ac

[rcsalmons]

I would like to get the ac working on my 944T. The car has been standing a number of years so I assume most of the system is shot.
Any ideas where to go in the midlands and cost?

Rich

Paul - ordered a control arm from Hartech

 

[sawood12]

There is a place in Derby I used a few months ago for a re-charge. The system is nice and chilly now. In the past i've had it recharged at Zentrum in Nottingham while the car is in for it's major service. Let me know if these two locations are local to you and i'll provide more details (not got them to hand at the moment).

 

[Indi9xx]

If the AC has not been charged for several years, it could well contain a gas known as R12, if it has, it will need to be converted to the current legal gas which is R134a, which is not as cheap as a re-gas.

If it does need a conversion, make sure its a full conversion and not a bodge using "drop in" conversion techniques, which may get it up and running in the short term, but that short term could be as short as a day to a few months in some cases, as you are often doing damage to seals and even the compressor when using short cuts.

Air conditioning is something which is very miss understood, even by garages who do air conditioning or even air conditioning specialists.

A good example is that ideally the air conditioning system could do with being fully serviced on a 24k mile or every other year basis, which as well as keeping the air conditioning in tip top condition, also can prevent or act as a early warning against future failure and therefore saving the customer money. . However, air conditioning servicing is not part of the general service schedule, which is a shame, because with it I doubt nearly as many compressor failures and condensor replacements would be required if people had their systems specifically serviced.

My recommendation would be for you to research your local car dealers and garages, and see who they use for diagnostics on air conditioning problems... if you see a name repeatedly pop up for this kind of work, then you know he is going to get your air conditioning working with minimum fuss, cost and without wasting your money on things that are not needed or a waste of time (such as re-gassing a system which is leaking or contaminated)

 

[sawood12]

Jon, do you know of anywhere that you can get reconditioned AC components parts like compressors and condensors? Mine works fine but requires charging at least once a year. I had it charged back in Nov but didn't use it at all until about Feb and it didn't work. Got it charged again and it's been working fine and coping no problems with the recent warm spell. I just have no confidence that something isn't going to fail at anytime.

There must be other cars that shared the same compressor. I had read somewhere that the Ford Granada shared the same compressor. If that is the case then there should be loads of them around in the 2nd hand market and loads of places that deals in reconditioned units. Also I've wondered if it might be possible to retrofit a unit from a more modern car such as a BMW, VW or merc.

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

I had it charged back in Nov but didn't use it at all until about Feb and it didn't work.

It is really good practice to use it at least once a month even over the winter. This keeps the seals lubricated and reduces the chances of something breaking when you finally turn it on in spring. For the past six years I had mine refilled by a mobile guy www.airconone.co.uk using a legal R12 compatible gas. Each time it lasted a good two years and was still working fine when I came to have it recharged.

He came recommended by a few Porsche owners on the various Titanic lists and only charged £65 for a recharge (£50 if there were two of you), but unfortunatley he only covers Bucks, Herts, Essex and North London. I had to drive to a friends in Milton Keynes

 

[sawood12]

I just keep mine on all the time now and set to a nice comfortable temperature. It is actually a very efficient and effective system and maintains temperature irrespecive of outside temp as well as any modern climate control system i've ever used. I'll see how long this charge lasts now it's permenantly on.

 

[jackregan]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

Jon, do you know of anywhere that you can get reconditioned AC components parts like compressors and condensors? Mine works fine but requires charging at least once a year. I had it charged back in Nov but didn't use it at all until about Feb and it didn't work. Got it charged again and it's been working fine and coping no problems with the recent warm spell. I just have no confidence that something isn't going to fail at anytime.

There must be other cars that shared the same compressor. I had read somewhere that the Ford Granada shared the same compressor. If that is the case then there should be loads of them around in the 2nd hand market and loads of places that deals in reconditioned units. Also I've wondered if it might be possible to retrofit a unit from a more modern car such as a BMW, VW or merc.

I thought the compressor was specific to the 944, most modern cars use the same compressor with adaptors for each model. The air con specialist who converted mine were very competent and knew exactley what they were doing without selling me stuff I didnt need.
Jack