Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Shackeng]

Quite fiddly getting rad out, but only 3 spanners difficult (Haynes scale). I'll let you know how the rest goes. I can say that the 3.2 seems slightly different to the 3.0 in the how-to, and will add amplifications on completion.

[pscocoa]

Having followed this thread with interest as I had planned to do all three of mine as the condensers are all original and are not holding the gas for very long....BUT....having seen how much patience is going to be needed to do the job then as I  have had a patience bypass it looks like they will be heading to the local A/C place in Slough,had a quote for £800 for each car.
Seems a lot but hey ho it's got to be worth it not to be involved

How much are parts of that quote?

[ted_one]

1 car examined for the quote and specified that it was the condensers on the three cars that were to be replaced,they said not a problem,and rang me later with a quote for the three jobs at £800-£850 per car to include new condensers/new seals/receiver/re-gas etc.Yes a lot of money and normally I would try to get Daz to do them but I'm back working full time and can't afford the time going up too him,and also I don't want my cars in pieces on my drive when I find out that I've bitten off more than I can chew in a diy attempt. Rule one..know your own capabilities.Rule two recognise that I will undoubtably cock it up and pay even more than originally quoted

[Andy B]

1 car examined for the quote and specified that it was the condensers on the three cars that were to be replaced,they said not a problem,and rang me later with a quote for the three jobs at £800-£850 per car to include new condensers/new seals/receiver/re-gas etc.Yes a lot of money and normally I would try to get Daz to do them but I'm back working full time and can't afford the time going up too him,and also I don't want my cars in pieces on my drive when I find out that I've bitten off more than I can chew in a diy attempt. Rule one..know your own capabilities.Rule two recognise that I will undoubtably cock it up and pay even more than originally quoted

I completely understand, but it still seems very expensive to me.
IIRC my condenser & drier were around £250 via a link from Mark ( ....... cue RobG  ) and a couple of hours fitting it. Fiddly in places maybe, but not hard.

[RobG]

1 car examined for the quote and specified that it was the condensers on the three cars that were to be replaced,they said not a problem,and rang me later with a quote for the three jobs at £800-£850 per car to include new condensers/new seals/receiver/re-gas etc.Yes a lot of money and normally I would try to get Daz to do them but I'm back working full time and can't afford the time going up too him,and also I don't want my cars in pieces on my drive when I find out that I've bitten off more than I can chew in a diy attempt. Rule one..know your own capabilities.Rule two recognise that I will undoubtably cock it up and pay even more than originally quoted

I completely understand, but it still seems very expensive to me.
IIRC my condenser & drier were around £250 via a link from Mark ( ....... cue RobG  ) and a couple of hours fitting it. Fiddly in places maybe, but not hard.

Just over £100 http://www.carcooling.co.uk/products/Condenser_Vauxhall_Omega_B_All_cc_1999_03_09_99_08_03_All_Man_Auto_PF_system_622_432_25mm_1850049_15OL329-120655-2348.html

So 3 cars app £300
3 x re-gas app £150
£450 is a hell of a difference to £2400-2500

[Andy B]

1 car examined for the quote and specified that it was the condensers on the three cars that were to be replaced,they said not a problem,and rang me later with a quote for the three jobs at £800-£850 per car to include new condensers/new seals/receiver/re-gas etc.Yes a lot of money and normally I would try to get Daz to do them but I'm back working full time and can't afford the time going up too him,and also I don't want my cars in pieces on my drive when I find out that I've bitten off more than I can chew in a diy attempt. Rule one..know your own capabilities.Rule two recognise that I will undoubtably cock it up and pay even more than originally quoted

I completely understand, but it still seems very expensive to me.
IIRC my condenser & drier were around £250 via a link from Mark ( ....... cue RobG  ) and a couple of hours fitting it. Fiddly in places maybe, but not hard.

Just over £100 http://www.carcooling.co.uk/products/Condenser_Vauxhall_Omega_B_All_cc_1999_03_09_99_08_03_All_Man_Auto_PF_system_622_432_25mm_1850049_15OL329-120655-2348.html

So 3 cars app £300
3 x re-gas app £150
£450 is a hell of a difference to £2400-2500

Your links rings a bell  perhaps it was my compressor that was £250   

[RobG]

1 car examined for the quote and specified that it was the condensers on the three cars that were to be replaced,they said not a problem,and rang me later with a quote for the three jobs at £800-£850 per car to include new condensers/new seals/receiver/re-gas etc.Yes a lot of money and normally I would try to get Daz to do them but I'm back working full time and can't afford the time going up too him,and also I don't want my cars in pieces on my drive when I find out that I've bitten off more than I can chew in a diy attempt. Rule one..know your own capabilities.Rule two recognise that I will undoubtably cock it up and pay even more than originally quoted

I completely understand, but it still seems very expensive to me.
IIRC my condenser & drier were around £250 via a link from Mark ( ....... cue RobG  ) and a couple of hours fitting it. Fiddly in places maybe, but not hard.

Just over £100 http://www.carcooling.co.uk/products/Condenser_Vauxhall_Omega_B_All_cc_1999_03_09_99_08_03_All_Man_Auto_PF_system_622_432_25mm_1850049_15OL329-120655-2348.html

So 3 cars app £300
3 x re-gas app £150
£450 is a hell of a difference to £2400-2500

Your links rings a bell  perhaps it was my compressor that was £250   

Sounds about right

[Shackeng]

1 car examined for the quote and specified that it was the condensers on the three cars that were to be replaced,they said not a problem,and rang me later with a quote for the three jobs at £800-£850 per car to include new condensers/new seals/receiver/re-gas etc.Yes a lot of money and normally I would try to get Daz to do them but I'm back working full time and can't afford the time going up too him,and also I don't want my cars in pieces on my drive when I find out that I've bitten off more than I can chew in a diy attempt. Rule one..know your own capabilities.Rule two recognise that I will undoubtably cock it up and pay even more than originally quoted

I really found it not difficult to remove the condenser, fiddly, yes, but nothing terribly difficult. I took about two hours - with breaks to ask for advice on here, (Thanks again Rob and others), - to drain the coolant, remove the bagpipes, remove the air intake box ( easier access to bottom rad pipe), then remove the main radiator, then condenser. Once these are all out, the compressor is also easily accessible, and despite my concerns, I removed it in about 30 minutes. I am 77 this year so if I find it easy.......

[ted_one]

I agree that it may be a fairly straight forward procedure...but I really dont want to spend my time chasing my tail with something that just may in my case turn out to be a cock up.So in all honesty I wont be going there,but more power to you for having a go and as you can see you'll be saving a shed load of money by doing it yourself

[jb]

Yes,agree with others here 850 per car is rather rich since the parts cost is 100 max,a regas is typically 50 quid so there is what looks like 700 quid of labour for 2-3 hours work......
This is not a specialised job and most small garages have the ability to regas so I would say shop around for the labour element supplying the condensor yourself from the link earlier.

[Shackeng]

I agree that it may be a fairly straight forward procedure...but I really dont want to spend my time chasing my tail with something that just may in my case turn out to be a cock up.So in all honesty I wont be going there,but more power to you for having a go and as you can see you'll be saving a shed load of money by doing it yourself

The big difference - apart from massive savings - is you know if it is done properly!!!

[ted_one]

Certainly will shop around for more quotes,but even the local aircon guy with a small unit on a farm near me makes no secret that he charges £110 an hour on A/C jobs

[Andy B]

Certainly will shop around for more quotes,but even the local aircon guy with a small unit on a farm near me makes no secret that he charges £110 an hour on A/C jobs

MB always charge that!