Air Conditioning and HVAC system

928 A/C problems and the fix

These systems are becoming old now and are almost bound to have been ‘charged’ with gas at least once in their lives. The ‘O’ rings perish with time, and the very hot engine bay gives the flexible pipes a lot of grief. There are three flexible sections, the two going to and from the compressor, and one section at the dryer end of the solid feed pipe to the expansion valve. After a period of time these tubes become porous and the gas permeates through. This type of loss will be very gradual (as long as there is no damage) and result in a gradual reduction in cooling efficiency. In this case a recharge of gas is the best option as the two compressor hoses (part solid, part flexible) cost approx £200 each from an OPC and the other pipe replacement requires the engine to come out!

IJust to shock you with a few other prices:- if you need from an OPC                                                                        a new compressor you can kiss goodbye to £1500                                                                                                     A new condenser will set you back between £400 and £500 (Man or Auto)                                                            A new evaporator                                             £600+                                                                                                   A new expansion valve                                     £115                                                                                                    A new Dryer/receiver                                       £125             And all these prices are exclusive of VAT! 

Add in the OPC labour charges and it is easy to see why people either spend a fortune to fix the system, accept that they re-gass it for £80 each year, or just forget it and live with no Air/Con or climate control.

The HVAC system is controlled by solenoid triggered vacuum operated flaps, and any weakness in the vacuum pipework, vac reservoir, vacuum manifold, vacuum actuators, solenoids, temperature sensors (2) or climate controller will upset the whole system. A weak engine vacuum will really cause problems.

The Fix

We are offering a complete service to sort out as much, or as little of the climate control system. To identify what the problems in your system are we can perform a health check. This involves a diagnostic leak check on the engine vacuum system, the vacuum reservoir and the HVAC vacuum manifold. We then check the operation of the vacuum flaps, temperature sensors, and temperature controller. Assuming the A/C is not working we will check it electrically, and assuming the gas pressure is low or non existing, we will drop out the remaining gas, charge it with R22 (diclorodifloro ethane) and increase the system pressure with nitrogen, and establish the location of the leaks  (R22 is very easy to ‘sniff’ with a special device).

You will get a report detailing the problems. Cost £120 and will take 1 day.

Should you then carry on and have some or all of the problems fixed, £40 will be deducted from the health check price. Any work from then on will be charged at £35/hr.

We can supply OEM parts at reduced prices, or pattern parts at even more of a reduction. For instance, some typical prices:   (Parts only) 

New compressor                                         £870.00

Exchange rebuilt compressor complete   £450.00        Compressor re-seal     £240.00

Condenser      (S4)             Man(Auto)      £295.00 (£325.00) After market £220.00 (£250.00) 

Receiver /Dryer (essential replacement) £75.00

Evaporator                         Pattern               £430.00

Re-Gas system                                            £65.00

We are currently trying to source replacement hoses and various other parts.

I will need the car in either Devizes or Poole and expect a complete system sort to take between 2 and 4 days depending on component sourcing.

Contact Richard Armstrong of Ritech Systems on 01380 818094 for more details                                            or email richard@ritech-systems.com