GS450h Air Con Compressor gone @ 65k?

[davcom1]

Hi all,

I bought my Lexus GS450h a couple of months back and really enjoy owning it. Last week I had it MOT'd and serviced at my local Lexus dealership. Passed without any advisories - yay!

I also got them to do an aircon service (half price) as it wasn't blowing very cold. During the drive home, I noticed it was still not cold so took it back.

They've now told me that the compressor has gone and the cost of a replacement from them is £1900+VAT & fitting. I can open the window for that price!!

Apparently, the compressor/pump starts and promptly stops again.

I can purchase a 2nd hand pump for £100 upwards which seems worth a shout and they would fit without warranty, however, I'd feel better if there was more evidence that it is the compressor and not just a relay or wrong amount of gas! The car has only done 65k miles which seems a bit low for this kind of failure.

Is there a way of seeing fault codes or checking pressures/relays etc (without electrocuting myself!) Or can anyone recommend a hybrid specialist in the Devon area?

Thanks to all in advance and apologies that my first post is a request for help - I will try to return the favour when I've gained a bit more knowledge!

 

[Bluesman]

Hi David and welcome to the LOC, we are a friendly bunch and some of us even know how to pull them to bits and put them back together again, with of course the one bolt and washer left over.

I cant help with your present queries but I'm sure someone will be along ASAP.

We recommend you spend a couple of mins looking over the rules of the LOC, we will be asking questions later

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/terms-conditions/

 

Regards Mike.

[davcom1]

Hi Mike, many thanks for the warm welcome. I can confirm I've read through the rules (thanks for the link) and am confident for when the questions begin! 

Regards,

David

[steve2006]

Hi David and welcome to the LOC.

What concerns me is that a Lexus dealer did an AC service and initially failed to diagnose a faulty compressor which would surely have been noticed during the service.

You are right in thinking low gas levels would cause the symptoms you now have with the compressor cutting in and out quickly.

There are certain proceedures which must be followed when discharging/recharging AC systems and one of these is to check for leaks using an inert gas and dye before recharging, question is if the gas level is low or zero where has the gas gone from a supposedly pre checked gas tight system.

Personally I would go to one of the local AC places who offer a free check and ask them to check the system without mentioning what you have already been told to see if their conclusion confirms what Lexus said and then go from there.

I would also ask for my payment for the AC service to be refunded as they haven't completed the job.

[royoftherovers]

David, If you bought the car from a Dealer, then take it back to him to fix at his cost under the Sale of Goods Act,

If you bought it privately, then do as Steve suggests.

Good luck

Regards

 

John

[davcom1]

Hi Steve - good idea.

I actually took it to someone yesterday who reckoned the pump is fairly easy to swap but he didn't want to touch it due to the high voltage of the hybrid but will get someone to simply check the high and low levels.

According to the dealership, they first said it was leaking (after checking pressures) and then said it wasn't - apparently they may have looked at the wrong levels. The fact is that they have not checked for leaks!? They charged £59 for the aircon service and then nothing for the 3 or 4 hours when they had the car for the second time.

John - To be fair to the dealer (not Lexus), it was only a 90 day warranty and I'm a little outside of that.

Thanks both for the replies and advice.

When I get more info, I'll report back.

Regards,

David

[royoftherovers]

8 hours ago, davcom1 said:

Hi Steve - good idea.

I actually took it to someone yesterday who reckoned the pump is fairly easy to swap but he didn't want to touch it due to the high voltage of the hybrid but will get someone to simply check the high and low levels.

According to the dealership, they first said it was leaking (after checking pressures) and then said it wasn't - apparently they may have looked at the wrong levels. The fact is that they have not checked for leaks!? They charged £59 for the aircon service and then nothing for the 3 or 4 hours when they had the car for the second time.

John - To be fair to the dealer (not Lexus), it was only a 90 day warranty and I'm a little outside of that.

Thanks both for the replies and advice.

When I get more info, I'll report back.

Regards,

David

Hi Dave,

The 30 day warranty is irrelevant. The Statutory warranty under the Sale of Goods Act is 6 months.

Regards

John

[PCM]

Did they check the Condenser is ok and not holed?

[davcom1]

To be honest, I'm not sure what they actually did in all. They did say it is not leaking refrigerant but only deduced this by measuring the pressure, and said it was ok... this was after first saying it had lost some (because they may have looked at the wrong specs for the car).

Is there a way to retrieve fault codes or would these be misleading?

I'll call Lexus and ask the guy for more info from the mechs.

[davcom1]

To Mike, Steve, John and Piers plus anyone else who might have been looking at this thread, I thought I should provide an update...

With Steve's original advice, I went back to my local Lexus garage who said they would happily have the car back to perform some more detailed tests which they did FOC. They said everything pointed to the compressor being faulty.

I wasn't prepared to fork out £2k on a new one and so searched that well-known auction site for a secondhand solution. Was surprised that there was a few to choose from although it looks like the same compressor is used on a number of vehicles.

In the end I opted for a car spares place in Lithuania (I think much of their vehicles are ex-UK anyway) and paid £90 + £25 shipping via DHL, all of which they sorted.

My local Lexus garage were happy to swap the compressors over for me (for a couple of hours labour and some specialist oil) and I'm happy to say it all works brilliantly!

Thanks to all for the free advice and hopefully, as I learn more, I can chip in to help others.

David

[Chasdad]

That surprises me lexus would fit a second hand part. I took my ls to a so called air con specialis and was told it needs a condenser and compressor.  They didnt want to fit either secondhand in case they were faulty

[davcom1]

12 hours ago, Chasdad said:

That surprises me lexus would fit a second hand part. I took my ls to a so called air con specialis and was told it needs a condenser and compressor.  They didnt want to fit either secondhand in case they were faulty

Yes, they seem keen to do the work. It was done under the agreement that there was no guarantee but it was a risk worth taking vs the cost of a new part.

[Z28DUNC]

Would the compressor have been covered under warranty if you'd had a warranty with Lexus? I'm just being paranoid now as ours is going in on Wednesday for a aircon service as it stopped blowing cold a few weeks ago.