Where is the air con valve to recharge it?

[megane owner]

Hi, where is the air con valve to recharge it. Halfords could not find it ( I wanted the free air con check with them). Has anyone used the DIY recharge kits they do?

thanks.

[Privilege]

Think you will find it under the left hand black cover. It also covers the header tank and washer bottle neck.

Its released by turning the small black screws a quarter turn anti clockwise, then lift the screw and the fixing comes out.

[DaveP]

Hi, where is the air con valve to recharge it. Halfords could not find it ( I wanted the free air con check with them). Has anyone used the DIY recharge kits they do?

thanks.

Let me know how you get on with the DIY recharge kit - my a/c seems to be working less and less well (based on demisting performance at the moment rather than cooling!) so I'm thinking I might need to top up the gas but I'm reluctant to pay the dealer £90

[IainMW]

I don't know how these kits work but the air con system is supposed to have a specific amount of gas in it.
To rechage any air conditioning system first of all the gas already in the system has to be extracted, this is weighed and stored safely whilst the diagnostic equipment checks the system for leaks. Providing none are found the gas is put back into the system along with any more required (if it was low?) until the specific amount in weight is achieved.
If these recharge kits simply add more gas, then you might over pressurise the system and do some damage, resulting in a much lager bill than £90?

Just a thought

[DaveP]

Fair point - I've never heard of DIY kits before. I do know that every car I've had with a/c gradually loses its gas and the system works less and less well until you give in and ask the dealer to top it up at the next service - I've never really thought about what is involved though and as my previous 5 cars have all been leased company cars I've never worried about the cost before!

[megane owner]

Thanks for the replies, Halfords do a free air con check and some of the kits they sell have a gauge on them so I hope I will not over pressurise the system the kit costs £24.95 (the cheaper kit has no gauge)Halfords will use the same kit to top yours up, £90 at the dealer seems a bit steep to me. Just wanted the free check to see if I needed a top up.

[DaveP]

This thread has gone cold (pun) so I thought I'd wake it up following some newer threads on aircon. I decided to look into the DIY kits again (but now don't need to as my dealer is going to do mine for free )
What I learn't may be useful to others.

You can't use the DIY kits with Meganes! (regardless of your views on whether you should or not and there seems to have been plenty of debate on that subject on various websites)

A/c systems usually have two service ports, a low pressure port and a high pressure port. There is some kind of accepted standard that there are two different sized connectors for the two types of port, the low pressure port being smaller than the high pressure port.

For some unknown reason renault have swapped these over on the megane and put a large connector on the low pressure pipe and a small one on the high pressure - this could result in a disaster if you tried to use a DIY kit with only limited knowledge. The kits are intended to attach to the low side port and add some gas (in vapour form) to top it up. The connector on the cans is sized to suit the usual standard (i.e. almost every car made except the megane and some lagunas) On the meg the can's connector will only fit on the high side port and if you were to do this you could possibly have the can explode!

[Jonault]

Honestly! The lengths Renault will go to just to keep a hand in your wallet over servicing and repair costs. DIY? Non!

[WebCode]

Davep: There is only one port on the Megane II A/C system and that is the Large HIGH pressure one!!

Renault have not reversed the connections on any of their vehicles as that would be downright dangerous and stupid..

[smoggie]

Webcode - are you saying, from your previous experience, that using one of these generic R134-A re-gas kits (with gauge) is safe to be used with a Megane? I pressume that the Large High Pressure fitting is the correct standard?

Many thanks in advance.

[The Negotiator]

Does anybody have any more info on recharging of the air con? I wanted to do mine but it seems like a minefield? I hate the idea of getting a 16 year old boy at Halfords to do it, who probably knows less than I do, if I can myself.

[Ray]

Home recharge kits aren't gonna work on the Megane.

Looks like you'll have to take it to someplace to get worked on by a 16 yr old.

[The Negotiator]

Cheers Ray, grr

[capital cat]

Kwik fit do it for £45 takes 30mins though as they have to connect to High valve

[Ali79]

Just noticed ths thread as i'd bought a recharge kit but it wouldn't fit the air con port under the bonnet. I'm glad i did a bit of investigating. My other option was to get a connector for the bigger port! Not good if its a high pressure line...

Guess i'll go and put the home recharge kit back and pay a visit to kwik fit sometime.

Tried the same kit once before on an old car but there seemed to be a leak in the system as even after emptying the whole can there was no rise in pressure from the system.

Ali.
Megane 225 cup