Aircond repair

[tmuff88]

Got this groupon voucher for regas aircond. The guy did a test and said that my aircond compressor has gone so he won\'t refill the gas unless is repairs. He has quoted me 500 for a 2nd hand unit and condenser plus labour. I\'m a bit pissed by it as the money I paid for the voucher cannot go towards the repairs, apparently he still need to fill the gas etc. is there anyone here that know how to fix it for less than 500? Is the aircond guy trying to rip me off?

[DRFVDR]

$500 seems pretty good really, i was quoted $1200 for a similiar job on my landcruiser OR $2000 for a new compressor

[madmike]

 We are borg said:

$500 seems pretty good really, i was quoted $1200 for a similiar job on my landcruiser OR $2000 for a new compressor

Yup

[tebbyj]

Trademe, find someone wrecking a car or selling a pump, u\'ll get one fairly cheap i would imagine and then just install yourself.

Its not very hard at all just a belt and a few bolts and two pipes. Im assuming because you got the re-gas voucher that the system has no gas already so that parts already done. Make sure to use new (R-134a approved) sealing o-rings on the pipe connections so they don\'t leak and away you go.

*WEAR GLOVES WHEN REMOVING OLD COMPRESSOR* just incase of any residual pressure.

[Andy_Mac]

Would i be right in assuming the condenser is being replaced as it had a hole and compressor burnt out from having no gas? Has something hit the frontend?

$500 isn\'t all that bad really for someone else doing it but it would be a fairly simple task to do yourself.

Those discount vouchers do make regassing a bit less of a rip off but if you know anyone out your way who does a/c stuff get them to hook you up for a box of beer, these car systems only take a few 100g. With our big systems its acceptable to lose about 50g every time we check the pressures so what a car takes is nothing.

[DRFVDR]

Condenser/filter/watertrap needs to be replaced if there as been no gas in it for a length of time, it gets contaminated

[Andy_Mac]

I\'d disagree with replacing all that. All you\'d really need to do would be pressurise it to a couple of hundred psi and push any crap out and do a decent vac. Unless its been left with a component unsealed then maybe there is too much to deal with but chucking in a filter/drier is normally enough. If you think the contamination has effected the condenser enough to change then by that theory shouldn\'t the evap be changed aswell.

Although the price of a 2nd hand coil is potentially cheaper than the effort needed to clean out the old one.

As long as there is a couple of psi left in it it should stay uncontaminated. So really before going down the full replacement track they should crack one of the pipes and if any gas is still there then most components will be ok. The tx valve and solenoids are the only parts that will really struggle to deal with a small amount of contamination

[madmike]

They will replace the condenser if the compressor has shat itself

It will have pieces of compressor metal in it.

And receiver dryer change is a given...

Get is done properly first time. If you shortcut this job it can turn into something a lot worse down the track.

[madmike]

 Andy_Mac said:

I\'d disagree with replacing all that. All you\'d really need to do would be pressurise it to a couple of hundred psi and push any crap out and do a decent vac. Unless its been left with a component unsealed then maybe there is too much to deal with but chucking in a filter/drier is normally enough. If you think the contamination has effected the condenser enough to change then by that theory shouldn\'t the evap be changed aswell.

Although the price of a 2nd hand coil is potentially cheaper than the effort needed to clean out the old one.

As long as there is a couple of psi left in it it should stay uncontaminated. So really before going down the full replacement track they should crack one of the pipes and if any gas is still there then most components will be ok. The tx valve and solenoids are the only parts that will really struggle to deal with a small amount of contamination

Nope evaporate won\'t need to be changed. Remember your system design.. The receiver dryer would have caught anything

[tebbyj]

 madmike']

[quote name='Andy_Mac said:

I\'d disagree with replacing all that. All you\'d really need to do would be pressurise it to a couple of hundred psi and push any crap out and do a decent vac. Unless its been left with a component unsealed then maybe there is too much to deal with but chucking in a filter/drier is normally enough. If you think the contamination has effected the condenser enough to change then by that theory shouldn\'t the evap be changed aswell.

Although the price of a 2nd hand coil is potentially cheaper than the effort needed to clean out the old one.

As long as there is a couple of psi left in it it should stay uncontaminated. So really before going down the full replacement track they should crack one of the pipes and if any gas is still there then most components will be ok. The tx valve and solenoids are the only parts that will really struggle to deal with a small amount of contamination

/quote]

Nope evaporate won\'t need to be changed. Remember your system design.. The receiver dryer would have caught anything

When i brought my car the a/c wasnt working, dont know for how long it was out but would have been awhile because all the seals to the pump were leaking.

Just replaced the seals then vacuumed it to get all the crap out for 1/2 an hour then re-gassed been good for the last 3 months.

[Andy_Mac]

Don\'t know what kind of pressure\'s car refrig runs at but with commercial refrig after a compressor burn out we just change the drier and the pressure pushes any remaining crap along into the new drier and that gets changed again in a month or so, And when condensers can run into the tens of thousands its pretty hard convincing the customer they need to replace them just because of a little contamination.

[madmike]

 Andy_Mac said:

Don\'t know what kind of pressure\'s car refrig runs at but with commercial refrig after a compressor burn out we just change the drier and the pressure pushes any remaining crap along into the new drier and that gets changed again in a month or so, And when condensers can run into the tens of thousands its pretty hard convincing the customer they need to replace them just because of a little contamination.

Car a/c runs at the Same pressure as any commercial 134a system bro.

And yes generally after a burnout you change the burnout drier in the liquid line after a week then test an oil sample to check for further contamination.

But on a car a/c system it is cheaper and easier because of he small quantity of both oil and refrigerant to change both.

Although a flush with white spirits and a decent triple evacuation will most likely clear any contaminants from the system.

[Marky]

To be fair the groupon / groupy whatever deal a day deals tend to be a bit of a rort

The company doing them makes sweet f a out of it, they\'re trying to drum up business through repeats or like dirt cheap wofs, the add on work on top is what they are driving for. The coupon thing is damn near a free sample for them most of the time.

For $500 you could just buy yourself a working Subaru complete and resell minus air con for the same amount, hell wash it and make a quick buck on top haha