diy air con regassing

Check the GroupON website, they were doing a deal with ATS recently for regassing by ATS for £29.

I used a similar deal a year or so back, worked a treat.

Cheaper than a DIY kit.

air con leaks are usually found with a gas sniffer, or dye and UV light.

Get it recharged professionally with some leakage dye added, then when it next stops working you or they can find the leak. Incidentally I see more air con faults on fiesta, fusion and c max than on other models, most owners do not bother to get them fixed.

Out of interest, I've tended to assume the leaks are mainly 'slow' - unless there is a major failure. Is that valid?

Also, does there tend to be a common leak point across all systems (eg compressors) or do they vary?

As I've commented before, our Espace went 13 years before we sold it with no obvious loss of A/C performance. Our CRV about 9 years, then we had a regas and it has been OK since (another year / 18 mths or so- we know the new owner). Equally, our daughters VW needed regassing after a few years, lasted a year or so, and needs another one.

A quick leak will show during a refill session at the vacuuming out stage.

quick leaks are usually from the condenser by the radiator or a pipe cracking or rubbing through, most common leaks are just O rings at joints or fill valves, and they get faster as time goes by, compressor fault is not the most likely by any means.

Thank you.

I confess, I've never really explored the mysteries of A/C, mainly as ours haven't (touch wood as they say) given us (real) trouble. When we first got a car with A/C (our Espace), I was initially rather concerned re reliability. However, having enjoyed the benefits, I wouldn't be without it unless there was a good reason.

My astra H has been regassed twice in 18 months and doesn't work again. Tghe last time they put ?3 cc of indicator in as well.

Does this show up with UV light or Infra Red ?. Does it wash away during wet weather or is it very persistent.

I have an Infra red camera filter which looks almost like a strong ND filter that i could try in front of a Kryptonite torch ?.

Par for the course for a Vauxhall. "Sell it and buy a Ford" as they say.

UV You can get cheap UV torches on Ebay, sometimes sold for checking bank notes, sometimes sold as novelty key fobs.

You will probably see nothing in the IR and definitely nothing with what you are suggesting.

Your filter will pass near IR radiation and block most of the visible light but then you need a IR sensor to pick up the IR. You eye is not such a sensor - we cannot see IR such as the IR that comes out of the front of TV remote controls!

You can modify a digital camera by removing the IR blocking filter

In the days when 35mm colour film was widely used and you sent of your roll for developing the negative strip was returned with a few frames completely black. This can be used as an IR passing filter. I have a digital camera where I have removed the IR block filter and substituted the colour film IR pass filter to give a near IR camera.

Bullshit ?. This is the third Astra I have had and they proved very reliable on the whole. I've owned Dagenham dustbins before.

The first one had 96K on the clock at 7 years old but only cost me £800 and I dumped it 6 years later with 136K miles and hardly a penny spent.

The next was an Astra F estate that had 40K miles when I bought it at 4 years old and kept it for 13 years and again apart from a cambelt and a couple of lower wishbones (rubber joints) only routine servicing needed.

This is the first one with aircon though.

I had it serviced last week and took it back for a check today, there is a slight leak from the compressor. Mechanic says it's a difficult job as "the car was built around the compressor" and parts alone are £500 so as the car is 8 years old I'll probably do without.

AJH

If you are ever anywhere near North Kent ask Mark for a quote: