Air con

[cuddledpunt]

Hello Guys,anyone used DIY air con refill from Halfords??. Mine has stopped working ,I think through lack of use, and on checking found it has lost it's coolant. Does DIY stuff work?If I refill will compressor start working again?
Sorry if this has been posted b4 ,haven't time to look through all old posts, I'm at work

 

[robobone]

i never used that stuff but i would look around at some of the garages as they can regass it quite cheap.
a lot of the bigger tyre companies also do it and some even offer a disinfection service as well

 

[CHASTER]

Assume your compressor is turning OK ? Mine was but---------
Had same problem two years ago----very little fridge gas pressure. Tried one of Halfords DIY bottles-----no good in my case because my system had a pin hole in an ally pipe which runs over top of radiator. It had chaffed on a sharp metal corner . I wasted £30 or so. Don't want to be pessimistic but if your gas is low/gone there is a strong possibility that you have a leak.
Some gasses have green/yellow dye added as a tracer to find leaks. Have a good look around.
It needed a pressure test at an a/c centre to find my problem. They replaced pipe and recharged system; which meant a complete vacuum suck-out and regassing which ,of couse, included the required oil additive.

The cost was something I try to forget but I now know that Kwik-Fit do the same sort of work and I believe they would have been much cheaper. I have seen that they do a complete regass for £48 ish. Don't suppose this includes any repair work but I find that the guys there are helpful and discuss problems and remedies before you are expected to commit your house to a re-morgage.
Hope this helps.

 

[robobone]

Assume your compressor is turning OK ? Mine was but---------
Had same problem two years ago----very little fridge gas pressure. Tried one of Halfords DIY bottles-----no good in my case because my system had a pin hole in an ally pipe which runs over top of radiator. It had chaffed on a sharp metal corner . I wasted £30 or so. Don't want to be pessimistic but if your gas is low/gone there is a strong possibility that you have a leak.
Some gasses have green/yellow dye added as a tracer to find leaks. Have a good look around.
It needed a pressure test at an a/c centre to find my problem. They replaced pipe and recharged system; which meant a complete vacuum suck-out and regassing which ,of couse, included the required oil additive.

The cost was something I try to forget but I now know that Kwik-Fit do the same sort of work and I believe they would have been much cheaper. I have seen that they do a complete regass for £48 ish. Don't suppose this includes any repair work but I find that the guys there are helpful and discuss problems and remedies before you are expected to commit your house to a re-morgage.
Hope this helps.

thats where i saw it :wink:

 

[JonathanM]

If you go to Kwik Fit they use an automatic machine that will safely remove the old refridgerant (if there is any), pressure test the system, then refill with the appropriate refridgerant. Removal of old gas is important, as just topping up will simply dilute whatever useless gas is in the system.

If they can't regas, they don't charge - but they also don't do repairs. I'm not sure if they go to the lengths of identifying leaks etc.

The Halfords gases would IMHO be a mispalced use of money. There is also a risk of damage to the system due to over gassing etc.

I got my vehicle regassed at Kwik fit last summer, £40 well spent, aircon has never been so efficient.

 

[cuddledpunt]

Thanks for all your advice chaps, think I'll nip along to Kwik Fit then and see what they say

 

[JonathanM]

Before you go, just check the connections in the engine bay heading to & from the condensor radiator. Look into the engine bay from the front and down to your right (the passenger side of the car) are the aircon pipes. there are a couple of unions that sometimes loosen, check these, and then I used a zip tie to just stop the pipes from moving around too much, apparently Nissan did fit a plastic clip there to stope pipe movement but it was missing on my vehicle.

 

[revinreg]

aircon

i would strongly recomend looking at the thin ally pipe that runs over the top of the rads from left of car when your under bonnet. the vibration from the engine rubs the pipe through. i've just had the same problem the pipe is about £60 from nissan.then i would use a proper garage to fill your aircon up, oil is transported around with the gas to help lubricate the system,when you get a leak it leaves an oily resadue around the pipes,if you top the aircon up with something from halfords your not topping the oil up, it would be like running the engine on not much oil and you wouldn't do that. sorry to go on but it's worth the hassle and the expense to do the job right.
ps. i'm an ex aircon engineer :wink:

 

[robobone]

Re: aircon

i would strongly recomend looking at the thin ally pipe that runs over the top of the rads from left of car when your under bonnet. the vibration from the engine rubs the pipe through. i've just had the same problem the pipe is about £60 from nissan.then i would use a proper garage to fill your aircon up, oil is transported around with the gas to help lubricate the system,when you get a leak it leaves an oily resadue around the pipes,if you top the aircon up with something from halfords your not topping the oil up, it would be like running the engine on not much oil and you wouldn't do that. sorry to go on but it's worth the hassle and the expense to do the job right.
ps. i'm an ex aircon engineer :wink:

there goes the voice of expereince well done chap

 

[wildbri]

I dont have aircon when its warm I open the window :lol:

 

[funtime]

ihad mine back to nissan and found the condenser was leaking, they fitted a new one, but they couldnt make it seal, so they tried some new stuff that seals leaks, similarto whatradweld does ,but for aircon systems, upto now, it been fine, i know nissan sell it over the counter