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My BiL needs to re-gas the Air Con on my old 3 series...he has had an offer from a BMW dealer to have it done for £94.00 including gas and VAT. Is this a good deal ?. Apparantly the menu price is in the region of £164.00. Would he better getting quotes from an indie?
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Teeside Autotech wanted £65 to do mine, so whilst he could get it done for a fair bit less, I don't think the price is totally criminal.
Especially as if they manage to balls it up (don't know how but you never know) he has a main dealer to go back to.
£164 is a totally criminal price though.
Blue
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I agree with Blue. It's a bit steep, but not astronomical. There's a guy round here who does it for £50, but most places I've heard of charge around £60-70.
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Yeah my gut reaction was that it wasn't too bad a price. Probably find out the parts department have over ordered on the gas and need to get shot of some of it before their next audit so they're knocking it out cheap!
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Yes, definately. Try an independent, use the yellow pages. I was told by a main BMW dealer my 323E46 BMW needed regassing @ £90. I called in at a local airconditioning specialist (this was the sort of company that did mainly agricultural stuff and refrigerated truck call outs - but the systems are the same) they have a piece of kit that pumps out the gas,checks the weight, and repumps into the system. He charged £30 inc VAT and told me the system was fine.(it was) and that the charge would be the same if the gas needed replacing (just add the gas cost).
He also said that as long as you keep the a/c on all the time and run it on full cold every week there was no maintenance required to the system and if it was working ok then don't fix it ! (some main dealers recommend you have a/c "serviced")
If you are near Gloucestershire by any chance I can give you the name of the company.
In fact my a/c was working perfectly and the problem (hot air mixed with cold air coming through the vents when system set to full cold 16degC)was a stuck heater/water valve.(cost £60 to replace at independent BMW garage). The main dealer had told me
that "the system needs regassing (@£90) before we can even do the diagnostic checks but it is almost certainly the main control panel and they are about £300, and we can't look at the car again for 3 weeks"
I really wish I could name and shame these dealers.....
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Jacks post does contain a very good tip there, if you do decide to search for an independant - don't limit yourself to Vehicle AC specialists. From what I've heard, most building ACers have the equipment to re-gas car systems too, and theyare often willing to do the job for you at a much more reasonable cost, since it's just a side issue to them, rather than their main source of income.
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Jacks, I live in south Gloucestershire, a local company name would be useful.
I use similar equipment at work on refrigeration systems but vehicle air con controls/safety systems are different, I will have to educate myself.
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To mjm
Agricultural & Mobile Air Conditioning Ltd
Unit 19-20, Spring Mill Ind Est, Avening Rd, Nailsworth, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 0BS
Tel: 01453 832884
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Must be the season? I have a sneaky suspicion that SWMBOs 330 needs a re-charge since the air isn't as cold as I think it should be. So I called Victoria BMW Milton Keynes for a price on re-charge/sanitization and they quoted £130 (ALL inc.). I then called 'PCS' - an Independant specialising in BMW/Merc/etc. and they wanted £90 (inc VAT) for the re-chage and half hours labour to 'sanitise' the system - their total cost? £140. Silly money. I'm going to call round a few BMW dealers to see if I could get it cheaper as I don't trust many of these third party companies. Perhaps I am paranoid, but there you go.
I would prefer to take it to a main dealer, because if they do screw up (I'm sure they could!) I will have recourse either on the day, or at any time after the event.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Well, it's your money/choice - but it is so simple to regas the system. there are 2 connectors (one large.one small = fail safe)
They simply connect to the 2 connectors/valves and pump out the gas and repump in new, guages tell them how much volume.
When you say "don't trust 3rd party companies", they are in fact specialists, thats all they do all day ..............its the BMW dealers that are not the specialists in a/c, just specialists in ripping off.
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Thanks all. Will be trawling the Yellows for her for an independant. (BiL is away sunning himself courtesy of the tax-payer.)
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If it has no (or very litte) gas in it, then you have a leak.
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It seems to function as well as it ever did from new (as does th rest of the car - still using no oil....now with 150k up). Does one leave it alone if it seems to work ok ?
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Just had the air-con serviced on my wife's Toyota Corolla 1.4 today at main dealer, Toll House Horsham. Removed old gas and then regas, lubricating oil, new pollen filter and anti-bacteria treatment all for £89.99. I think that to be a fair price for a main dealer.
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Last time I had the a/c looked at by a main dealer, they didn't do it themselves, but called in an auto a/c specialist to look at it. Seems as though I should have simply looked in the yellow pages for him. It would have saved me a few £££,
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Well, it's your money/choice - but it is so simple to regas the system.
>>
Well a dip sample of a few Third Party A/C 'specialists' reveals a price of about £60'ish for the re-charging plus £30 for 'sanitizing' the system. I'm paying £130 to a BMW main dealer - to my mind, it's very cost effective and whenever you tell people voe the phone you have a BMW - they themselves think 'kerching' and quote a 'heavier' price for the work ;)
Unless an Indy comes in @ <£50 I'm sticking with BMW.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Well, it's your money/choice - but it is so simple to regas the system. there are 2 connectors (one large.one small = fail safe) They simply connect to the 2 connectors/valves and pump out the gas and repump in new, guages tell them how much volume. When you say "don't trust 3rd party companies", they are in fact specialists, thats all they do all day ..............its the BMW dealers that are not the specialists in a/c, just specialists in ripping off.
The 2 connectors you refer to are low side and high side. They are in fact both the same size Schradder valves and it is very important they are connected correctly for safety reasons and not least to prevent wrecking the a/c.
A specialist will also pressure test the system after removing the gas to test for leaks. The rig filters the gas before putting it back in and the correct amount of castor oil will be added along with any extra gas that may be needed.
Finally, running the a/c regularly only circulates the lube oil and prevents corrosion of the components and the compressor and stops the seals drying out. It does not gaurantee that you will not lose gas. This can happen over time. My Range Rover was done for £75 at a main dealer and it was low on gas but no leaks were found.
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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It is nearly thirty years now since I worked in a automotive hose company but the standard advice then was replace any aircon hoses at the same time as you get the system regassed. When it gets refilled is when any hoses that are suspect will blow. I doubt if that has changed over the years.
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To Jacks.
Thanks very much, Nailsworth is just over the hill to me. Very local.
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