Buying a van

[KungFooBob]

Take it to an aircon refill place. It'll cost £45.

They do a drain down and leak test before filling. It there's a leak they won't go ahead with the refill and most won't charge.

Chances are it just needs regassing.

[Mr. Dazzle]

If a regas doesn't help they take the gas back out IME, then charge you way less.

[Count Steer]

Take it to an aircon refill place. It'll cost £45.

They do a drain down and leak test before filling. It there's a leak they won't go ahead with the refill and most won't charge.

Chances are it just needs regassing.

Never worked this one out - if it needs regassing and there's no leak, where's the gas gone?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Often there's no lack of gas and there's something else wrong

"Just needs a regas" seems to be something of a standard refrain.

[Count Steer]

If a regas doesn't help they take the gas back out IME, then charge you way less.

Ah, that's what they did with mine last time. The time before that they added the dye as mentioned ^^^^. (It did leak and they found it).

When it happened on the MX5 it needed new everything (but they got recon units and it saved £££s).

[Yorick]

Our motor is 6 year old and has air-conditioning on every day. Still not needed gassing.

[MyLittleStudPony]

It's the old* R1234YF gas so a regas is about £135.

Can I see if the compressor is trying by listening?


*rather new. I think all cars from 2017 have this, more expensive, gas.

[MrLongbeard]

Our motor is 6 year old and has air-conditioning on every day. Still not needed gassing.

Pffft, mine is 12 years old, and has the air con on every time it's used, it's had one top up of gas.

[Count Steer]

Our motor is 6 year old and has air-conditioning on every day. Still not needed gassing.

Pffft, mine is 12 years old, and has the air con on every time it's used, it's had one top up of gas.

When we got our first MX5 the air con was fitted after the vehicle shipped to the UK - and that was the one that went kaput. The later MX5s had it installed in Japan and never had a problem with them.

The Volvo needed attention around the 180k mark (and it was never switched off - it's been on all the time in every car we've had with it fitted - climate control thermostats ).

[Felix]

Re gassed the last car myself with a Halfords kit. Easy enough and only needed half the gas so getting two fill ups for your money.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I sold this recently. My oldest (and his g/f) don't come nearly so often so I don't really need it any more.

I'd had it almost two years. Took a c.£10k hit which is so much more than any other vehicle I've bought and sold. I think people became aware the wetbelt was an issue during my stewardship and that made prices fall a bit more than they might have otherwise.

[Wossname]

A £10k hit in less than 2 years would focus the mind! I can’t see what you could have done about that, apart from not buy it, or not sell it.

[weeksy]

A £10k hit in less than 2 years would focus the mind! I can’t see what you could have done about that, apart from not buy it, or not sell it.

Mine has taken the same hit, but i've put 75,000 on the clocks and owned for 3 years, taking from 42,000 to nearly 120,000 and counting. So my loss is partly/mostly justified and OK. At the end of the day you can't own a vehicle and stack the miles on it and expect not to lose.
I love my Transit though

[MrLongbeard]

With the reported reliability issues of wet belts and the £1k+ cost to change them they'll do more for the EV cause than anything else.