Help please - air con gas and lubrication fluid specs needed

[cfc2000]

Hope someone can help. I've just been to Stockport Kwik Fit to have my Bongo aircon re-gassed. At first there was the usual "It's an import and we don't do them", but then they saw the connections were standard. They bottled out because the vehicle isn't on their database. I showed them the Bongofury fact sheet saying that the dual unit Bongo takes up to 950g, but then they said there were three types of lubricating oil, and they needed to know how much, and which type. I trawled the internet but can find no joy. Some people seem happy with "best guess" but Kwik Fit in Stockport are not happy with this approach. Unless they know exactly what gas (that's on the fact sheet, R134a), what quantity (950g), and what type and quantity of lubricant (can't find that!) they won't do it. I vaguely recall reading a post that gave these details but I cannot find it despite four hours of various searching through forums.
Can anybody help? It's not on the fact sheet. Thanks.

[missfixit70]

14 ml pag 46 oil - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ilit=pag46

[steviebongo]

on the oil front it depends on a few things ,if u are replacing a pump for instance it would be a lot more than 14ml, when u do a recharge it depends wether the machine has taken any oot any or if u have changed a component in the system it varies. the machine we use collects any oil recovered during the drain operation ,thus when u recharge the system u can refill with that amount if u no what i mean.


cheers stevie.

[mikeonb4c]

Stunning advice all round

All that to the factsheet......quick

[cfc2000]

Many thanks to Kirsty and Stevie for this information. I will get back to Kwik Fit (Buxton Road, Stockport) with the information and the Bongo today. Perhaps they could even forward the information to their head office so it can be put on the database. Not that I really blame them for not attempting to carry out a job without the correct information. Far better than the other way round - using the oil they happen to have in, whatever the spec, and guessing at the quantity.
Thanks again you good people.

[phiiiiil]

A semi-related aside:

I took my Focus to Kwikfit (I keep calling it Kwiksave, bah!) to get the aircon regassed; they would have charged £45 but the system had a leak so they didn't do anything but recommended I get an aircon specialist to look at it.

Fearing a massive hit on the wallet I called a chap out; he took about an hour to diagnose the problem (a holed condenser), then after I had replaced the condenser he took about two hours to thoroughly test the system, re-oil, regas and whatnot, all while being very open about what he was doing - I know far more about aircon systems now than I did before!

For all that time he charged me £55 - just a tenner more than what Kwikfit were going to charge for just plugging a machine in and pressing "go". He also did everything with the car sat on my drive, on a Sunday morning and then a Tuesday evening, so it required minimal faffing on my part.

When I next need an aircon system looking I'll be straight back to an aircon specialist rather than a normal garage.

Phil

[mikeonb4c]

A semi-related aside:

I took my Focus to Kwikfit (I keep calling it Kwiksave, bah!) to get the aircon regassed; they would have charged £45 but the system had a leak so they didn't do anything but recommended I get an aircon specialist to look at it.

Fearing a massive hit on the wallet I called a chap out; he took about an hour to diagnose the problem (a holed condenser), then after I had replaced the condenser he took about two hours to thoroughly test the system, re-oil, regas and whatnot, all while being very open about what he was doing - I know far more about aircon systems now than I did before!

For all that time he charged me £55 - just a tenner more than what Kwikfit were going to charge for just plugging a machine in and pressing "go". He also did everything with the car sat on my drive, on a Sunday morning and then a Tuesday evening, so it required minimal faffing on my part.

When I next need an aircon system looking I'll be straight back to an aircon specialist rather than a normal garage.

Phil

Its an interesting tale. I did likewise when I was about to buy the Bongo and the vendor said the aircon just needed regassing (in fact it had a corroded pipe, which luckily the vendor was able to get fixed before hte sale).

But since Kwikfit is a no fix / no pay scheme (and an independent guy will usually want some kind of payment for coming out) then it seems worth it for simple regassing. If they find there's a bigger fault, its cost you nothing to have them find it and you can then get the specialist in.

[cfc2000]

Thanks for the information and a post just to let those who helped know how I got on. I took my Bongo back to Kwikfit in Stockport and they successfully re-gassed it for £45 inc VAT. On the other matter, I took my SEAT to another KwikFit who diagnosed a leak and charged me nothing. I contacted Aircool, who are a reputable company and they wanted £75 just to diagnose the issue. I think I'll get a UV lamp and look for the leak myself. You can be lucky and get a decent air conditioning specialist to come out, but that has not been my experience. I can see that KwikFit just have the franchise and some basic training to operate the machine, but provided there's nothing unusual about the system, they should be able to do a passable job. A couple of DIY aerosol cans from ebay will cost £30 or so, and I've heard mixed reports on how successful these are. So I'm reasonably happy with the job Kwik Fit have done, even if they needed the information from the Bongofury forum to be able to do it!
Cheers
Charles

[mikeonb4c]

Thanks for the information and a post just to let those who helped know how I got on. I took my Bongo back to Kwikfit in Stockport and they successfully re-gassed it for £45 inc VAT. On the other matter, I took my SEAT to another KwikFit who diagnosed a leak and charged me nothing. I contacted Aircool, who are a reputable company and they wanted £75 just to diagnose the issue. I think I'll get a UV lamp and look for the leak myself. You can be lucky and get a decent air conditioning specialist to come out, but that has not been my experience. I can see that KwikFit just have the franchise and some basic training to operate the machine, but provided there's nothing unusual about the system, they should be able to do a passable job. A couple of DIY aerosol cans from ebay will cost £30 or so, and I've heard mixed reports on how successful these are. So I'm reasonably happy with the job Kwik Fit have done, even if they needed the information from the Bongofury forum to be able to do it!
Cheers
Charles

Spot on Charles - exactly the way to play it in my view

PS - Unfortunately the Kwikfit offer did not exist when I bought my Bongo so I had no option but to pay for someone to come out and charge £55 to tell me it was bust. But it was worth it in that case as the vendor got it mended for nowt as a condition of purchase.

[steviebongo]

hi if ure going to check with a uv lamp then make sure that the system has been filled with a dye so u can detect the leak, word of warning though i have regassed and then checked for leaks before and found nothing ,sum times u have to run the car & a/c system for a couple of days and recheck it, our machine won't let u regas if it detects any leaks to a certain point. the leak could be a pin hole anywhere and only empties the system over a very long priod of time.



good luck stevie

[cfc2000]

Thanks Stevie for the advice. Unless it's obvious I won't be doing it myself, but it pays to know the problem before you get the experts in, I find. When I was younger I used to tackle everything including total engine changes, re-conditioning etc. As I've got older and lazier I content myself with basic servicing jobs. On the Seat datasheet it says the system is pre-installed with dye, but i do wonder whether it's true. As you say, the gas may have gone very gradually and it won't show up easily without the special equipment. i had thought of getting an aerosol can of dye off ebay, but you have to wait a long time for it to get here from China as they are not allowed to send aerosols by airmail. By that time it will be winter. So I'll carry on searching for someone local who is fair and reasonable. Anyway, the Seat air conditioning is way off topic, but thanks once again for the advice.
Cheers
Charles