AIR CONDITIONING AGAIN.....

[collywobble]

The air con blows warm air even on 'LO' setting but turn it on first thing in the morning and it blows cool air. Did the calibration check and '0' on left hand side and nothing on the right. Haven't noticed the water draining out underneath recently, so - re-gas required?

[sgould]

There's a clear bit at the front where you can see the level of "gas".  Can't remember where it is now.  I saw it once.

[Audax]

If it blows cool first thing but not later it doesn't sound so much like low gas but might be worth checking, quite often there is a sight bubble on the drier bottle (attached to the side of the radiators) to see gas going around but I can't recall actually seeing a sight bubble on a 9-5 (it is there on c900 and 9000's I think) but it's not something I ever really checked.

[TomPaine]

Haven't noticed the water draining out underneath recently

Check your carpets in that event - it's quite common for the outlets to get blocked.

[Kev_Mc]

Mine went recently - turned out the wiring loom had gone through the air con pipe just behind the drivers side headlight. Had to get a new pipe (plus the front of the car taken off to get at it). Working fine now, but  a £350 expense I could have done without

[collywobble]

Car been in today to local air con specialist - diagnosis is leak in condenser which I'm told needs replacing.

They fit condensers from a company called Auto Air and have quoted me £112.89 +VAT for the condenser plus fitting.  Now a local motor factor has quoted me £181.19 including VAT for a Valeo condenser and I found a genuine Saab one on Car Parts Connexions for £171.30 plus carriage. as against Saab's RRP of £411.11.

Now firstly can I safely assume that as a lot of the electrical equipment on the car is Valeo that possibly the condenser is  too - or has anyone had any bad experiences with Auto Air condensers?

[Audax]

I wouldn't worry, if they want to fit a part from their supplier then they have to warranty the job, a condenser is the kind of thing that will fail within days or be good for years (or longer than the useful life of the car) so unless you want to keep this 9-5 forever and keep it fully genuine I'd let them fit what they want, it's not quite the same as a moving part or electrical item. If you ask them to fit your parts and the part fails they won't be interested in swapping it again for free.