DIY air con re-gas question

[Peter C]

I am selling my MR2, which is advertised as having fully working a/c, which it was the last time I drove the car a few weeks ago. I checked the a/c yesterday and whilst the compressor engages and engine revs drop, the system is not blowing out cold air. I've done my research and the problem is apparently due to low gas in the system.

 

I am going to buy one of those Halfords re-gas kits and try to top up the system myself.

 

Question:

 

Do I squirt the gas into the High or Low pressure valve, or both? I am guessing High, but I've never done this before. From empty the system takes 850g, so a small re-gas should do the trick.

 

I can't take the car to a a/c repair garage as I am no longer insured to drive it. The Ebay auction ends tomorrow and I need a quick fix!

 

Any ideas?

[Pete-M]

You'll be lucky if you get it right. It's easier and not much more expensive to call out a mobile A/C chap to sort it properly.

[shite_meister]

You'll be lucky if you get it right. It's easier and not much more expensive to call out a mobile A/C chap to sort it properly.

Agree totally, I used to work in a garage that did air-con. Firstly what year is it? is it R12 or R134a? the problem with air-con systems is that often with age you'll get a leak somewhere which might be what you have so your can of halfords gas won't really do much.

[Peter C]

Hmmm.

 

The system is filled with R134a.

[Peter C]

I've done more research.

 

According to this website, the LOW side should be filled.

 

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 308AAjfrPU

[scaryoldcortina]

Do it this week or not at all is my advice - 4th July new regs come into force, you need to be a trained and registered MACS (mobile air conditioning system) fitter to do anything at all to car aircon systems. The gas becomes illegal to buy over the counter too.

[Station]

Why is it becoming illegal?

[scaryoldcortina]

Something to do with waste gas escape killing kittens I think...I'll find the trade bulletin with the info in and add it later. Basically it means that DIYing your aircon is banned totally, and I have to go on a £300 training course if I want to do the timing belt on a passat (or call someone in to degass/regas for me)

[Peter C]

Ok, I've bought the gas from Halfords, the kit comes with a gauge and detailed instructions. The gas is filled via the Low pressure side. I am selling the car so providing that the a/c works in the short term I will be satisfied with my efforts.

[pompei]

I'm going to need a regas sometime on my car - what's a ball park figure I should expect to pay?

[pogweasel]

£60 to get our Galaxy regassed at the Ford Stealer, which is not a massive cross to bear I think. Just need to find the time to actually get it done.

[Peter C]

The Halfords kit is £49.95 but you get £10 back when you return the empty canister.

 

If I was insured to drive the MR2 I would rather have someone else top up the a/c, but £40 and 15 minutes DIY work is fair enough. IF IT WORKS!

[Minimad5]

Good luck with re-gassing your aircon.

 

Not a fan of DIY when it comes to air-conditioning to be honest, as we had a Mk5 Fiesta tank blow up ...... but thats what you get from quality Stone Acre.

 

Again good luck, and tell us how you get on

[r.welfare]

Kwik-Fit will do it for £45 IIRC, and not charge you if they can't get the temperature at the vents at least 10% lower than it was originally. However - as I found when I took my Toyota to them - they can't diagnose any faults. I had a cracked pipe on that one, but then again the compressor wasn't cutting in at all due to zero gas in the system.

 

I've just the Accord sorted out, and that had all the symptoms you describe on your MR2 (might also be worth checking the temperature of the two pipes - mine weren't getting hot or cold). Turned out to be a weeping seal - my local garage had regassed it a week previous and added a dye, but oddly the dye wasn't showing up at the leak. It's working fine now.

[FredTransit]

It's an old (1985) system in the bullion van, and I was told by 3 different garages they can't top it up cos it's on the old gas. The new gas isn't compatible with the seals on the old system, so I just have to drive it when it's not hot!!

[shite_meister]

It's an old (1985) system in the bullion van, and I was told by 3 different garages they can't top it up cos it's on the old gas. The new gas isn't compatible with the seals on the old system, so I just have to drive it when it's not hot!!

There are several 'drop-in' replacements for the old R12 gas, most air-con specialists will be able to do this for you, I had my Honda Legend done about three years ago at a cost of about £90.

 

My Lexus was re-gassed a couple of weeks ago, a mate did it for me and we used R134a (the newer gas Fred) even though the system was designed to run on R12, he had the relevant connectors on his bottle, still blows cold and I've read that many other cars have been re-gassed with R134a with no ill-effects however I would state that this may depend on the make and type of compressor you have, I'm in the process of converting my BMW E30 325i to R134a and I had to replace the compressor from a Bosch one to a Seiko-Seiki pump, the Bosch R12 pumps don't like the pressures that the new gas operates at apparantly.

[Lord Sterling]

Tried to re-gas my 87' Sterling at my local garage but they didnt have the right connectors.

 

Might try Kwik-Shit I bet you they wont get it to charge as my vents are only blowing out hot air from the engine.

[FredTransit]

It's an old (1985) system in the bullion van, and I was told by 3 different garages they can't top it up cos it's on the old gas. The new gas isn't compatible with the seals on the old system, so I just have to drive it when it's not hot!!

There are several 'drop-in' replacements for the old R12 gas, most air-con specialists will be able to do this for you, I had my Honda Legend done about three years ago at a cost of about £90.

 

My Lexus was re-gassed a couple of weeks ago, a mate did it for me and we used R134a (the newer gas Fred) even though the system was designed to run on R12, he had the relevant connectors on his bottle, still blows cold and I've read that many other cars have been re-gassed with R134a with no ill-effects however I would state that this may depend on the make and type of compressor you have, I'm in the process of converting my BMW E30 325i to R134a and I had to replace the compressor from a Bosch one to a Seiko-Seiki pump, the Bosch R12 pumps don't like the pressures that the new gas operates at apparantly.

Really? Interesting. Sounds like the people I was talking to couldn't be arsed then.

[shite_meister]

The average Kwik-fit or small garage who claim to do air-con will only do the later R134a stuff, its worth speaking to someone who specialises only in air-con rather than a garage trying to be a jack of all trades, master of none type of thing.

[Pillock]

Take it to a commercial aircon engineer, they can apparently still use older cases which Kwik-Fit et al won't touch.

 

I'd also rather trust aircon systems (high pressure, moving parts, quite expensive) to a proper aircon engineer rather than someone who knows what a tyre looks like, and little else.

[dieselnutjob]

if the compressor sucks in liquid refrigerant rather than gaseous it can hydraulic lock and explode

 

I think that the best solution is to get a mate who is insured to drive other peoples cars to drive it to kwik fit

 

If it's R12 then cancel the auction because you have a problem that youo might not be able to fix in a hurry

[Pete-M]

I had the old Range Rover Turbo gassed and converted to R134a by my local mobile chap for £90. That was trade, and I had to take a few bits off for him to change the seals, but it was well worth it.

 

The A/C on that thing was immense.

[Peter C]

Update.

 

The procedure was simple enough, I pumped the system up and managed to get some cold air out of it. It is not as strong as it once was, but it works and hopefully it should be ok come pick up time, once the auction ends.

[oldford]

Something to do with waste gas escape killing kittens I think...I'll find the trade bulletin with the info in and add it later. Basically it means that DIYing your aircon is banned totally, and I have to go on a £300 training course if I want to do the timing belt on a passat (or call someone in to degass/regas for me)

That's interesting. I wonder what the figures are for gas released during DIY regassing with those released through leaking air con systems and those released through road accidents?

 

Maybe the manufacurers could reduce this through the use of better quality components and through better design of the air conditioning systems. The codenser at the front is particulary vulnerable.

[Richard]

Maybe the manufacurers could reduce this through the use of better quality components and through better design of the air conditioning systems. The codenser at the front is particulary vulnerable.

Or perhaps designing cars that don't need air conditioning.