Halfords auto centre help advice re aircon

My wife’s i20 Aircon blows tepid air at best through the Aircon. Had the car serviced at a local and trustworthy independent garage who say the Aircon isn’t working.

Booked into Halfords today for Aircon diagnostic and sort as appropriate. They say nothing wrong it’s working.

3 of us Inc the indi mechanic say it isn’t, they say it is.

Ah suggestions about what to do from here re Halfords?

Ah suggestions about what to do from here re Halfords

Stop going there? You wouldn’t take your bike there so why would you take your car. Get your trustworthy independent garage to recommend someone.

Go somewhere else / better

Bin them off?  TBH I don’t know why you’re using them anyway!

Actually the gas does leak out naturally over time so it may just need a re-gas and see what happens.  If it goes again quickly then it needs to have the dye put in to reveal where the leak is and corrective action taken from there.

Just has a new compressor fitted to mine as it was funked (and leaking) – car is too cold now 😉

That what it was booked in for – check not leaking and regass as appropriate

So a Halfords tech has sat in the car, had ever so slightly cooler air blown in his face and though, yep, totally fine.

That’s pretty epic.lol

Exactly

I’ve self filled an older car after the ‘garage’ couldn’t find a leak. It ended up being a leak where one of the sensors was ‘screwed’ into one of the ac pipes – it was ever so slightly loose, letting gas out. I re-gassed it, and then had a good poke about, and saw the previously fitted ‘die’ bubbling out.

Been two years since I fixed it and the AC is working properly.

Yep, find an aircon specialist.

Actually the gas does leak out naturally over time so it may just need a re-gas

The aircon specialist who cam to sort the aircon out on my van said this is a myth – if it’s working properly it’s sealed, end of. ‘Re-gas’ is a short term fix for a leaking aircon system.

That what it was booked in for – check not leaking and regass as appropriate

I think they just do a pressure test but it could still be a duff compressor or just a very slow leak perhaps.

@sharkbait I think that you are correct so essentially they aren’t telling untruths but not investigating beyond a pressure test

This is what they claim though

A thorough inspection for faults and leaks

Inspection of the compressor, hoses and condenser

Air Con Recharge available from £65

Bizarrely they now have regassed it and it will be £130 ??

With the emphasis on claim, and the word ‘thorough’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

How much did you pay for the Halfords bit?

I was looking at this yesterday. Their website wasn’t the best at explaining things, but from what I could gather:

– £35 diagnostics – this was to check for leaks and see if the compressor works or not. It does not include any regass.

– £65 for a re-gas (old gas, pre-2017 cars) but this does not include any diagnostics.

So it would be £100 for diagnostics and re-gas. I think the newer gas was something like £130 on it’s own.

I ended up booking in to a local garage for just a re-gas that I can walk home from and leave it with them.

EDIT: I should really refresh the page before I reply

I use a local guy in chesterfield. Costs £40-£60.

Basically checks to see if it’s running cold. Then extracts all the refrigerant and weighs it to compare it to the weight that it should have been filled with. Then vacuum tests it for leaks, prior to refilling.

£130 at Halfords seems like a rip off!

£130 at Halfords seems like a rip off!

Maybe not if it includes the original testing or uses the newer gas.

OP: so they said it was OK and then regassed it anyway?!

If it was OK then it wouldn’t have needed regassing – but at the same time it would have also blown cold air!

suggestions about what to do from here

Standards are falling round here.

17 posts in and no one has suggested bombing with sausages, weeing on his dog etc?

TBF some frozen sausages would help cool the car down!

Probs best not to hammer them into the air vents though – maybe just dangle them in front.