Auto a/c recharge shop in Calgary?

[camshaft]

Ac not blowing cold in the f150. It’s out of warranty, perhaps there is a pin hole leak somewhere? Anyone have any recommendations other than the dealer for a inspect/recharge?

Not interested in the cheap kits from cdn tire btw. Thx in advance

[FishOutOfWater]

Try Fountain Tire, near Edmonton Trail & 32nd/41st Ave intersection.


(403) 276-8935

819 46 Ave SE, Calgary

[AndrewM]

I have used these guys and plan on using them again this Saturday. They will do it for the groupon price of $59 to diagnose and recharge.
Napa Auto Pro
5725 17 Avenue Southeast, Calgary, AB T2A 0W3
(403) 770-0382

[Big Grey Wolf]

Canadian Tire complete recharge kit for $49, just follow the instructions!

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

Canadian Tire complete recharge kit for $49, just follow the instructions!

I just went through this in Edmonton and did a ton of research. Not a good idea unless you make sure it is real R134 and not R12. Lots of the kits are R12 and they will pooch your compressor in pretty short order.

Here is a link that will simplify what you need to think about. Find a good shop that knows what they are doing. Can't help you with Calgary. You aren't saving a thing if you save a hundred on the recharge and blow $1000 fixing the side damage.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=364431

[barbless]

Originally Posted by Dean2

I just went through this in Edmonton and did a ton of research. Not a good idea unless you make sure it is real R134 and not R12. Lots of the kits are R12 and they will pooch your compressor in pretty short order.

Here is a link that will simplify what you need to think about. Find a good shop that knows what they are doing. Can't help you with Calgary. You aren't saving a thing if you save a hundred on the recharge and blow $1000 fixing the side damage.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=364431

X2. If you don't find the leak and it will be there, it's sometimes really hard to find a pin hole, your wasting money trying to recharge. That's why you do not recharge yourself. Will not work properly after a couple times of using and back to square one. Do you remember to old saying "Pay me now, or pay me later".

[TreeGuy]

Originally Posted by AndrewM

I have used these guys and plan on using them again this Saturday. They will do it for the groupon price of $59 to diagnose and recharge.

Napa Auto Pro

5725 17 Avenue Southeast, Calgary, AB T2A 0W3

(403) 770-0382

Thanks for the recommendation! I took Mrs Tree’s rig to them today. They properly checked the system for leaks and recharged for a cool $85 in an hour flat. By comparison, Canadian Tire wanted $89.99 just to check things out and another $140 to recharge. I’m extremely pleased with the service and will certainly be using them again.

Tree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nimrod]

My jeep was not blowing cold, so my buddy came out to work on mine, 2 cans later all good now 40 and I have cold air now.

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by TreeGuy

Thanks for the recommendation! I took Mrs Tree’s rig to them today. They properly checked the system for leaks and recharged for a cool $85 in an hour flat. By comparison, Canadian Tire wanted $89.99 just to check things out and another $140 to recharge. I’m extremely pleased with the service and will certainly be using them again.

Tree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They would have did it for $59 if you asked but still a good price. I was not so lucky. Took the Caravan there and they found two leaks. Estimated at $1600 as parts alone are $900 (no aftermarket) and the lines go all the way to the back. Guess my wife will just have to roll the windows down!

[omega50]

I was not lucky at all there today.
They did the recharge for the Groupon Price on my wife's Honda Fit.
System holds 1lb but the evac showed it was at .85lb so leaks over 13 years.

Bad news no power to compressor. Checked fuses and relays-harness etc. Turned compressor by hand not seized- but a electrical issue somewhere so they can't run up the compressor to confirm it's status.

Electrical diagnosis would run 2 hours@$110 per hr plus repairs.

So will just use 4-60 ac just like the old days

Not the outcome I was hoping for.

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by omega50

I was not lucky at all there today.
They did the recharge for the Groupon Price on my wife's Honda Fit.
System holds 1lb but the evac showed it was at .85lb so no leaks over 13 years.

Bad news no power to compressor. Checked fuses and relays-harness etc. Turned compressor by hand not seized- but a electrical issue somewhere so they can't run up the compressor to confirm it's status.

Electrical diagnosis would run 2 hours@$110 per hr plus repairs.

So will just use 4-60 ac just like the old days

Not the outcome I was hoping for.

Frustrating. The quote I had from there at $1600 was $750 at RusTees Automotive out of Airdrie. Just trying to firm up a time that works for me and I am going to give them a try. He seemed quite knowledgeable on the phone. He said he doubted the lines needed replaced and it would be the rear evaporator instead. Worst case I just block off AC to the rear for around $250. Much better than $1600.

[32-40win]

A/C can pretty much guarantee to cost you 1000.00 to do anything much more than recharge it. If you have a 10 yr old vehicle and a hose goes, may as well do all of them, the others probably aren't far behind. Seen many cases of do one hose, week later, back for another, week later, another. Older vehicles often strip a hose fitting when working on a component such as an evaporator or condenser, resulting is a evap core or denser replacement. And your Cdn Tire recharge setups don't recycle and clean the freon already in your system. If you had a leak, you may have lost some oil as well, may be that you'll be buying a compressor shortly. And some internal components do deteriorate over time, like the receiver dryer/accumalator media , and can cause a compressor failure.
You can do all the hose changes and component changes yourself, but, you need to know the details of the oil charge, and then get it leak tested and vacuumed and charged by people with the proper equipment to save yourself from screwing it up.

https://www.sanden.com/failuremodes.html

https://macsworldwide.wordpress.com/...ars-ac-system/

[amosfella]

Originally Posted by AndrewM

They would have did it for $59 if you asked but still a good price. I was not so lucky. Took the Caravan there and they found two leaks. Estimated at $1600 as parts alone are $900 (no aftermarket) and the lines go all the way to the back. Guess my wife will just have to roll the windows down!

You can take the lines off, and if the hoses are leaking, you can get Gregg's to build you a new set of hoses. If the steel is leaking, you can get the hole brazed or tig welded shut.

On leaking hoses that are really hard to remove, I've cut just a foot or so out of the hose where the leak is, and gotten AC hose, brass barb fittings and narrow diameter hose clamps from greggs and put that together, vacuum the system out, and recharge. AC still working great 2 years later. Hope this helps.

[amosfella]

Originally Posted by Dean2

I just went through this in Edmonton and did a ton of research. Not a good idea unless you make sure it is real R134 and not R12. Lots of the kits are R12 and they will pooch your compressor in pretty short order.

Here is a link that will simplify what you need to think about. Find a good shop that knows what they are doing. Can't help you with Calgary. You aren't saving a thing if you save a hundred on the recharge and blow $1000 fixing the side damage.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=364431

The oils for R12 and R134a are not compatible. However, R12a is compatible with both oils.

[partsman]

Originally Posted by nimrod

My jeep was not blowing cold, so my buddy came out to work on mine, 2 cans later all good now 40 and I have cold air now.

Same here, 2000 grand Cherokee had it off the road for over a year due to bad brakes, then ended up off work since dec and now I finished it and no A/C, so grabbed my left over red tek and put it in and back to cold.

[32-40win]

Redtek has been known to cause fires when it leaks, apparently fairly explosive stuff as well.. We used to use reusable fittings on R12 hoses, no worky with R134a, they'll leak. R134A is a smaller molecule or something to that effect, lines have to be crimped. We converted a lot of units to R134 in the late 90's, change the hoses to crimp style, change all the O-rings to compatable ones, the compressor and the drier, so that people down the road would know what to put in it. You could put Castrol adaptors on the compressor lines as well, if the hoses were ok for R134a.