The family car could do with a top up before the big euro roadtrip this summer. 2 options, similar prices….£50

1. Buy a can of refrigerant and trigger gauge and follow a YouTube video. Looks easy. Pros – leaves me with the kit to do it again in a year or so. Cons – wont help if there’s a bigger issue.

2. Pay a specialist to do and aircon “service” which from what i understand involves a full system empty, drying and recharge, plus a check for bigger faults.

Any real life experience of either / both options?

Watching with interest….if going pro would anyone in the trade or with experience care to let us know what machines work the best (or anything else to consider)…. Often drive past cack fit and they have a little machine on wheels that does the recharge.

To answer both of you. I have the DIY refill kit free to anyone who wants to collect it.
You’re best to take it somewhere, even Kwikfit, as they will remove the old refrigerate and then refill.

I have a tecalimit garage/industrial spec machine that I’m selling for a friend. I have no idea how to use it but your welcome to try it. I could do with doing my Volvo’s so quite happy to practice on someone else’s first!

I got a specialist out a few years ago to fix the AC in a Focus. It needed the condenser changing, which I did, but he did the rest; a couple of hours on a Tuesday evening to diagnose the fault, then a few more on a Sunday morning to finish it. He was extremely thorough, explained everything, then only charged me £60! I was expecting much more.

I’d get him out to do our new car but I can’t remember who it was… 🙁

Kwik Fit are one of the more common outfits doing the full job, and they guarantee results or no charge. Im not in a hurry to hand them my car jets and have them “give it a free safety check” and come back with a list of tyres, brake pads etc that I “need”. In one notable case, after the monkeys have done pull ups on my exhaust….

I used Kwik Fit…they did a recharge, were a bit wooly but said it was ‘a bit colder’ so I paid up and left. I was back five minutes later getting my refund…but when I did fix the fault I had ice-cold aircon! They didn’t try to throw in a safety check, and if they had, you can just walk away anyway 🙂
I read up about the DIY cans and decided the results were so variable, it wasn’t worth it.

Just had mine done at ATS Euromaster for £28 through Groupon. Bought it and booked it in same day. Done in an hour.

If you look on Groupon you will probably find someone in your area doing it for around £30.
That’s what I have just done.
Edit – As above. Though I used Protyre.

Found the deal on Groupon Bregante thanks. For 28 quid I will just try that! Got to be better than faffing around with the diy kits.

A mate of mine did mine on my ford ranger. He bought a pro kit as he has harvesters/ forwarders and diggers etc that he can’t stand to get in if it’s hot outside.

Filled up my ranger, cold ac for first time in 3 yrs. switched it off, felt smug then heard the low hiss and saw all the coolant leak out the rad!

Didn’t cost anything though, but think of the ozone layer…

Halfords use the Tecalemit machine. I’ve had the motorhome AC refilled there twice. It does a very thorough job and takes about 45 min to complete its cycle provided there are no leaks. They were charging £45 for this previously but their Website states that they will top up the refrigerant for £30. I need to get one of the cars regassed as its not as cold as it should be. The gas from Halfords is £39.00 with a tenner back on the empty cylinder and the gauge/trigger thingy that you also need is another £20.00. Worth bearing in mind is the cylinder only contains 500 grams of gas I think. The AC system on both my van and car contain 800. So if the system is almost empty one cylinder won’t be enough.

I’m going to pay them the 30 quid and get it done on the machine. It doesn’t make sense to me to buy the gas.

D.

Halfords utter useless, tried to refill my air con system, said it was faulty wanted £600 to repair!

Took it to a local Indy garage for a 2nd opinion, cost £30 to refill and yes you guessed it nothing wrong my air con!

As well as gas on the system there is oil as well, kits don’t put oil in. For all the hassle a garage is the better bet.

What’s the best option for a system which has a definite leak (when I last had it refilled it lasted a couple of months only). Are any of the standard things mentioned above for £30 worth bothering with or do I need to find a specialist? Last had it done at the local garage and they couldn’t find any leaks!

What’s the best option for a system which has a definite leak (when I last had it refilled it lasted a couple of months only). Are any of the standard things mentioned above for £30 worth bothering with or do I need to find a specialist? Last had it done at the local garage and they couldn’t find any leaks!

An automotive A/C specialist. They’ll put a UV visible dye into the system. It’ll be obvious where it’s leaking.

You’ll need to have a gas put in that contains the oil to keep the seals working otherwise they’ll crack and leak. I just get mine done every other service at the main Skoda dealer, they’re the cheapest for a service and the aircon recharge is only £49. Considering it’s less faff and they usually give me a courteousy car to rag borrow it’s worth the tenner more than an independent would charge.

Oh and it’s illegal to fill a system with a known leak, any reputable place will always do a pressure test first followed by a dye check if it doesn’t pass.

I don’t get this recharge thing. Surely if you need a recharge you have a leak that needs fixed?

I’ve got a 15 year old car here, that I have owned for 10 years, it has very cold air, and the aircon has never had any maintenance of any kind.

Perhaps my car is disobeying the laws of physics?

Wade – accepted wisdom is that all systems leak slightly. Those not in regular use tend to dry out their seals and then leak more. For yours to be going strong on the original charge after 10 years you are a) definitely unusual, b) probably switching it on at least weekly, c) possibly driving something very well engineered (Japanese?) or d) lucky.

Groupon garage it is, then! Might chance my arm at going direct for Groupon price…must be a bit of win/win in that….

I used kwikfit a few years ago. They couldn’t charge the system due to a leak, no charge. It needed a condenser done by a specialist firm. ATS also do the no charge deal I think

Proper job-fixed/re gassed 1000’s of systems on my career and you can not do a good job with one of those top up things – you need to vacuum the system for it to draw the new refrigerant in, Plus as mentioned it will highlight any leaks or compressor issues. The correct way is Recover. vacuum, hold (Checking for leaks), recharge. Whole process takes about 45 minutes depending on where the Hi/Lo system connectors are hidden 🙂 You only need to inject oil if the compressor or another significant component has been changed. Dye can be injected during (as part of the automated process) or separately afterwards.

I had a mobile aircon guy come out and regass my car the other week.

Having watched him do it, I’d say it was definitely worth the £50. He looked over the system prior to hooking up his machine which vacuumed out the old gas, checked for leaks and then added new refrigerant and oil.

He also had a gauge that (I think) tested the compressor. All done in less than an hour.

The machine added the exact amount of gas for the system, not sure how you would do that with the Halfords kit.

I don’t get this recharge thing.

The system shouldn’t leak. As far as I understand it the efficiency of the system reduces as the level of moisture increases in the system to a point it no longer works. The vacuum test that is done prior to a regas is primarily to dry the system and also serves as a good way of testing for a leak as the vacuum has to be held for 30 mins or something. There is also a canister of some sort of moisture absorbing stuff which needs replacing when regassing (or used to be on older systems). So a regas is about safe removal of the gas that is there, vacuum check/drying of the system then regass.

There is also a canister of some sort of moisture absorbing stuff which needs replacing when regassing

Receiver/drier or sometimes called a dehydrator. Fitted to all systems and would normally be replaced on a system that has been open to atmosphere for a long time due to a leak – in theory.

Halfords should all have ‘automatic’ machines that do exactly as Oink1 has explained. These machines will not let you fill the system with refrigerant if it will not hold a vacuum, but remember checking for a leak with a vacuum is not the same as pressure testing the system for a leak. All competent AC repairers will have a bottle of OFN to test for leaks by pressurising the system.

The aircon on my van must have some kind of leak as I had it charged last year and it basically lasted a couple of months.

Is there an easy fix they can do for pin hole leaks (e.g. spray something in that seals small leaks?)…

I was told to avoid Kwik Fit and went to a homer via a local car forum. Guy was a registered Air Con technician who did industrial type stuff and just did the recharge as a side job. Took him all of 10 mins and charged me £20. Might be worth checking out the car mod scene if thats all it needs.

The system shouldn’t leak. As far as I understand it the efficiency of the system reduces as the level of moisture increases in the system to a point it no longer works.

Correct – it shouldn’t leak, but they generally all end up leaking, especially if they are not used regularly as the seals dry out due to oil not circulating around the system.

Moisture can enter the system via various means, but the most common would be via a leak point which is also allowing gas to escape.
Most systems should include a replaceable ‘drier’ which collects/traps moisture.
The oil used with R134a gas is usually hygroscopic (absorbs water) so will pick up any moisture.

Personally I’d say you’re better off taking it to a pro – as ideally you should have the gas/oil sucked out, the system pressure tested (to prove its integrity) them vacuum dehydrated (which can also highlight leaks) before recharging it with new gas/oil.

Took him all of 10 mins and charged me £20.

And clearly failed to do the job properly. Minimum default vacuum time on my machine is set at 20 minutes for a reason.

Did he log and record the refrigerant removed and added (and the vehicle details). Has he kept the record for inspection by the EPA at any time?