noticed today the aircon in the FFRR is not even cool, maybe slightly cooler than outside, but it certainly doesnt cool the cabin at all. Are all regas services the same? Ive seen prices vary from £30 to £80+ so unsure of where to go for it?

Somewhere like kwik fit and deal with the spotty school leaver, or an aircon specialist who may charge twice the price?

Any advice greatly appreciated guys, I'm on the Herts/Essex border if that helps

Spotty "fitter" will do a fair job as the machine does it all as long as the correct vehicle is entered.

Should you have a bigger problem then a expert will be the way to go.

If you don't think there are any other problems i.e. no funny yellow patches or wet looking joints on the A/C pipes a simple refill should do the job, provided it has been cooling well up to now.

Halfords were recently doing a £30 recharge while u wait in the car park. No appointment and the whole thing took just 10 mins. Beats all the other aircon pros who said I had to book, leave it with them for a couple of hours and wanted £50!

Well done halfords I say! (and that was just a shop, not the garage type of halfords)

Halfords Autocentrres also do a complete EMPTY/CLEAN/RECHARGE service for about £45 using the very latest equipment.

As said depends on why the level of gas has gone down to start with. As its a sealed system it shouldn't drop, but they do, and anyone with a proper machine will try to draw a vacuum first. This will show up any leaks. If it is all good then this is where a cheapo refil is fine.

Next stage would be to inject an UV dye into the system and put it under positive pressure, this will show where the leaks are. You are then at the mercy of whatever component you need to seal the system up again. At this point a more specialised centre will be best, do you really want the spotty 17yo at halfords trying to diagnose a condenser with a hole or a duff dryer.....

I would let the chap at halfords have a go, if it draws a vacuum, all good, if not then Iirc they won't charge you and you can see a specialist. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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^+1 for above NMJ

I was told by my local mobile air con guy that the early BMW rangies had a very small capacity of refrigerant which meant that they need re-gassing more often than the later ones which had two separate systems ( one for the back seats?)

Even with a good vacuum mine seems to lose gas over time with no obvious leaks ? I have mine redone every 18 months 2003 Vogue 4.4 V8 Java Black

had mine done at halfords autocentre in april its still ice cold so it was 45quid well spent ps its on 24/7 winter spring autum summer

Dolphinboy wrote:

Halfords were recently doing a £30 recharge while u wait in the car park. No appointment and the whole thing took just 10 mins. Beats all the other aircon pros who said I had to book, leave it with them for a couple of hours and wanted £50!

Well done halfords I say! (and that was just a shop, not the garage type of halfords)

Had SWMBOs skoda done at kwikkies. took about 40 mins i think, the machine did a full purge of the system, then a leak test before filling it with gas. All automatic plug and play for the guys there.

was pretty cold after, though the car has now gone, it was another job ticked off the list..... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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AFAIK a leak test is compulsory before a re-gas. It is a legal requirement here in France and i thought throughout Europe. It makes sense as there seems little point in puting environmentally dangerous gases into a leaking system.. John
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in the UK it is illegal to knowing allow R341a (or any a/c gas) to escape into the atmosphere

everyone doing any work on a aircon system should be F gas registered, but alot are not

A/C recon should take 30+ at the very least

northernmonkeyjones wrote:

As said depends on why the level of gas has gone down to start with. As its a sealed system it shouldn't drop, but they do, and anyone with a proper machine will try to draw a vacuum first. This will show up any leaks. If it is all good then this is where a cheapo refil is fine.

Next stage would be to inject an UV dye into the system and put it under positive pressure, this will show where the leaks are. You are then at the mercy of whatever component you need to seal the system up again. At this point a more specialised centre will be best, do you really want the spotty 17yo at halfords trying to diagnose a condenser with a hole or a duff dryer.....

I would let the chap at halfords have a go, if it draws a vacuum, all good, if not then Iirc they won't charge you and you can see a specialist.

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Tuts wrote:

I was told by my local mobile air con guy that the early BMW rangies had a very small capacity of refrigerant which meant that they need re-gassing more often than the later ones which had two separate systems ( one for the back seats?)

Even with a good vacuum mine seems to lose gas over time with no obvious leaks ? I have mine redone every 18 months

Don't think that's right.. I was told they use a lot of gas...

When I had mine done last it over 10 minutes to evacuate the system before filling, the whole thing took just over 30 minutes to do... And then it naffed up again 3 months later

In the end I got a can of A/C leak sealer and a can of top up gas from halfauds and did it myself, I caused no end of objections on here when I did... being accused of bodging the whole thing... still working 14 months later !

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Cheers guys, due to the recent weather change a re-gas has been bumped down the 'to do list' by a new number 1 priority, heated steering wheel not working (well, lighting up for a split second the going off again).