Air con regas

[Dave Wilkinson]

Just a quick heads up for anyone interested. As usual, the hottest day of the year hits us - and the air conditioning goes into "blow luke warm" mode!! It seems that despite having my system sorted, including a new evaporator, some two or three years ago it still needs regassing around this time of year - every year.

I know the 964 air con system isn't the best and I know the original R12 components may not be up to their best when refilled with R134a (as mine was) but I though I'd give a public thumbs up for the service offered by Kwik-Fit.

I called in on the off chance that they could do a re-gas (as they advertise) but the 1989 Carrera 4 wasn't on their database (not surprisingly). However, with a little bit of help over the phone from J Z Machtech (who did the conversion) we managed to establish the correct oil to be used (PAG46). There was a label attached to the rear light cluster which confirmed the amount of refrigerant to use (655 grammes) and their automatic system was set up accordingly.

The system gives a print out of what is done including a full 20 minute evacuation of the refrigerant and oil and details of exactly how much of each is removed, a 10 minute pressure and leak test and a re-fill of the specified refrigerant and oil. All in it was £44.95 - and worth every penny in my book. I've now got cold a/c for the rest of the summer at least.

It's worth mentioning that I always make a point of trying to turn on the a/c every time I use the car (which isn't often enough) in an attempt to keep the system in good working order. I suspect if I used the car more often the annual re-gas may not be necessary.

Regards

Dave

 

[colin129]

I actually think it is very brave of you to let Kwikfit anywhere near your car.

I guess they must have improved since I last used them (a long time ago, and never again).

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Colin,

I'm with you when it comes to tyres - and care of alloy wheels - but the air con thing was virtually completely automatic once we'd got the right parameters. I'd seen good reports on other forums and thought it worth a try given that I've seen re-gasses quoted elsewhere at double that price.

Dave

 

[Porker993]

ORIGINAL: Computamedic

All in it was £44.95.

Blimey. That was cheap. I'm off to Kwikfit. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[iangray100]

Kwick-fit is part of a tyre chain now that has many other smaller independant gargers under the same large umbrella, and I use one of them for tyres etc ( chessington tyres ) and they have also started AC regas a year or two ago...using the kwick- fit regas H/W ...they just tape over the Kwick-fit name !!!.....talking to them ( and reading the regas manual on site ) the stipulation is there must be some gas in the car when they attach the recharge unit to ...or THEY will not regas it at any price !!!...as obvisuly there is a leak and thats not the game there in ...worth knowing and don't asume they will do it for that low price ....they didn't . I tried a year ago.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Ian,

I suspect you're right. When they first attached the unit to the car it displays the pressure in the system. If there is no pressure (i.e. no gas) I suspect they would not go ahead although the procedure DOES include an evacuate cycle and a leak test. I'm assuming that if the leak test comes up positive the re-gas would cancel anyway.

Certainly for a bargain price like that I wouldn't expect any remedial work to be done and I would imagine it would be considered illegal to re-gas a system knowing that the refrigerant would potentially leak to the atmosphere immediately.

The equipment that Kwikfit in Bletchley used for my car was an Autoclimate AC658 Pro - it didn't have a Kwikfit name on it at all. See the attached pic.

The real benefit in my book was, apart from the price, the fact that the system is evacuated and re-oiled. If the system is just "topped-up" by adding more refrigerant there is no way of knowing how much is in there - it can only be judged by monitoring the pressures - and that's not really good enough to ensure that the system is fully charged.

Regards

Dave