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[jereboam]

After the winter, first warm day, no refrigeration.  Not usual for my car - it's always been OK up until now.  Garage had a look - no refrigerant.  Put some in, and immediately noticed it was bubbling out through one of the valves.  Took it all out again, ordered new part, told that, as car is over 10 years old, they don't keep them in stock, so it's on backorder.  Has been for 2 weeks.  Garage advises against trying to get part from a breaker, as it would be difficult to remove it undamaged.  Not actually sure what part it is - apparently the valve and the pipe it's mounted on are a single item.  Quite expensive, he says - >£100.

Anyone know anything about this sort of stuff?

[hoofing it]

I'd try a bit from the breaker first one might be along shortly.

[Andy B]

..... Not actually sure what part it is - apparently the valve and the pipe it's mounted on are a single item.  Quite expensive, he says - >£100.

Anyone know anything about this sort of stuff?

No it's not. I was told the same thing by a local a/c 'specialist'. The valve towards the top of the engine is a shrader valve, similar to a tyre valve, & the other valve right at the front of the car, by the rad, is also available as a separate item and is a few quid from Vauxhall. I'll try to dig out the posts I've posted on here for the part number ..... or possibly still have the Vx receipt.
He was right about something. The pipe the valve at the front sits in, is about £100.
One valve is low pressure fill & t'other is high pressure .... but I can't now remember which is which & it was 25 yrs ago since I've done refrigeration ......      

[Andy B]

.....  Not actually sure what part it is - apparently the valve and the pipe it's mounted on are a single item.  Quite expensive, he says - >£100.

Anyone know anything about this sort of stuff?

You need part number ..... V0052458177 and it was almost £5- in total     

here's what you get. 

[jereboam]

Wow!

Thanks very much for the comprehensive information.

I shall pass it on to the garage man.  He'll probably argue, as usual, and he's bigger than me, so I'll have to show him the photo.  Bet I end up paying for the whole assembly in the end. 

At least he only charges £32 an hour for labour, and he usually gets things right.

[jereboam]

Follow up: After a long wait, the garage finally obtained the replacement valve - cost a bit more than £5, apparently, but the whole job, including the recharge cost me less than £60, so I can't really complain.

Aircon worked fine for a week, then gave up again.  Went back to the garage, he had another look, showed me where the dye he put in last time was coming out.  I couldn't actually see anything, but he assures me that it's all coming out of hole in the condenser. 

New condenser needed - £139 + VAT, plus about £60 to fit it.  Does that sound reasonable?

The bl**dy car is virtually unusable in hot weather if the refrigeration fails - you have to have the windows open, because there's no way I can find of getting any sort of ventilation with the climate control turned off and it blasts HOT air at you with it turned on.  It's not pleasant with the windows open!

[henryd]

have a look on ebay,from memory the condensers on there are a bit cheaper than that

[henryd]

have a look here    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-OMEGA-B-AIR-CONDITIONING-CONDENSER-NEW-/310128926699?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item48351fdfeb

[jereboam]

have a look here    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-OMEGA-B-AIR-CONDITIONING-CONDENSER-NEW-/310128926699?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item48351fdfeb

Thanks for that.  It's difficult - I get the garage to everything for me 'cos I can't do anything complicated myself, not that I could tackle refrigeration anyway.  While the garage owner appreciated getting the valve cheaper, mainly because he couldn't get the pipe assembly anyway, I don't think he'd be overjoyed if I start removing his mark-up on parts generally.  So I'll have to take the hit this time, even if it's going to cost me about £50.  However, in the future, if I can diagnose the problem myself, I might just go to him with the parts and get him to fit them.

But thanks for the info, anyway.

[jereboam]

I think it may be time to find another garage. 

As agreed, I took the car in to have the condenser replaced yesterday morning.  There was a big box there with "Opel Omega B" and "Vauxhall Omega" on the side and "AC condenser" on the front.  At 16:30, I rang up to see if it was ready, and they told me that they'd been sent the wrong condenser. I mentioned that I'd seen the box, and they told me that when they unpacked it, it turned out to be the wrong shape.  They'd have a replacement this morning.

At 14:00 today, they rang to say it was ready.  When I went to collect it, there was a flattened cardboard condenser box by the recycle bin.  It looked exactly like the box I saw yesterday.  I just wonder if they ran out of time yesterday?

Question 1: is there actually more than one "shape" for the condenser for the Omega B?

Question 2 (to be answered if the answer to question one is "No"): how stupid do they think I am?

[tunnie]

all the same as far as i know, i hope they replaced the dryer as well....

[dbug]

I think it may be time to find another garage. 

As agreed, I took the car in to have the condenser replaced yesterday morning.  There was a big box there with "Opel Omega B" and "Vauxhall Omega" on the side and "AC condenser" on the front.  At 16:30, I rang up to see if it was ready, and they told me that they'd been sent the wrong condenser. I mentioned that I'd seen the box, and they told me that when they unpacked it, it turned out to be the wrong shape.  They'd have a replacement this morning.

At 14:00 today, they rang to say it was ready.  When I went to collect it, there was a flattened cardboard condenser box by the recycle bin.  It looked exactly like the box I saw yesterday.  I just wonder if they ran out of time yesterday?

Question 1: is there actually more than one "shape" for the condenser for the Omega B?
Question 2 (to be answered if the answer to question one is "No"): how stupid do they think I am?

Pretty sure its the same part across the Omega range!