air con urgent help needed

[lowndsie]

whilst trying to remove the motor i undid the wrong screw and all the gas from the air con leaked out.....does it just need a re gas now or do u think i've bugggered it more????

[Tiny]

do the bolt up and regas....no reason it would be stuffed.....hope it wasn't CFC crap expect around $100.00 for regas at the auto sparky

[Tas_Dean]

You don't actually say what type of refrigerant your system uses. (will depend on how old the system is).
If the system is R134A (there will be a sticker somewhere near the system) then all you will have to do is take your car to an automotive aircon place, and they will probably put a new seal on whatever you undid, top up the oil in the system (some would have come out with the refrigerant), evacuate the system and put in a new charge of refrigerant. I know what I'd charge to do it, but I have no idea what you will get charged! Probably somewhere in the vacinity of $200.

If the system uses R12, then it is illegal to refill the system, therefore they will have to change all the seals, the TXvalve or capillary tubing, completely change the compressor oil, and then evacuate and fill with R134A. Likely to cost a fair bit more! (have you thought about an onboard air setup?????)

There will not be any damage to the aircon system, except perhaps a blown seal!

Hope this helps,
Dean

[lowndsie]

thanx guys. it's an 95 daihatsu feroza so i'm not sure what sort of system it has. the air con was never really that cold to start with so i was more concerned about the chance of damaging something major.

Anyway, better keep on going cause the motor aint gunna take itself out.

thanx again

[Tas_Dean]

being a '95 model it should be R134A, therefore shouldn't cost you too much. Don't try to hide the fact that you undid something by accident, far better to have it properly resealed, therefore reducing the chances of later leaks.
Tell them it wasn't very cold to start with, they may be able to find some other leaks!

Cheers,
Deaan

[Tiny]

being a '95 model it should be R134A, therefore shouldn't cost you too much. Don't try to hide the fact that you undid something by accident, far better to have it properly resealed, therefore reducing the chances of later leaks.
Tell them it wasn't very cold to start with, they may be able to find some other leaks!

Cheers,
Deaan

It cost a little more but they can run a dei through to find leaks....how long since last rgas coz if it was some years ago then it would be normal for the thing to have lost enough gas to be not cooling effectivly

[Tas_Dean]

It cost a little more but they can run a dei through to find leaks....how long since last rgas coz if it was some years ago then it would be normal for the thing to have lost enough gas to be not cooling effectivly

Tiny, Most compressor manufacturers do not recommend the use of dyes. An electronic refrigerant detector (costs between $600 and $1000 to buy) is more effective than dye anyway. It's been a couple of years since I did any refrigeration, but from memory the detector will detect a leak as small as 10grams of refrigerant a year!

No refrigerant system should leak or "lose" any gas unless there is a leak, certainly a car should not lose effectiveness in ten years without having a leak somewhere. However, leaks do sometimes happen in vehicles when you factor in vibration.

[lowndsie]

i've only just owned it for 12 months so not sure when it was done last. I couldn't find a sticker anywhere to indicate what system it is. I guess once everything is back in place i'll get it quoted and go from there.

[Tiny]

It cost a little more but they can run a dei through to find leaks....how long since last rgas coz if it was some years ago then it would be normal for the thing to have lost enough gas to be not cooling effectivly

Tiny, Most compressor manufacturers do not recommend the use of dyes. An electronic refrigerant detector (costs between $600 and $1000 to buy) is more effective than dye anyway. It's been a couple of years since I did any refrigeration, but from memory the detector will detect a leak as small as 10grams of refrigerant a year!

No refrigerant system should leak or "lose" any gas unless there is a leak, certainly a car should not lose effectiveness in ten years without having a leak somewhere. However, leaks do sometimes happen in vehicles when you factor in vibration.

Prolly two years ago I got a car tested this way, so i was working off that........I have allways understood that over 6-10 yrs the refrigerent will need to be redone as there is a small use of refrigerant, but I am happy to be told other wise.....cheaper for me!!!

[Tas_Dean]

Tiny, A lot of refrigeration places try to tell you things like that, so you come back every two years for a "service" where they park your car on the floor, hook up a set of gauges (you lose refrigerant every time a set of gauges is hooked up) test the pressure, charge you a hundred dollars and send you on your way!

I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I had done this to my customers!

Cheers,

Dean

[MQ SWB]

Just a quick one to check what gas your using check the drier which is normally located behind the grill it will normally tell you what gas your using, also don't be told that refrigerant gas gets old and goes off, this just means that they want more money.

Dixie