Thread: Dealer regassed air con to twice recommended level - any long term damage likely?

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the air con section or the dealership section, so thought I'd try here! Had an air con service on my A3 at Hitchin Audi today. Afterwards when I started the engine and went to drive off, the fan under the bonnet was turning extremely fast and made a very loud noise like I'd never heard before. I was told this is normal after an air con service and it should settle eventually.

Later in the day the "econ" mode kicked in automatically and I couldn't turn the air con back on. I was forced to pull the car over and stop as the windows steamed up completely. Eventually managed to get the car back to the dealer, and after they'd had it back in the workshop they admitted to overgassing the system (they put in twice as much by mistake!). This was why the fan was turning so fast, and economy mode automatically kicked in to protect the fan motor from burning itself out!

My question is - could this have done any damage? All seems ok now but I can just imagine something major going wrong with the system in a few weeks, all because of this incident, and struggling to prove it was their fault.

One positive thing though... They did lower the price from £99 to £69 when I told them Huntingon Audi were doing it at this price. So it seems it's always worth asking if anything can be knocked off the quoted price.

damn there so thick the recommended pressure is on a sticker on the underside of the bonnet. 525 g + /- 25g

brother owns a independant vw garage did mine myself yesterday was a freebie


but usually £40

You were robbed matey, I was offered same service from Cheshire oaks Audi for £29.99 while having my car serviced. Not sure about any lasting damage though ??

Mark

These threads should be in Air con for sure mate.

I'm a little confused as to what you have been told. If you overfill the system the high pressure cut out would trip, preventing damage to the system. It's not to protect the fan from burning out!

You've got nothing to worry about though, the cut out worked of course so no problems.

Thanks for responses. I've asked them to put down in writing exactly what their error was, so if there are any problems in the near future which could be attributed to overgasing then at least I have the evidence. They seemed happy enough with this and say they will post me a letter to this effect.