Air Con not cold

Kopper · March 25

I have noticed the other day that the Air Con is blowing just air and it is not cold. The heating is fine.

I called the local Lexus dealer to book the car in next week but they confirmed that there will charge £160 Investigation cost as well as charges for repair afterwards.

Is there anything I need to ask them to particularly check? I also noticed the "Front" button doesn't show the windscreen icon on the display for air blowing from up but instead shows the forward icon. The air still blows without the missing icon. So not sure if it's all related.

2012 RX450H

Thanks

Spock66 · March 25

You could just ask for a regas, that may well fix the issue.

Best thing with air con is to leave it on all the time, otherwise seals etc can dry out.

Kopper · March 25

2 hours ago, Spock66 said:

You could just ask for a regas, that may well fix the issue.

Best thing with air con is to leave it on all the time, otherwise seals etc can dry out.

Yeah I made the mistake of not switching it on frequently during the winter.

Is it worth taking it to an independent garage for an assessment and if a re-gas is required, take to the Dealer?

Jagman · March 26

If you get a regas make sure they know it’s a hybrid that needs special oil ie ND11 and not PAG as used in normal cars. Otherwise can ruin the compressor which actually runs in the oil.

Good luck

katabrontes · March 26

I have always kept my Aircon running permanently. After my son told me that it dropped his mpg (Toyota Supra) by more than 5 I checked my Saab900 and ran a full tank with Aircon on and again with it off. I don't recall the actual figures (it was about 30 years ago) but it was only single figures on a whole tank. I also read about oil seals drying out if Aircon wasn't used for several weeks or months. Additionally it keeps the air in the car much dryer so demisting is much better in winter. Given the ratio of power used by the compressor compared to the engine you wouldn't expect it to affect mpg very much anyway.

As to your problem my guess would be it needs a regas. I would expect to do this every few years so if it hasn't ever had one it probably needs it. An independent should be able to do this for you for less than the diagnostic cost.

fezman · March 26

had this happen on my 2013 RX. Happened on the hottest September day in recent history, and I had a 150 mile trip!! Typical.

Dropped it into the dealers and they said the aluminium pipes had corroded (yes ali can corrode) on the aircon unit. Fortunately for me it was under warranty still, so a new aircon unit was installed. I understand there wasn't much change from £2k.

Spock66 · March 26

10 hours ago, Kopper said:

Is it worth taking it to an independent garage for an assessment and if a re-gas is required, take to the Dealer?

Personally I would just take it to the dealers and ask for a re-gas which should include checking for leaks.

I would not expect it to cost any more than what they have quoted just for diagnostics.

Kopper · April 3

I took my car in for the re-gas this morning and was advised the following for attention in the near future:

Air conditioning compressor noisy - during testing was discovered that the compressor is now beginning to fail, to prevent this. A new unit will be required.

£4,010.98

The cost for replacement was a shock. That's nearly half the value of the car 🙄

Has anyone had this replaced or taken it to an independent garage to reduce costs?

Malc1 · April 3

is there the availability of a reconditioned unit or maybe have your's reconditioned by a specialist somewhere ?

Malc

Spock66 · April 3

There is another recent post where Lexus advised a Noisy compressor was normal (I guess depends who is paying).

Is the air con now working, do you have an excessive noise?

Kopper · April 3

2 hours ago, Spock66 said:

There is another recent post where Lexus advised a Noisy compressor was normal (I guess depends who is paying).

Is the air con now working, do you have an excessive noise?

To be honest,I've never noticed anything noisy than the usual sound of the air con.

The Aircon is still not working so I have called a few car air con specialists for advice and got quotes of around £1200 for a replacement compressor.

I did mention that it needs the ND11 oil but I was told that a quality "snow leopard" branded oil for hybrids is what they use normally.

Is that right?

Madsod · April 3

Hi Ben,

I don’t pretend to know about the different oils but doing a quick search on Snow leopard oils I found the document below on their product along with an explanation of the ND11 oil type from another site.

it would seem you need MRL85 from Snow Leopard range if I have read it correctly but I’d check with your intended AC specialist to confirm.

What is ND-oil 11?

ND-oil 11 is a so called Polyol Ester Oil. (POE oil) ND-oil 11 is used in the DENSO electric driven scroll compressors, because POE oils have a very high isolation resistance. POE oil is less hygroscopic, compared with PAG oils. However, POE- and PAG oil react differently on water ingress.

https://primalec.co.uk/resources/Primalec-Air-Conditioning-Solutions-En.pdf

hope this is of some help.

Kev

katabrontes · April 4

I had the compressor fail on my Saab900T in about 2004. It just suddenly seized and the belt burned on the pulley. A bit dramatic. It appeared that one or more of the blades had broken and locked the rotor solid. The best price I could find at the time was about £1,800 from an independent Aircon specialist so your quote of £1,200 if it includes fitting is pretty good.

Malc1 · April 4

2 minutes ago, katabrontes said:

rom an independent Aircon specialist so your quote of £1,200 if it includes fitting is pretty good.

provided this is all the problem really is ....... is there anyway to getting a firm price that they will hold to, to make it all work fine ? and give a warranty too maybe

Malc

Kopper · April 9

Just an update.

I took it to a car air-conditioner specialist and after he ran diagnostic tests, he could not find any faults with the compressor or detect any leaks.

I therefore got it re-gassed and serviced for £100 and it's ice cold now.

Whether the compressor will pack in at a later date only time will tell but hopefully I will have my car sold by then.

Thanks all

MUDGUTS · June 2

On 4/3/2024 at 11:44 AM, Kopper said:

I took my car in for the re-gas this morning and was advised the following for attention in the near future:

Air conditioning compressor noisy - during testing was discovered that the compressor is now beginning to fail, to prevent this. A new unit will be required.

£4,010.98

The cost for replacement was a shock. That's nearly half the value of the car 🙄

Has anyone had this replaced or taken it to an independent garage to reduce costs?

The compressor on my wife’s RX300 is incredibly noisy. I made some enquiries at the time and came to the conclusion that we should live with it and on hot days use sparingly. It had a re gas at an independent a few years ago and has been functioning OK ever since.

When my RX 450h was in for the plugs and service at Lexus Coventry I was told:

‘A/C HP pipe leaking’ and quoted £620 for replacement. £170 for parts, £450 for labour. I asked how the Technician could tell it was leaking, had he pressure checked, etc. and also asked for the old pipe to be returned afterwards. This was once booked in but before I had taken it in. Then started the odd request to bring it in earlier, leave it with them, there might be bolts that had seized, etc. I suspected there would be ‘another issue’ once it/was with them some cancelled.

I took it to an independent again and had it re-gassed for £66. It’s been fine for weeks.

Bear in mind that a re gas is more than a top up. They empty the system, check it will hold a vacuum, then fill it. Mine held the vacuum so although there could have been a small leak that LED to the gas leaving over years before I bought it, it’s probably minuscule.

Some might say that the technician observed the A/C wasn’t working and assumed the most likely cause, which generates work for the dealer.

I used Lexus Coventry years ago when Tom was there and always had good service but this recent episode left me feeling suspicious and frankly I don’t rate the Service Manager there now.