Car air conditioner service-is it neccessary?

[mhortig]

We have a 6 year old Yaris which is in excellent condition. We have it serviced by Toyota regularly who I trust usualy. But they hard sell my Thai wife to have the air conditioner serviced. Not just a freon top up, a full cleaning etc. Cost over 2000 baht. We have already had this done two times, she wants to do it again. I don't think it is neccessary. The Toyota service book only reccomends checking and filling up the freon regularly. If it really is important to the long life of the car I will do it, but frankly I think it's a bit of a scam to sell uneccessary service. I've had many cars in the past and never ever had my a/c serviced and never had a problem. Any thoughts.

[hkt83100]

I recommend a cleaning of the aircon. The filter (if it has one) can be dirty after that time and block the air flow. The heat exchanger (is it called like that in English?) can be dirty, which causes icing and can block the air flow completely. You can notice it by bad cooling and foul smell of the air. The money is well invested.

Just my thinking, based on own experience.

[Don Mega]

I have mine serviced on an annual basis, I like to think of it as preventative maintenance.

[keeniau96]

Have been using my Ford Ranger air con every time i drive for about 12 years now. Think I had the aircon serviced twice, works very fine.

[JAS21]

I have mine serviced on an annual basis, I like to think of it as preventative maintenance.

Don ... it would have been useful if you had said what the service included.

The guy is talking about washing the unit. Doing that every two years is a big overkill assuming that the system has a removeable/cleanable/exchangeable filter.

I would recommend switching off the aircon a couple of minutes before the end of your journey and putting the fan on full speed ... that should help to dry the unit and discourage anything nasty from growing in that area.

[Don Mega]

I have mine serviced on an annual basis, I like to think of it as preventative maintenance.

Don ... it would have been useful if you had said what the service included.

The guy is talking about washing the unit. Doing that every two years is a big overkill assuming that the system has a removeable/cleanable/exchangeable filter.

I would recommend switching off the aircon a couple of minutes before the end of your journey and putting the fan on full speed ... that should help to dry the unit and discourage anything nasty from growing in that area.

Don't know actually, the missus's brother in law runs a car AC shop here in Pattaya... he takes it in and cleans what ever needs cleaning and checks the gas.

[Ace of Pop]

Same price as Toyota charge the OP I have this firm every year

[Ace of Pop]

Its hours run not how old.Means nothing to the O.P.

[JAS21]

Its hours run not how old.Means nothing to the O.P.

That's very true Ace ... one of your more intelligent posts if I may say so ... keep it up

[8OA8]

I had the aircon cleaned by Wizard car wash in Bangkok, removed any smells that had been there beforehand. These smells were one's that I had become accustomed to over time and didn't appreciate what a cleaning would do,they put the flexible camera up inside to show the condition and you can make a choice to proceed or not. Can't remember the cost but there's a different price for European or Japanese cars.

Well worth doing, especially if the car is used in Bangkok

[DDbkh]

The service mhortig is talking about is offered by Toyota worldwide. They use a Titanium Dioxide based nano spray which kills the mold and bacteria which accumulates on the condenser. This makes the aircon more efficient and reduces the allergenic bacteria which grows on the condenser. As soon as you switch off the a/c mold starts to grow on the cooling coil of the condenser. This spray helps to prevent it accumulating. Toyota recommend once a year which may not be often enough in our humid and polluted climate. It's a health issue as much as an efficiency issue but probably worth it for either reason.

[norbra]

Had my MU7 A/C cleaned by Isuzu Rama II,the following week stopped at a Shell service centre and had a free inspection using flexi camera (pushed on me by a hopeful sales guy)showing previous clean only removed about 20% of mould growing on heat exchanger.

Complained to Isuza and they cleaned it,complete with pics, for a second time.

[circusman]

Bought our 7 year old Yaris three years ago. Still ice cold a/c with no service done. No smell either.

[TigertheCat]

My 7 year old Fortuner has already had 3 services including a new compressor.

We had a guy come to the house with a camera and he showed up the filth inside as the fan was hardly blowing at all and not cold.

Now needs doing again as no fan power and not cold,even on minimum temperature.

I will get it done as the deterioration is slow and you tend not to notice until its too hot on a warm day.

[fang37]

QUESTION:

If it is working WELL, don't service it?

Preventative - every 3 years?

[shaurene]

Like the old saying, if it is working don't fix it. No you do not need to service it.

[shaurene]

The service mhortig is talking about is offered by Toyota worldwide. They use a Titanium Dioxide based nano spray which kills the mold and bacteria which accumulates on the condenser. This makes the aircon more efficient and reduces the allergenic bacteria which grows on the condenser. As soon as you switch off the a/c mold starts to grow on the cooling coil of the condenser. This spray helps to prevent it accumulating. Toyota recommend once a year which may not be often enough in our humid and polluted climate. It's a health issue as much as an efficiency issue but probably worth it for either reason.

b

Take note, the condenser gets hot does not cool, the evaporator cools.

[MESmith]

Bought our 7 year old Yaris three years ago. Still ice cold a/c with no service done. No smell either.

Some folk just love spending money

[sometimewoodworker]

The AC can pick up enough dirt to need cleaning if you don't have it on recirculated air. I sometimes didn't for the first couple of years so the AC radiator got blocked up. To clean it was a very major job that took several hours labor and included stripping the dashboard out.

Since then I've always used recirculated and had a supplementary filter fitted.

[al007]

Get our air con on the car serviced about every 24,000 kms, or change car at same milage!

On the house units serviced and cleaned every six months

[Ace of Pop]

Its hours run not how old.Means nothing to the O.P.

That's very true Ace ... one of your more intelligent posts if I may say so ... keep it up smiles.JPG

. On this occasion I can answer with total accuracy.The answer is No..

[Roger Lee]

Clean the condenser core with a garden hose and compressed air being careful to not bend the air fins. Replace the cabin air filter every year or so depending on how filthy it gets from the air it intakes. In Thailand there generally isn't very much dust ingested. If the air starts to smell musty or moldy consider getting the evaporator core cleaned professionally as they should have all of chemicals, tools and techniques available to effectively do the job.

Refrigerant as a rule doesn't wear out, it does leak out though and if the leakage is severe enough it will warrant a leak test and repair.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Ace of Pop]

Bought our 7 year old Yaris three years ago. Still ice cold a/c with no service done. No smell either.

Some folk just love spending money

. Some people can..

[Ace of Pop]

Air Con isn't Climate Control ,that needs A bit more attention to work perfectly.

[MESmith]

Clean the condenser core with a garden hose and compressed air being careful to not bend the air fins. Replace the cabin air filter every year or so depending on how filthy it gets from the air it intakes. In Thailand there generally isn't very much dust ingested. If the air starts to smell musty or moldy consider getting the evaporator core cleaned professionally as they should have all of chemicals, tools and techniques available to effectively do the job.

Refrigerant as a rule doesn't wear out, it does leak out though and if the leakage is severe enough it will warrant a leak test and repair.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Replace filter every 6 months. Air is filthy here.

[johninbkk71]

We have a 6 year old Yaris which is in excellent condition. We have it serviced by Toyota regularly who I trust usualy. But they hard sell my Thai wife to have the air conditioner serviced. Not just a freon top up, a full cleaning etc. Cost over 2000 baht. We have already had this done two times, she wants to do it again. I don't think it is neccessary. The Toyota service book only reccomends checking and filling up the freon regularly. If it really is important to the long life of the car I will do it, but frankly I think it's a bit of a scam to sell uneccessary service. I've had many cars in the past and never ever had my a/c serviced and never had a problem. Any thoughts.

Had a couple of Toyotas. The air cons are s***. Need regular servicing. If not they cost a fortune to repair.

[Roger Lee]

Clean the condenser core with a garden hose and compressed air being careful to not bend the air fins. Replace the cabin air filter every year or so depending on how filthy it gets from the air it intakes. In Thailand there generally isn't very much dust ingested. If the air starts to smell musty or moldy consider getting the evaporator core cleaned professionally as they should have all of chemicals, tools and techniques available to effectively do the job.

Refrigerant as a rule doesn't wear out, it does leak out though and if the leakage is severe enough it will warrant a leak test and repair.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Replace filter every 6 months. Air is filthy here.

You should see the severe service i/e dust some of the Middle East countries experience, in my experience Iraq, Afghanistan, UAE, etc. it's unbelievable. Thailand is a picnic in comparison.

[Roger Lee]

Clean the condenser core with a garden hose and compressed air being careful to not bend the air fins. Replace the cabin air filter every year or so depending on how filthy it gets from the air it intakes. In Thailand there generally isn't very much dust ingested. If the air starts to smell musty or moldy consider getting the evaporator core cleaned professionally as they should have all of chemicals, tools and techniques available to effectively do the job.

Refrigerant as a rule doesn't wear out, it does leak out though and if the leakage is severe enough it will warrant a leak test and repair.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Replace filter every 6 months. Air is filthy here.

You should see the severe service i/e dust some of the Middle East countries experience, in my experience Iraq, Afghanistan, UAE, etc. it's unbelievable. Thailand is a picnic in comparison.

[JAS21]

Well here is a saga.

My wife bought her Mazda Lantis new some 20 years ago and her daughter had been using it for most of the past 12 years, some of which we lived in the UK. So when we used it a while back I realized that the air con didn't work well.

So got the local 'expert' to clean it ... it was really dirty. Afterwards it worked slightly better but smelt and nothing I put through the circulating system would sort it ... the 'expert' did Ozone it. He cleaned it again, at no cost, but without any improvement. I did see the state of the unit on 'his TV screen' and it wasn't good.

So we had the unit changed, by the guy who has done a lot of the work on that car, he usually is very good ... see photos. Now it's really cool but still smells a little. I did ask the guy changing the unit to ensure that he cleaned out all the airways ... unfortunately we were away when he replaced the unit ... I just saw it all stripped down and took some photos.

The Mazda Lantis does not have an inline filter.

[mhortig]

Thanks to all contributors. Some very useful information, and varied opinions. I'm inclined to compromise at a full cleaning every two years and changing the filter more frequently if possible. We don't use the car excessively and at six years its still under 100,000 km. I won't trust the car to anyone other than Toyota though , it does seem a bit pricey. We want this car to last as long as possible.