised to me when I took the car in to have the work done, and that there is no guarantee that it wont all bleed out again in the next few weeks leaving me with a huge bill to pay for air-con work (i may as well have gone to the main dealer given what the final cost may end up as).
Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts.
Gav.
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It sounds to me very much like you have a leak.
You don't keep regassing a system that's leaking to keep it going, the leak must be found first. I don't think this procedure will do anything to cure leaking seals; they will need to be replaced, if, indeed, they are actually leaking.
You might be better off taking it somewhere else rather than returning to the same garage.
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'swat I thought (also confirmed further by reading more comments here in the forums), I shall probably refuse to pay for this 2nd regas, and ask for the contact details of the person who supposedly tested, serviced and regassed it on their behalf the first time round, as I would have expected the leak to show up (assuming they actually tested it) during a vaccum test?
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If they gave you 1 yrs warranty on the work 3 weeks ago, why aren't they now honouring that agreement?
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it's certainly something I will be keen to discuss when I go to pick the motor up!
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The air con will have been serviced by a local mobile aircon guy, so why not look in yr local yellow pages or similar for such a chap, and deal direct. He's more likely to give you a straight answer.
I use www.polarac.co.uk/
I suspect that the garage may be right about the seals, though.
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You have a leak. Period.
Probably the bottom pipes or the condensor, or both.
Seals drying out? Rubbish.
If they were as good at fixing a/c as they are with rubbish excuses and BS, they'd be very well off.
Find yourself a decent, experienced, honest a/c specialist (if you can) and have them go over it with a UV lamp to look for the leak, assuming, of course, the original place actually put dye in it.
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Thanks Dave, and those others of you who have responded (and who have posted in past threads on air-con which i've been reading with interest, why is it you only learn about stuff when it goes wrong?).
Glad my thoughts on his speech this morning were roughly on the mark, gives me a bit more ammo when i go to pick the car up and refuse to pay a further £40 for this second (unnecessary) re-gas.
I'll let you know how it all goes.
Cheers,
Gav.
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Garage might be right as in "the seals are drying out and may need a few regasses to sort them out"?
I would have thought, being neoprene rubber(?) that they'd either be broken and gas permiable, or not? (my only experience with neoprene being through scuba-diving drysuits, which are generally not gas or water permiable, when they become so, they need replacing or patching, I wouldn't expect a lubricating oil to help?
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"Garage might be right as in "the seals are drying out and may need a few regasses to sort them out"?
Since when did R134a become a known neoprene 'rejuvinator' I wonder. Even if it was, since the seals aren't neoprene anyway, doubt it would do much good.
Any garage that had done even a modest amount of a/c work, would go straight to the usual weak points.
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>Since when did R134a become a known neoprene 'rejuvinator' I wonder.
Indeed!
>Even if it was, since the seals aren't neoprene anyway, doubt it would do much good.
Can you tell me what they are made of? so I can appear more knowledgable when discussing this with the chappy in the garage?
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The seals are made of hydrogenated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber, or HNBR for short. Essentially a high grade nitrile.
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Well,
On the plus side, the chap isn't going to charge me for the re-gas, so assuming the magic pixies haven't been at work and fixed the leak, i'm no worse off than paying out for my previous a/c service and re-gas, but my expectations for this being a solution aren't high, especially after DaveN has been on the chain and told me so :)
I might ask for the details of the specialist who did the work, and give him a bell for a chat, but ultimately, I'm now going to have to start looking for a decent chappie in the SG6 area (any suggestions welcome).
Cheers,
Gav.
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Try this link, please
tinyurl.com/m93jw
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I have just had my Passat re-gassed and a dye was added that shows up under ultra-violet light. Ask for this to be done, because if you do have a leak it will show up well.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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