Little saga just to upset you .....

Monday had the system re-gassed as it wasn't working at all well ... no difference noted so took it back this morning - they rechecked it said it was OK .. on the advice of the forum - I asked questions .....
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1206977755 I asked them to check the low and high pressures, low was 2.4 bar .. high was 4.3 bar .. should be around 8-12 bar

They had no idea so sent me to a specialist........
They were very helpful, checked the system and said it was full and the compressor was working, problem would be either :
1) blocked drier/filter ( supposed to be changed every 2 years .. this looked original)
2) faulty expansion valve (whatever that is !)
3) faulty pressure control switch
To do any of these the system needs de-gassing, fixing then regassing which I agreed to, I also said to replace the filter/drier whilst the system was empty anyway as a precaution.... so off they went into dismantle mode ...
Then comes the bad news... The expansion valve is stuck fully open - explains the lack of pressure it seems, and the guy bought the filter/drier in to me ... now it should be empty as the refrigerant has all gone .. he proceeded to pour out a horrible thick black fluid, almost of thin grease consistency, stank as well

, and showed me lots of small metal particles in this gunge ... if you rubbed it between fingers you could feel it like fine grit ..... not good

So it looks like the compressor is disintegrating and has contaminated the whole system with metal particles, including the expansion valve.
Result is it needs :
new compressor - £200
new expansion valve - £47
New drier/filter - £17
Full flush/clean - £ 80
6 hours labour - £300
Re-gas - £40
VAT - £120
total £803.70 .. not including the £100 for todays work or the £70 for the first re-gas
so all in all .... just under £1000 to fix the damned air con ..
