Hi People,
I have a LR2 2008. My AC stopped working recently, was just blowing hot air. I have taken it to a local garage and they reckon I need a new heater cooler, evaporator and expansion valve. Now whilst these parts are reasonably priced apparently to fit them, the whole dash board needs to come out to which the labour for this is very highly priced almost 4 times as much as the parts. They also said that it will take two weeks to do. What's worries me is this sounds like a job where there is some very easy money to be made out of a job that potentially may not even be the job that is required. I am female and have no idea about cars and the thought of being taken for a ride. Basically I am going to charged in the region of the equivalent of £1,000 just for the labour, not including parts. Now I do have to bare in mind that I do live in a super expensive country where prices are much higher, for example the main Landrover dealer here for spare parts are around triple the price as they would be in the uk.

Please may I ask the people that know if this sounds like a genuine job or not. and if it does is there someway of telling that this job would have been definitely carried out.
Many Thanks

Hello and welcome to the forum. As for your problem when did you buy the car. Also when did the car have a full service. Next have they not checked to see if it just needs a refill of the refrigerant. Mine in 2002 td4 freelander 1 and supposedly every two years the AC needs a refill. By the sounds of the worked needed this sounds like a complete work. Only reason for hot being blasted through is more likely lack of refrigerant to circulate and running warm. Also when did this stop doing this and have you got a leaks showing on the carpet or on the floor outside.

Hello and thank you
I bought it about a year ago, second hand private sale, no warranty unfortunately. it was fully serviced, ac too, just before I bought it. Since then, admittedly I haven't had a chance to have it re-serviced as when I find the money to something big tends to go on it and before I know it I'm cashless again. Anyway, regardless of that, the AC actually started paying up within two months of me having the car, so I got it topped up and all fine and dandy. from there it seemed to have a two month cycle until I managed to work out that if I kept it on 1st and 2nd blower, it lasted much, much, longer, so thought I was being clever and didn't carry through in getting it checked out properly (wrist severely slapped) . I recently had a fan issue and the whole fan had to be replaced as the car was overheating and from there, within a week the AC ran warm again, so topped it up again and it then only lasted a week. So this then told me, obviously, that I seriously needed to get it checked out. which is where we are at now with the above.

I'd get a second opinion.
There's very little reason to replace all those parts. The condenser and evaporator are long lived parts.

Edited as you are not in the UK.

Take you vehicle to the specialist auto AC garage there must be a few in your part of the world, the issue may be as simple as faulty sensor or valve which climate control has a few, as u have a modern vehicle the AC climate control will have an onboard diagnostic facility which a specialist will know about.

Ignore the post above unless you whish to return your vehicle to the UK, then you will have to explain "onboard diagnostic" to them Kwik Fit is that sort of place.


Sent from my iPad Air on a train.

Great, advice. Thank you, will keep you posted on how it goes