How important is climate control to you?
Poll: How important is climate control to you?
Total Members Polled: 531
Discussion
So, right on cue the family bus climate control has packed up after working fine from buying it 8 months ago, all through winter. Gets hot and kaput!
just had it diagnosed as a leaking condenser and leaking pipe leading from the compressor to wherever it goes. £500 to fix. It's 2k worth of car, on a very good day, so it's really not worth doing.
Trouble is the car is an MPV (2003 Ford Galaxy) so the internal volume/glass area is huge, it's also black. As you can imagine it gets properly jeffing hot inside and the kids are going to be very unhappy when we pack up for the long drive over to Wales on holiday this year. If the weather is like it is now that is going to be a very uncomfortable journey.
So, can I have your permission to trade it in for a newer car?
just had it diagnosed as a leaking condenser and leaking pipe leading from the compressor to wherever it goes. £500 to fix. It's 2k worth of car, on a very good day, so it's really not worth doing.
Trouble is the car is an MPV (2003 Ford Galaxy) so the internal volume/glass area is huge, it's also black. As you can imagine it gets properly jeffing hot inside and the kids are going to be very unhappy when we pack up for the long drive over to Wales on holiday this year. If the weather is like it is now that is going to be a very uncomfortable journey.
So, can I have your permission to trade it in for a newer car?
Trade it in, because £500 on a vehicle worth £2000 is 25%, yet if you buy a car for say 5,000 and still need to splash out £500 for air-con / climate control fix thats only 10%, a relative drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things.
Also, if this £500 has arisen, what other £500 will arise? It's doomed to fail.
Flog it, buy something awesome and tell the kids to take the train, you'll meet them at the other end
Also, if this £500 has arisen, what other £500 will arise? It's doomed to fail.
Flog it, buy something awesome and tell the kids to take the train, you'll meet them at the other end
I voted not-fussed. The Air Con on my alfa has never worked in about 5 years of ownership and on the 306 before that it didn't work for at least a few years.
When i drive the OH's MINI i do enjoy the air con though... and it was a PITA on a road trip to Italy a few years ago in the alfa...
When i drive the OH's MINI i do enjoy the air con though... and it was a PITA on a road trip to Italy a few years ago in the alfa...
On a point of order, I think you are strictly asking about aircon/climate since either will cool down a vehicle interior.
Essential - I haven't had a "daily driver" car without it since 1989, nor would I, given choice funds etc. I can't think straight at the temperatures the car gets up to without it, and opening the windows at .9 leptons on the motorway is never any fun.
Essential - I haven't had a "daily driver" car without it since 1989, nor would I, given choice funds etc. I can't think straight at the temperatures the car gets up to without it, and opening the windows at .9 leptons on the motorway is never any fun.
V8forweekends said:
On a point of order, I think you are strictly asking about aircon/climate since either will cool down a vehicle interior.
I think you're right, however Climate Control/automatic aircon is definitely something that once you have it, you never want to be without it - I hate faffing about with hot/cold controls, would rather just leave it at a set temp with the fan running & turn the aircon on as & when it's too warm to maintain temp with atmospheric air.Sell it - "air con needs a re-gas" seems to cover that particular issue in most ads.
I'm kidding of course, as someone said it's 25% of the value of the car, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing - if the rest of the car is otherwise sound it might be worth more to you that it's cash value - the alternative being trying to sell a big black car with broken air-con in one of the few hot months of the year and then either rolling the dice with another £2k worth of MPV which could have all manner of problem just waiting to leap out from their hiding spot or spending a whole lot more money to get one you guess to be sound because it's much newer.
P.S. condensers for Galaxies seem to be about £100 online, might not be impossible to fit yourself and ask the local re-gas place to do the biz after you've fitted it?
I'm kidding of course, as someone said it's 25% of the value of the car, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing - if the rest of the car is otherwise sound it might be worth more to you that it's cash value - the alternative being trying to sell a big black car with broken air-con in one of the few hot months of the year and then either rolling the dice with another £2k worth of MPV which could have all manner of problem just waiting to leap out from their hiding spot or spending a whole lot more money to get one you guess to be sound because it's much newer.
P.S. condensers for Galaxies seem to be about £100 online, might not be impossible to fit yourself and ask the local re-gas place to do the biz after you've fitted it?
i hate it, almost never use it in the UK, unless its 30c+
but what I really f
king hate are the ones you turn off set it how you want and then they still fking keep changing the fan speed !!!! Audi are you listening, when i set the fan to two clicks i want it to stay on 2 clicks !!!!
drives me round the bend
but what I really f
king hate are the ones you turn off set it how you want and then they still fking keep changing the fan speed !!!! Audi are you listening, when i set the fan to two clicks i want it to stay on 2 clicks !!!!drives me round the bend
To respond to a few of these posts.
1. It was looked at by a very reputable independant mobile air con engineer - I use the term engineer as he's ex forces and was a HVAC engineer in the navy and a really top bloke.
2. To replace the condensor on one of these requires removal of nearly the entire front end of the car, cos Galaxy's are s
t like that.3. I seem to spend every weekend crawling underneath this damn thing trying to fix niggly little things such as.....the starter motor, rear speakers weren't working, rear calipers keep sticking on the handbrake, vacuum pipe perished, cruise control buggered (couldn't fix that), parking sensors going mental......
4. It's not unlikely that fixing the current A/C leaks would highlight a whole new set of leaks!!
5. it's averaging 24mpg - TBH I'm not fussed about that.
6. Yep - black MPV with 3 kids (9months, 2, 5) a wife and me = misery (even without AC sometimes!)
Shame as really it's a pretty solid car in terms of engine and bodywork, it's just geting to the age wher the non metal bits are starting to get tired and perish.....Fook it....I'm going to do some maths later.
Air con on our alhambra never worked (known weak point on the galaxy/alhambra/sharan) can't say that ever bothered us, just cracked a couple of windows open a bit to get some airflow through the cabin.
Current car needs a/c regassed it's a bit uncomfortable initially with leather seats but aircon wouldn't change that so will probably leave it alone.
Current car needs a/c regassed it's a bit uncomfortable initially with leather seats but aircon wouldn't change that so will probably leave it alone.
I've just spent over £800 to get the a/c fixed on a £5k Galaxy (2007 mk3). The evaporator (I think) failed and it's buried behind the dash. Some of the money went on a couple of hours labour trying to find the problem - focussing on the most likely/cheapest first, the rest went on removing the dash to replace the broken part. Given that I've got a very poor tolerance for heat, I'm considering it money well spent.
I also spent £400 ish getting the condenser done on our previous Galaxy (2001 Mk2). Something worth noting - if you've got a leak in the pipe running from (I think) the compressor, you'll no doubt be told that the front end has to come off to access the join in the pipes. I've since discovered that you can remove the o/s headlight and cut an access hole in the plastic behind it (repairing the hole with a bit of fibreglass afterwards - it's not visible).
To answer your specific question - on the family car I'd consider it essential. On my own car that doesn't do many miles, I'd consider it a nice to have. Aside from dealing with the heat, I find it's brilliant at de-misting during cold wet winters.
I also spent £400 ish getting the condenser done on our previous Galaxy (2001 Mk2). Something worth noting - if you've got a leak in the pipe running from (I think) the compressor, you'll no doubt be told that the front end has to come off to access the join in the pipes. I've since discovered that you can remove the o/s headlight and cut an access hole in the plastic behind it (repairing the hole with a bit of fibreglass afterwards - it's not visible).
To answer your specific question - on the family car I'd consider it essential. On my own car that doesn't do many miles, I'd consider it a nice to have. Aside from dealing with the heat, I find it's brilliant at de-misting during cold wet winters.
"If" the AC gas leak is minor ( did it stop working overnight ?,or gradually loose efficiency indicating a slow minor leak) topping gas up with halfords AC kit could be a cheap fix .The charging hose and gas bottle are approx £50. For this to work the system still needs to have some gas pressure ( to ensure no air present) and topping up with kit is easy . If leak slow enough it could last whole summer ( with top ups) and keep kids nice n cool. If you can see a major leak in condensor etc , wouldn't be worth it .
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