Anyone here know owt about aircon?

As someone who needs another refill, I'd say finding slow leaks is the biggest problem. :(

On the contrary. I don't think it will be difficult. Just fiddly and time consuming. As for rebuilding a compressor. I've never done one but I can see at least two potential problems. The first is that the seals might not be available to personal buyers, as was the case with p/s racks some years ago. The second is that it might be a sealed unit. IOW parts of it could be spun together, meaning that to take it apart the joint has to be destroyed. Which is OK if you have replacement parts, but can make it difficult from a DIY POV. If I were going to try it, I'd get a knackered one from a scrappy first to find out how it was made, and check on the availability and price of spares. You might find it easier, with less hassle, to just buy a reconned unit. Mike.

My dad's mechanic knows the local air con people. I suppose I'll be able to find out from them what the golf compressor's like. OTOH, I think the citigolf uses the same parts so I should be able to get a recon or second hand unit cheap from south africa.