Hi all,
Has anyone replaced the ac compressor on a Multipla, what sort of job is it, easy, hard, don't bother ? mine is kaput, but the garage that diagnosed it want £400 to fit a new one !
Phil D.

The garage probably want a couple of hundred for the compressor. An hour or so labour, then abouts £60-70 to regas and test the system, maybe swap a few o-ring seals if needed and make sure the aircon is healthy.

I’d you do it yourself you will have to (my law) have the gas removed from the system as it is, even if it’s ‘empty’ there is still likely some gas in there and you are not allowed to just release it. So you’ll need to pay a garage with the relevant cetificates to do that. Then you’ll have to buy your own compressor which will still be a couple of hundred quid, for it and then take it back to the garage to have the system re gasssed and tested, any other little leaks might need addressing. And you’ll have to pay for that as well.

So realistically £400 might be a bitter pill to take but it is probably not a bad price for what’s involved. In bolting and bolting a new compressor in is the easy part. At least £400 would likely result in a working system. If the garage do it and do find another leak they won’t regas it but if you do it and take it to them for a regas they might charge you for their time and then you’ve got to fix the other leak take it back, test it again and so on, so to do It yourself could get expensive

philfatkid said:

Hi all,
Has anyone replaced the ac compressor on a Multipla, what sort of job is it, easy, hard, don't bother ? mine is kaput, but the garage that diagnosed it want £400 to fit a new one !
Phil D.

Click to expand...

Hi Phil,
My a.c. doesn't work either.
Anyone wishing to change an a.c. compressor has to have all of the refrigerant gasses vacuumed out of the system by a qualified person using special equipment first, this will add to the cost as will having the system refilled after the fix.

If your garage checked that the system is leak free , full of refrigerant and the compressor clutch is engaging when requested by a.c. controller and there is still no cold air then it may be the a.c. compressor.

If the a.c. compressor clutch/pulley unit is being powered on by the ac controller but just not working then you may just need a compressor clutch/pulley unit. you may be able to change clutch/pulley your self with out removing compressor from vehicle.

With vehicle running and control set to fully cold , interior fan on , when you press a.c. ,do you hear a clunk or click from belt end of engine?
see if centre of compressor pulley is now spinning?
Turn off a.c. Does the centre of pulley stop spinning?
If centre of compressor pulley spins with a.c. on the clutch is operating and if you still get no cold air then compressor likely faulty.

If ac clutch doesn't operate under the above conditions with a.c. on see if the compressor clutch is receiving 12v power to energise it. If it isn't getting power then the a.c. fault is not the clutch or the compressor but lies elsewhere.

Google a.c. compressor clutch some good videos.

It is possible the garage are saying you need a complete a.c. compressor including the pulley and clutch because they can't get the pulley/ clutch separately.
You may be able to get a good second hand a.c. clutch/pulley .

Don't know first hand but have read the multipla a.c. isn't very effective, but fingers xed someone will say from first hand knowledge their experience.

I just open a window or just put interior fan on full speed

Good luck

Jack

Thanks for your replies chaps, my aircon did work, from the time i bought the car (March) till 4 weeks ago, took it to a aircon garage near me (nice chap) he checked it out, said it needed a re-gas, which he did, £40, checked for leaks, all ok, everything was fine till last week, when it stopped working, i took it back to him, he checked everything again, said compressor was knackered,(a technical term) he showed me there was power to the compressor, by rigging up a temp one, and it kicked in when called for.
He gave me the price to replace it (as above) i asked him if i got a new compressor, would he replace it, he said no, as he wouldn't know the quality of the parts! but what he did say was, if i wanted to replace my self, he would decant the gas out of the system (which he has) and refill it when i'm done, for £30.
So that's where i'm at, so does anyone know if it's a pig of a job, or not, he said it's quite straightforward, but then again, he does them all the time.

philfatkid said:

Thanks for your replies chaps, my aircon did work, from the time i bought the car (March) till 4 weeks ago, took it to a aircon garage near me (nice chap) he checked it out, said it needed a re-gas, which he did, £40, checked for leaks, all ok, everything was fine till last week, when it stopped working, i took it back to him, he checked everything again, said compressor was knackered,(a technical term) he showed me there was power to the compressor, by rigging up a temp one, and it kicked in when called for.
He gave me the price to replace it (as above) i asked him if i got a new compressor, would he replace it, he said no, as he wouldn't know the quality of the parts! but what he did say was, if i wanted to replace my self, he would decant the gas out of the system (which he has) and refill it when i'm done, for £30.
So that's where i'm at, so does anyone know if it's a pig of a job, or not, he said it's quite straightforward, but then again, he does them all the time.

Click to expand...

That’s quite reassuring then, and will keep costs down and you know the rest of the seals in the system are good.

It’s no more difficult to change a compressor than an alternator, it’s mainly the mess as the pipes will undoubtedly leak oil everywhere (essentially the compressor is the sump for the aircon oil)
I don’t know specifically with your car but you can get the compressor on most cars out the bottom as they tend to be mounted low on the front or back of the engine.

Two points you must observe. Never work in a pit on aircon systems as the gas is heavier than air and will sink into the pit and displace all the air. It is odour and colourless and it can cause asphyxiation if you were to stand in a pit filled with aircon gas.

Secondly never smoke anywhere near it. If you inhale the gas through a cigarette it breaks down into some really nasty stuff.

Even with all the gas sucked out there can still be a little in there when you open up the pipes.

philfatkid said:

Thanks for your replies chaps, my aircon did work, from the time i bought the car (March) till 4 weeks ago, took it to a aircon garage near me (nice chap) he checked it out, said it needed a re-gas, which he did, £40, checked for leaks, all ok, everything was fine till last week, when it stopped working, i took it back to him, he checked everything again, said compressor was knackered,(a technical term) he showed me there was power to the compressor, by rigging up a temp one, and it kicked in when called for.
He gave me the price to replace it (as above) i asked him if i got a new compressor, would he replace it, he said no, as he wouldn't know the quality of the parts! but what he did say was, if i wanted to replace my self, he would decant the gas out of the system (which he has) and refill it when i'm done, for £30.
So that's where i'm at, so does anyone know if it's a pig of a job, or not, he said it's quite straightforward, but then again, he does them all the time.

Click to expand...

That's very good you have found an expert.
From what you posted sounds like he didn't charge much for what he did and took time to walk you through it.
I expect the majority of what he is quoting is parts and vat.
If you want a.c. back I would say get him to do it. His Labour charge is reasonable.
If he supplied compressor he has to warentee it.
If you supply a compressor from a supplier he does use he can't warrantee it.

I guess decision is do you want to spend £400 to get a.c. back.

By the way he may have quoted for a new drier with the compressor which is a good idea.

Best wishes Jack.

jackwhoo said:

That's very good you have found an expert.
From what you posted sounds like he didn't charge much for what he did and took time to walk you through it.
I expect the majority of what he is quoting is parts and vat.
If you want a.c. back I would say get him to do it. His Labour charge is reasonable.
If he supplied compressor he has to warentee it.
If you supply a compressor from a supplier he does use he can't warrantee it.

I guess decision is do you want to spend £400 to get a.c. back.

By the way he may have quoted for a new drier with the compressor which is a good idea.

Best wishes Jack.

Click to expand...

This is my dilemma, £400 is nearly half what i paid for the car ! so i'm looking to get it done as cheaply as possible, it's only a run-around to carry my tools (i'm an electrician) so if it's going to cost a lot of cash to repair, i won't bother.

I did reply to your message jackwhoo, but it says your inbox is full.
Phil.

philfatkid said:

I did reply to your message jackwhoo, but it says your inbox is full.
Phil.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up Phil.
I've cleared in box
Cheers

As nice as the aircon is to have,as said by others it really is quite poor in a Multi. Weirdly,the coldest I've ever had it in a car was in my old Rover 827. That thing could freeze a finger off!

Tubthumper73 said:

As nice as the aircon is to have,as said by others it really is quite poor in a Multi. Weirdly,the coldest I've ever had it in a car was in my old Rover 827. That thing could freeze a finger off!

Click to expand...

I've got to be honest, when it was working it was fine, it wasn't poor, as i have been told

Ok peeps,
A quick update, fitted the new compressor yesterday, not too bad of a job, once the inner wheel arch is removed (all of the screws were rusted beyond saving, had to drill them out) access is pretty good, during the process i found various nuts and bolts missing from a few places, one such place was holding the radiator in place !!! i quickly replaced this As an aside, the new compressor is noticeably heavier and better built than the old one :shrug: off to get the system re-gassed this morning, wish me luck.

Aircon all gassed up, no leaks, and it's colder than a mother in law's kiss