Bournemouth · Independent garage
Air conditioning
Air conditioning regas, leak diagnosis and repair, using the refrigerant your vehicle is designed for rather than whatever happens to be on the shelf.
Sound familiar? The air blows cool rather than cold, or only cools once you are moving.
Signs you might notice
If any of these describes your vehicle, this is the page for it.
The air blows cool rather than cold, or only cools once you are moving.
The system stops cooling altogether, or cuts in and out.
There is a musty smell from the vents when the fan starts.
The system was recharged elsewhere and stopped working again within a few months.
What the work covers
- Refrigerant recovery and recharge to the quantity your vehicle specifies.
- Leak testing, because a system that has lost its charge has lost it somewhere.
- Condenser, compressor, pipe and seal replacement.
- Pollen filter replacement and vent cleaning for smells and poor airflow.
- Confirming which refrigerant your vehicle takes before anything is connected — vehicles are not all on the same one.
How it works
Tell us the make, model and year so we can confirm which refrigerant the vehicle takes.
We test the system, and look for the leak if it has lost its charge.
Where there is a leak, we tell you what putting it right involves before anything is recharged — gas put into a system that will lose it again is money spent twice.
We agree the work with you, carry it out, and check the system cools properly before it goes back.
Why choose AutoTech Garage?
What you can hold us to on this job.
We agree the work with you first
We explain what we have found and what putting it right involves, and nothing beyond what you have agreed is carried out without a telephone call first.
We test before we replace
A fault code records the circuit the vehicle was unhappy about, not the component that failed. We test to confirm the cause rather than replacing the part a code names.
Whatever your vehicle runs on
We work on petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric vehicles. Tell us which you have when you get in touch so the right time and equipment are set aside.
Common questions
Does my air conditioning just need a regas?
Possibly, but a system that has lost its charge has usually lost it through a leak, and recharging without finding the leak means doing it again. We test first and tell you what we find.Is a recharge a set job, or does it depend on the car?
A recharge on a sound system is a known job once we know which refrigerant your vehicle takes — and the two in common use are not the same price as each other, which is why we ask for the year as well as the model. A leak is a different matter, because what it takes to fix depends on where it is: a condenser at the front of the car and a seal behind the bulkhead are not comparable jobs. We test first and tell you which of the two you have. Nothing is carried out until you have been told what it will come to and have agreed to it.How long does air conditioning work take?
Testing and recharging a sound system is short work. Finding a leak is not, because the gas has to be traced to the point it is escaping from rather than guessed at, and some of those points are behind other components. We tell you which of the two we are dealing with once the system has been tested, and what we expect to need the vehicle for. If a service is due as well, say so when you book and we will plan the two together rather than having the car in twice.Do all vehicles take the same refrigerant?
No. Older and newer vehicles are on different refrigerants and the two are not interchangeable. We confirm which yours takes from the make, model and year before connecting anything to it.Why does it smell when I switch the fan on?
Usually bacteria on the evaporator, and a pollen filter that has been in place a while. Cleaning the system and replacing the filter deals with most cases.
Related services
Talk to us about your vehicle
Tell us the make, model and what it is doing, and we will tell you what the work involves before anything is agreed.