Hi Everyone,

I have a weird requirement, does anyone know where/who in London would discharge the gas from the A/C unit of my mini. It needs to be done from a worskhop as i need a receipt as evidence that I have done this. Can I get confirmation that the 04 Minis run on the R134a gas, as im pretty sure my does .. but couldnt find the plate this morning .. will look again tonight.

Reason is im thinking about taking the mini back to Australia, just wanted to make sure this was possible if i have to do it. I called Kwik Fit but they only re-charge and that was going to cost £49 ... so how much would a dis-charge cost?

Also silly question, im guessing the heating will still work if there is no gas. Just the 'cold' function wont work?



Thanks

Any garage or mobile operator with A/C equipment should be able to discharge gas for a reasonable fee but don't leave it discharged for too long as rubber seals will degrade and moisture/corrosion will quickly damage components like your compressor internally if left open to atmosphere. Gas in all Mini's is later R134a and the heater should continue to work ok as it only relies on the engine coolant with a completely separate matrix to introduce heat.

You could always have a slight incident where a hose connection comes loose like;) and all the refridgerant escaped, whoops! then when you notice it "accidently sort of came loose" "due to vibration" was the cause leave the hose disconnected, thats visual proof the systems empty, better than any certificate.
Im sure air con hoses and unions do get damaged/cut/abraided etc and loose the refridgerant anyway to atmosphere, what happens to it in a good frontal crash? Im sure it doesnt just hang there in the air waiting for the recovery guys to collect it.
Of course you would never do this on purpose would you.

Accidents happen but I don't think we should further encourage people to pollute the enviroment for no good reason!........sadly it is because many of us as individuals think our little extra contribution won't make any difference that the human race is probably heading for enviromental disaster, unfortunately taking the rest of the natural world with us.......:(

I am also told it can also cause frostbite on contact with your skin or damage your eyesight should it get into your eyes when suddenly released from an a/c system under pressure.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies i only got a chance to call up Kwik Fit today since they do re-charging, but ill try some other shops as well. Good to know about leaving it un-gassed for too long ... geeze if it takes a couple of months to ship the mini over it might damage the compressor!

Thanks for confirming its R134a.

Cheers

Just on a curious note is the A/C gas the only thing you need to 'empty' before you ship you car over? do they say why?

I'm sure all the cars that come over from Japan etc have the A/C gas in them.