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How long to fit a compressor?


Lucinda
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Go on, guess!!!

I have an Opel Astra which, after less than 4 years and 36000kms, has a failed air con compressor. Over the last couple of months I have taken this issue up with GM France because I don't believe a compressor should fail (and yes it has had regular use!!) in such a short time.

The original estimate I had from the Opel Garage in Bergerac was for 730,58 euros (although they did inform me afterwards that it would be more as they'd got it wrong!!) and it would take 2.4 hours to fit.

Eventually, GM France came back to me and said that the dealer had agreed to offer me 10% off the cost of the parts and 50% off the labour costs. So, I emailed the dealer to get another quote.

When it arrived, I was horrified! WITH the discounts the quote has now come in at 994,06 euros!!!

Why? Well because it is now going to take SIXTEEN hours to fit the compressor

Another letter to GM France! They have just phoned me back to say that the reason it is now 16 hours is because it took the mechanics almost that long to find the fault with the air con.

OK, I'm a woman, I know nothing about cars, I'm English BUT I'm not stupid

In the intervening weeks my car was taken to an independent garage. It took the mechanic ten minutes to find the fault and even less time to give me an estimate for a new compressor to be fitted.

The estimate comes in at less than half the second estimate from Opel and it's going to take around two hours to do.

Will I ever take my car back to the Opel dealer in Bergerac? Will I ever buy another car manufactured by GM? I WILL NOT!!!

Lucinda
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Now this is a coincidence because just last week  a German colleague of mine drives an Opel Zafira (which let's face it, is an Astra in sheep's clothes) and was complaining about the troubles he has had with the air con.  It seems that it would keep losing the refridgerant fluid.  One by one, they replaced all the pipes (at his expense, not covered by warranty), he was convinced it was the compressor as he could hear an unusual noise but the garage took no notice of him.  Anyway, in the end the garage agreed it was the compressor and wanted (I think) around 550 euros to replace it. He was also offered some deal about signing a waiver and getting 50% off the labour costs.  At this point he whips out his extended warranty and says fine, fix it under that!! He is also trying to get the money back for the unsuccessful 'fixes'.

Guess who else won't be buying an Opel again

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The Astra is somewhat renowned for A/C problems and failure at this sort of age and mileage seems far from uncommon.

Your original quote of €730 and 2.5 hours seems about par for this type of job but 16 hours is taking the pi55. Diagnosing a faulty compressor should take minutes, especially at a main Opel dealer, and you should not be expected to pay for their inefficiency.

If you have another estimate for around €500 then frankly I would say that it sounds a bit too cheap and I would check to ensure that they are fitting  anew compressor for that and not a reconditioned one (nothing intrinsically wrong with that as long as it's guaranteed). Alternatively they could have diagnosed the fault as something else. I found the information below so you may want to check if yours is one like this and if this is actually your the problem.

"The compressor on this model does not cycle

on/off when the a/c is switched on as it is a variable displacement

type pump that changes its output according to the load requirement. A

de-ice thermostat is fitted to some models and should open circuit when

the evaporator temp reaches approx 3 degrees. A defective thermal fuse in the

clutch coil is very common on these and can be bypassed with no adverse problems. A replacement coil is available from GM

at around £90."

You should be be aware that problems can occur with replacement compressors if proper procedures are not observed when fitting them. Unfortunately any damage occurring through incorrect fitting may not be immediately apparent but show up as a failure days, weeks, or even months later which is why I say make sure you get a good guarantee. One would hope that your local garage are aware of the procedures but I have pasted them below so you know what they are and can insist they be observed. You will never know if they have of course but it could strengthen a claim if you do experience premature failure. It could also lessens your disadvantage of being an English woman if they think you know what you're talking about [:'(]

When a failed air conditioning compressor is

replaced it is vitally important to

have the lubricant distributed evenly throughout the compressor and the system before

engaging it for the first time.

If this is overlooked and the compressor is

engaged immediately after it has been charged with refrigerant what can happen is that all the oil in the compressor will be

pumped out whilst there is no oil entering the compressor on the other side. This is caused by

the fact that it takes some time for the oil to flow through the

system and mix with the refrigerant. The result being that compressor may be damaged because of a lack of lubrication during the

crucial first few minutes of operation.

This will of course be more problematic after the system has

been flushed which will usually be the case after a compressor has suffered a catastrophic failure with metal particles

from the compressor being pumped around the entire

system.

A rule of thumb when installing a new compressor is to manually turn the compressor

pulley to make sure that the oil is distributed through compressor evenly. Experienced engineers will normally turn the compressor 10—15 times to ensure that this has been achieved.

Even before fitting there is work to do to prepare the compressor, knowing and following the procedure will be of great

importance if a newly installed

compressor should fail after a short period of time and within its

warranty period.

Generally new compressors are supplied

charged with oil but it is always recommended that you check this by

draining to check the actual amount

of oil in it.

Then, once you have removed the old compressor,

you should do the same again, empty the compressor of fluid to see how much was in it and then fill the new

one with the same amount, this is to avoid

over charging the system with oil.

After this has been done and the compressor

has been fitted, do not engage the compressor with the engine running until the following steps have been

followed.

1, Open all air louvers at the dash board

2, Start the engine and let it warm up and stabilise at idle speed

3, Set the blower at maximum speed, engage the a/c system and operate it continuously for 2 minutes at below 1500 rpm.

After the two minutes the compressor oil

will have distributed evenly throughout the system.

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Thanks Ernie Y. The compressor is going to be replaced at a reputable air-con specialist in Bordeaux. It is a completely new one - not reconditioned. I have absolute faith in the people who are going to do it - in fact, in the person who is going to do it as I have known him for many years and he is fully qualified in this field. It was only when my son came home from Toulouse that I found out his long time friend Pierre-Luc is a specialist in air-con systems. The quote I have is from the company he works for and so the work will be fully guaranteed.

I am pretty disgusted at the way GM France and Opel have handled this situation and I'm fully aware that I'm not the only person to get caught like this.

GM cars seems to have a pretty poor reputation these days - If only I'd known but then hindsight is a lovely thing............................... 

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EXACTLY - although I would dispute it if I ever received it!

I have been leaning on both GM France and the garage but I get the continual "shrug" of the shoulders from both. GM seem quite happy that the garage have included this time to diagnose the fault in their estimate even when I pointed out that it took ten minutes for Pierre Luc to give me a definitive answer!!

Oh, and just something on Ernie Y's comprehennsive post which I forgot to mention. This new generation of air con compressors no longer have a clutch on them (unfortunately!!). The have a valve which quite frequently gets stuck but it is an integral part of the compressor so once that valve goes you need a new compressor!! It's a cost and space saving modification for the manufacturers and a COST for the end user!! I am informed that if you have an old generation (ie with clutch) compressor you can largely expect it to go on for years and years and it is easy and relatively cheap to fix (unless you have a complete failure!!) - if you have a new generation one then expect (on the whole) to be paying for a new compressor every four to five years!! 

Lucinda 

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