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Gunner

Air Con needs regas or replacement?

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Okay well since my I got my BMW i haven't really been bothered with getting the air con checked since it was winter when I bought it and there wasn't really much need for it except for de-misting the windscreen. But now a couple months of summer has made me think its time to get something done about it. Currently it blows out kind of warm air. Does this suggest it needs to be re-gassed or would it suggest I need replacement parts.

Cheers

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I'd take it to an aircon shop, they'll be able to test it for leaks and re-gas it, or let you know if theres some other fault with it, my money is on the gas though

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I took my mothers 320i to an air con place. They did the mandatory checking phase, which amongst other things is a leak test, basically they put a dye in there with a tonne of pressure and see where the dye leaks out, if it does. If you are fine, they can go ahead and just fill it up, the good places check ya hoses and condition of the air con pump etc etc.

But beware, I had them look at Mums car and they said it had a leak, lets just say it was inside the cabin, which required the entire dash to come out and the whole system needed to be rebuilt, I pulled the dash apart and it was fine, no dye and after pushin through a tonne of compressed air myself realised nothing was wrong with it at all, well not in regards to leaks.

To cut a long story short, I got it filled somewhere else on the cheap and it has been fine ever since.

Moral of the story, there are still rip off merchants out there willing to rip you off. Pulling apart the dash off an e36 is time consuming and there are better ways to spend your time, so I was pissed.

By the way they were going to have to order parts and take the car for days and all the other bull that legitimised their story oh and quoted 1700 to do it. Oh yeah the greatest line of them all...if there is no gas in there, there MUST be a leak...which is only partially true, there are other reasons why you may not have gas in there.

Get a third or fourth opinion, it may cost you, but it may cost you much more if you dont.

cool yea will do. Just looking for a local place to take my car to now. Cheers

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I took my mothers 320i to an air con place. They did the mandatory checking phase, which amongst other things is a leak test, basically they put a dye in there with a tonne of pressure and see where the dye leaks out, if it does. If you are fine, they can go ahead and just fill it up, the good places check ya hoses and condition of the air con pump etc etc.

But beware, I had them look at Mums car and they said it had a leak, lets just say it was inside the cabin, which required the entire dash to come out and the whole system needed to be rebuilt, I pulled the dash apart and it was fine, no dye and after pushin through a tonne of compressed air myself realised nothing was wrong with it at all, well not in regards to leaks.

To cut a long story short, I got it filled somewhere else on the cheap and it has been fine ever since.

Moral of the story, there are still rip off merchants out there willing to rip you off. Pulling apart the dash off an e36 is time consuming and there are better ways to spend your time, so I was pissed.

By the way they were going to have to order parts and take the car for days and all the other bull that legitimised their story oh and quoted 1700 to do it. Oh yeah the greatest line of them all...if there is no gas in there, there MUST be a leak...which is only partially true, there are other reasons why you may not have gas in there.

Get a third or fourth opinion, it may cost you, but it may cost you much more if you dont.

Yeap a second opinion when you dont know the cause of the problem is always a good idea. and if they are confliciting get a third. applies to all things like this, not just your aircon

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Thanks for that. Yea don't really want to be paying peopel to rip the dash out to find no problem. Haven't gotten around to it yet but found a local place on wairau road that mite be able to do it just need to find some time and drop in and ask. Anyone tried those mobile services? or are they just for building air con?

Edited by Brenton

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If the place in Wairau is Cool Car, I had the M3s aircon refurbed there (pump was knackered). Dave, who owns it, is 100% honest IMHO.

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If the place in Wairau is Cool Car, I had the M3s aircon refurbed there (pump was knackered). Dave, who owns it, is 100% honest IMHO.

+1... I know Dave very well and can recommend him

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sweet. will def be taking my car there to get it checked out. Thanks for the the info everyone

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