Hi all,

This maybe in the wrong part of the forum, but I am a newbie and was just after some advice and guidance from you all.

I have an Magna Altera '96 and the Air Con unit seems to have stopped working......doesn't blow cold air for long (only at low revs and if the outside temperature is not too hot....

I have been to my mechanic and he has said that all 3 components that make up the Air Con system would cost (new) $AU 1500.00; second hand ones he would not recomend, what would you guys suggest?

Kind Regards,

izcrab.

Go new..

They're not cheap.. We used to have a member here who used to do Air Con servicing etc. However he closed up shop.

He priced up these parts at trade and they were quite pricey too.

You can get second hand parts, but I wouldnt hold your breath.

SuFz :ninja:

what components did you need?

My mechanic said that I need all 3 compnents that make up the air con system, don't know the exact names for them; I will have to google them........

SuFz,

Thanks for the reply, thought that might be the case; do you think that 280,000 Klm on this car is coming to the end of life for the engine, I have had it 6 years and wonder how much longer it is going to last me without major overhaul?

Regards

Izcrab

SuFz,

Thanks for the reply, thought that might be the case; do you think that 280,000 Klm on this car is coming to the end of life for the engine, I have had it 6 years and wonder how much longer it is going to last me without major overhaul?

Regards

Izcrab

I wouldnt say end of its life.. I've seen a few Magna's go for well over 400,000ks and still drive great!

As long as you service it often and dont treat her like a $5 wh0re.. You'll be fine.

Just dont skimp on bits and pieces.. Treat her well and she'll last you a while.

SuFz :ninja:

Its helpful to know the parts of an air-con system first and how it works because alot of the parts you can get 2nd hand and can actually replace yourself ;) Doing this could save you heaps.

Imho I think the following three things are probably stuffed in your car.

- Reciever/Drier bottle: this is basically like a filter for the R134 gas flowing through the system - taking the moisture & dirt out of the gas. It cannot be exposed to air for too long as it dries out and becomes useless. The minute a aircon system has a leak the drier bottle needs to be replaced. Mitsubishi ask around $180 for this - look around and you can find it for around $50 incl. delivery. Try Denso, Autocool in WA (my recommendation), Nippon in Vic, Highgate in SA or SpeedyAirSales in QLD (good bloke to deal with), ESV Euro car parts also sell magna drier bottles & compressors.

- Condeser - this basically is where the gas gets cooled down and turns into a liquid. You can find it infront of your radiator. It is the first thing behind your grille and often gets damaged from dirt, bugs, rocks etc that fling up at it. You can always know if a car really was driven on the highway heaps by looking at its condenser. You can buy this brand new but agian it is quite expensive. There are generic ones available on ebay which should be fine or you can go second hand - just make sure its in decent nick and doesn't have too many damaged fins or any leaks. Inspect it yourself. I picked up a condenser from my local wreckers for about $40.

- Compressor - this is the most expensive part in the system and is also hard to get too. This basically compresses the gas and regulates the flow. It is very important and if not used often enough can fail. Again - brand new is very expensive so I'd look at a reconditioned or a generic one. Again the above suppliers can provide this as well - esp. Nippon, SpeedyAirSales & Autocool in WA.

You may also have leaks along your pipes or your TX valve might be dirty or broken. You're evaporator may also be shot but I highly doubt this as you're heating would also be affected as well.

I'd recommend getting a air-con specailist to tell you exactly whats wrong and what parts you need. From there you can get 2nd hand/reco/aftermarket parts and install them yourself if you're willing.
I'd recommend doing a bit of research and getting one of those Gregories/Max Ellery etc service manuals. They do tell you how to take apart and replace these parts - if you're willing to invest a bit of time and elbow grease you can easily save 100's.

You will obviously need to have the system regassed after all the parts have been replaced. This costs around $150-200. There will be air in the lines so they'll also need to a vacuum as well. I'd recommend asking them to do a leak test just to make sure you've done everything right. Above all - make sure that you use new o-rings with air-con oil and fit the drier bottle LAST as this cannot take more than 20mins of air exposure. Provided you do not have a leak in the system, then you can install the reciever/drier bottle as the system should be sealed. You won't know if you have a leak or not until you get it tested so try not to have the bottle hooked up without refrigerant gas for as long as possible.

My opinion only, but seeing as the car does blow cold air for a short period indicates that they system does have some gas left and may just need a regas which as thekovac says is under $200. I'd also follow his other advice and see a aircon specialist. If indeed the cost was $1500, you may be better off buying a later model car which already has working aircon.

mate, im wrecking my car atm and the aircon was just inspected, and had a new filter added less than 12 months ago and is icey cold. find out what parts you need and i will remove them for you and charge you twice the postage for it. so basically sfa. need to know in a week because car is going to scrap.

Where in Qld are you? If in the Bris area, I thoroughly recommend taking it to Goodna Air Conditioning (strangely located in Bundamba), I had dealings with him the other week and he's one of those older no-bullshit guys who well and truly know their stuff, he'll tell it to you straight so be prepared to hear what you don't want to hear, but I guarantee that he'll find the exact problem, and give you the best price to fix it permanently. Costs $55 to do a leak test, but absolutely worth it when he finds the exact culprit; and you can guarantee that there's a leak somewhere, talk to him for a few minutes and you'll find out the painful truth; often not nice to hear, but I'd prefer to know for sure what's going on than just have someone regas and lose it in a few days. He uses an uber-sensitive electronic gas detector, says the ultraviolet dyes are a load of shit and there should be a law against their use.
Mine has a slow leak at the front of the compressor, not repairable so a new compressor is required to fix, quoted $1100 odd to do the entire thing, $750 of which was the new compressor. Regas, new filters, the whole kit and caboodle included. He's quite happy to use whatever you give him though if you track down stuff, not one of those people who'll only install what they supply.
Regas by itself was $95, but absolutely recommend getting the leak test so you know exactly what you are dealing with. Legally they aren't supposed to regas if it's leaking...

And he'll thoroughly check out the underside of your car while he's at it, he pointed out that mine had had a front collision at one stage, which bits had been professionally replaced, found a tiny crack in a muffler, showed that it defintely still had it's original engine, showed that the front struts had new Munro GTs installed, that kind of stuff.
And he's near right a train station if you need to go elsewhere.

Ok, before you do ANYTHING, have the system leak tested. If there is a leak, get them to remove the refridgerant for you too (HIGHLY illegal to do it yourself). You can run the car without any refridgerant, so long as you don't run the A/C lol
Once the refrigerant has been removed, you can freely remove/replace parts.

I'd be checking for a stuck TX valve, crudy drier (if it's the original one, never been replaced) or dodgy high/low side valves.

Hi all,

So sorry I haven't been back for a while, so many thanks to all your replies, I have done the following: taken the car off the road and de-registered it....currently on GumTree for sale. Replaced the car with 2004 Magna AWD VRX 3.5 V6 with 95,500 on clock paid 8K for it very happy with it and it runs fantastic.

I have put on the ad in GumTree that the price is neg bearing in mind the issues with it, its a matter of waiting to see what someone will offer for it.

But once again, Many Thanks.

I will certainly be visiting more often.

Prosperity to all.

izcrab.

That's one piece of advice NOBODY offered - just replace the car! lol

Air con units in a car in Queensland probably work harder than most, either cooling the car or clearing the humidity out. lol

There is another option if you have an older aircon that needs regassing - my local auto bloke put HR12 in the systen of my TP years ago, and the air conditioner worked well, with it sounding less stressed than before. HR12 isn't really recommended for cars, as it is flammable, and could be dangerous in a crash. On the other hand, there is flammable petrol at 60 PSI in the fuel rail, and if your car is on gas . . . . I don't believe a few 100 grams of hydrocarbon gas in the aircon system would make much difference safety wise.

http://www.hychill.com.au/

How the hell can your heating be affected by a dirty or faulty Receiver????????????? Please if you are going to give advice get it right, people make serious mistakes often from this sort of wrong information and can get costly

The TX valve on the Magna's upto the end of TJ series are part of the receiver assy, on the TL onwards are externally mounted.

OP, you should get your aircon person to tell you exactly what areas of the aircon need replacing, I would suggest he will tell you the filter (oh btw, is not that it dries out, it gets moisture from the atmosphere in it if removed and left unsealed), the comperssor and the tx valve are your issues. The receiver or as some call it the evap box can be removed without taking out the dash but is a prick of a job, have done a few over the years. The comp is quite easy.

If this guy is telling you that all 3 parts are shagged it means he is not sure himself. The only way to tell is to get the pressures up in the system and then check what is happeneing on both the low and high side of the compressor and this will generally tell you if the compressor is shagged or the TX valve is stuck. Can also be the thermostat attached to the Evap as well, if this is reading wrongly the system will shut down as this stops the evap from freezing