Fixing Air-Con Price ?

[venomx]

MK2 Yaris '08

Air Con light comes on but no cold air from it. Is it a big or expensive job to get a mechanic to fix ?

Not urgent right now but when I get some money saved up I'll consider getting it done

[Stivino]

There are so many thing it could be so, until you have the fault diagnosed nobody will be able to give you an estimate of what it will cost to repair it.

[Sooty]

1st thing I would do is to look at the cabin filter. If it is blocked or very dirty you will have no or little cooling and also possibly a smell like a wet dog.

[corradovr6]

if you look down into the engine bay just see if the centre bolt of the aircon compressor turns when you switch it on - might be easier with two people.  Switch the engine on, open the bonnet, get someone to switch on the compressor and observe the centre bolt.  If it turns you're compressor is not seized - good thing! Prob needs to be regassed.  

Ideally, take it to a regassing place and ask them to evacuate the system, and add a dye to the refrigerant during recharging.  The dye will help identify any leaks in the rad or elsewhere.  They will also add some oil to lube the seals in the system.

As mentioned above check the cabin filter is not blocked!

[Stivino]

1 hour ago, corradovr6 said:

ask them to evacuate the system, and add a dye to the refrigerant during recharging

They won't re-charge it if the evacuation test doesn't hold.

[TonyHSD]

Just book an appointment for ac regas, they will connect to automatic machine that will vacuum test it and if it’s pass will add gas and oil as required and you will have a working ac again. This procedure every 2-3 years, and pollen filter every 12 months or 10k miles. 👍

[Cyker]

Hopefully it wont be like the one in my Mk2!

That was an absolute *beep* show of incompetence by all the people involved! Started off with a small leak in the condenser, which was clearly visible under UV, so had that replaced, but then the AC stopped working again after 3 months, took it back, couldn't find any problems, took it to several places, all just regassed the system, couldn't find any problems, vacuum test showed system was good.

As a last resort, took it to my Toyota dealer, and after leaving it with them and paying the £150 diagnostic fee, they diagnosed the pipes were leaking, which I thought was a bit odd as there was no UV dye, and quoted me a third the value of the car to replace all of them; Wouldn't give a 100% guarantee (fair enough), but said they were as confident as they could be, and despite my misgivings I let them change them, not really having any other useful options left.

System to stopped working again after a week. Took it back and made them look at it again. Suddenly they found an issue with the condenser which was somehow overlooked in the original inspection, but when I pointed out it was brand new, they then assured me it was the AC compressor clutch, but the clutch was internal so the whole compressor required replacement. Having been caught up in the Don't Bother Actually Diagnosing And Guess The Part At The Customer's Expense game before, I asked them for evidence of either and when nothing substantial was forthcoming I asked them what they were going to do for me given such an abysmal demonstration of their diagnostic abilities, and eventually bargained them into refunding the cost of the 'repairs' and taking the Mk2 off the cost of the Mk4 I have now!

In hindsight I wish I'd then taken that deal to the other dealer to see if they'd beat or match it, as I feel like I was just rewarding this dealer for messing me about, but at the time I was so mad at them I wasn't thinking straight. Still, got a fully loaded Excel for the cost of an Icon so can't complain too much...  

 

[bathtub tom]

If it's not been working for some time, then its probably got water vapour in the system and a new dryer will be needed. The longer you leave an a/c sytem not working, the less likely you'll be able to afford all the parts needed to fix it.

[Cyker]

From my experience, this is absolutely true; I reckon the previous owner never used the AC at all so the system was utter banjaxed...

 

[TonyHSD]

I have not touched mine for over 3 months and I have used the other day, works as good as always. Every two to three years I do service gas and oil and summer time I use every day. No problems to date. I go usually to protyre auto centres, we have few of them around and the prices are ok https://www.protyre.co.uk 👍