AC Servicing...

[KenL]

Had my MINI serviced last week at Eastern. The car was fine apart from a warning I needed new tyres soon, which I was aware of.

Now, he said that the AC should be serviced every two years. I said it was still blowing freezing cold air so would decline. He said it was not just for that but to kill off bacteria.

My car smells as fresh as a daisy, so do I need it? I'd rather not spend the £80 they quoted me!

So, do any of you guys get your AC serviced every 2 years?

[Forbes]

We haven't done it in either of our cars. But my Dad went to get his sorted in the Freelander and cause it hadn't been used much it had stopped working, and cost more to repair.

Moral of the story, if you use it it will be ok. I use mine every week for atleast 20mins to keep it going

[KenL]

I run mine pretty much all the time, for the reason you suggest.

[Forbes]

I reckon you will be fine then, some garages run a ac refill or whatever for like £30 and if you don't notice a difference you don't pay. That could be a good shout, cheaper to

[Craig]

I was always told not to get it "recharged" as it puts too much pressure on the compressor and can burst the seals thereby giving you a bigger problem. :argh:

not sure if that is what they would be doing, but if you use it most of the time and it doesn't have a problem, I wouldn't bother.. ;)

[GCA3N]

As long as you use your AC regularly you'll be ok, the problem lies if you only use it every now and then( eg summer use only). I don't have AC on my mini but had it on the last car, and that was the advice i was given, hope this helps.
*On the same topic*
Just remembered a story from about 6 years ago. I put a car I had in for a service (it was a company car so did'nt have to pay for it) I went to pick the car up, so the receptionist asked me to sign the paperwork and the car was ready. I don't know why but I asked to see the bill, (that would get sent to my department head) in the list of dubious jobs done was one " full service on Air conditioning" £80. I asked the girl what this was, to which she replied "oh your air conditioning was smelly so we gave it a full service" I replied "my car does not have AC" To which an embarrassed girl stated " YES you do sir" At that point I asked to speak to the manager. After about 15mins the garage manager came out to me and we went to my car. I asked him to show me how my AC works, he sat in my car for about 3-4 mins and stated " oh that is strange" "Yes it is " i agreed. Now I cannot tell you at this point what i said but let me tell you I did'nt miss him. Long and short of it was a full investigation by my company and they found out that the garage had been doing this kind of thing with all our company cars. I got a bonus of £300 for my part, and the garage (Reg Vardy) were banned from future service work. To summerise what a load of dirty robbing B%^$^&s. :argh::eek:

[Scottie]

are they talking about replacing the air conditioning pollen micro filter maybe, this will eventually need replaced but don't know the max time scale that these will last.

[ianking]

I wouldnt get it topped up or cleaned unless there was a lack of cold air.

My Dad had his last car topped up when it was about 3 years old but that was because he had not been using it enough.

[KenL]

are they talking about replacing the air conditioning pollen micro filter maybe, this will eventually need replaced but don't know the max time scale that these will last.

That is done as part of the TLC service Scottie.

[KenL]

Thanks for all the replies folks :thumbs up:

Glad I made the right decision to save my cash :yes nod: