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I'm currently using my girlfriend's lovely 2002 Corsa C. It gets swelteringly hot when the sun it out, and the aircon does pump out cooler air, but not nearly enough or cold enough.
She has owned it for about 6 years now and has never recharged the aircon, and it's possible it hasn't been done since new. I understand that recharging should make quite a decent difference.
1. Any suggestions on good places to go to, or look out for? £60 seems about the going rate, and some places either give a money back guarantee if the achievable temp is less than 10% better, or you pay half up front and then only pay the second half if they can make a decent improvement.
2. Is there any chance that there is damage to the AC components meaning the recharge won't be as simple or cheap as it should be?
Thanks,
Duane.
Any of the high street chains really, Halfords, ATS, etc. are all okay so go with cheapest.
I doubt it's damaged - sounds like it just needs a recharge as refrigerant is gradually lost over time - and if she's not had it checked in 6 years then it's probably due.
Local garage did our Xtrail a while back for £50, 2 weeks later it was chucking out warm air again so I took it back & they put some proper air con sealant in but only charged for the sealant. Just be aware that the molecules that make up the refrigerant are little titchy weeny things & can escape easily, & are really hard to detect!
https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/ats-euromaster-ltd-8
Just make sure your local ATS does regassing, as not all do.
I used KwikFit last year, think it was £60. A local independent did it this year for £50. I think it’s KwikFit that charge £30 to check the system is sound, then another £30 to regas - they won’t regas without the check, which makes sense. Regards the age of the car, mine has needed doing every year for probably the last four years - it’s 18 years old now. I use it all year, the conditioned air being better for clearing mist in winter, but it was barely cool when I used it in recent warm weather.
Might be worth having a tracer dye put in there. I had a 7 year old Vauxhall with a knackered condenser so was just losing the recharge.
Thanks for the Groupon link Jamie.
Just been looking in to getting mine regassed as it's not as cold as it should be. With the ATS Groupon deal I've got it sorted for £31!
I had a local mobile geezer come and do mine last week - I'd measured the pressure in the system and it was essentially zero so assumed it was a leak. He did 2 pressure tests on it and no significant leak so he shoved in whatever they use to cheer up the seals and then filled it all up. 60 quid all in.
Brrrrrrrrrrrr ! 😉
The relevant top-up kit from Halfords is about 70 quid I believe