Team-BHP - A/C mechanic - S.Jagannathan Auto Air conditioner (T Nagar, Chennai)

Services Offered

AC service FNG

What I like

A neat and thorough job of repair. They are good at diagnosis too. And they do a quite painstaking and neat job.

What I don't like

The final minor details, which were delegated to their junior mechanic (still in his teens) could do with a bit of work. So expect to do a final check for yourself and point out any issues you notice, they will be promptly and courteously rectified.

This is right on the busy North Usman Road and the shop is a tiny hole in the wall so parking is very limited. Anyway major AC repair work that involves stripping the dashboard takes at least 6+ hours, and he usually has one or two cars that are being worked on, so call ahead and fix up an appointment.

What I've bought from him

In my case, I had gone to change the evaporator coil on my Scorpio, which had developed a leak, leading to reduced gas levels and low cooling.

He offered a coil he had in stock for much cheaper (probably third party or reconditioned from some other vehicle) but I took an Uber to General Patters Road, where ML Automobiles, a large Mahindra authorized dealer, supplied an OEM evaporator @ Rs.6550. Labour + gas topup costs paid to S.Jagannathan came to Rs.5500.

Final minor works delegated to the teen mechanic needed some double checking. For example, a panel was left unfitted, and a setting on the aircon needed to be changed so that the AC compressor would kick in immediately rather than just letting the blower start and blow hot air in my face for 30 seconds.

Pointing these out led to the head mechanic / owner Mr.Vasant putting in prompt and neat fixes that took under ten minutes, and he then gave a rather gentle reminder to the junior mechanic that he needs more attention to detail.

But that's fine - the job was done, and done very well, all said and done. I am a satisfied customer, and another local BHPian friend I recommended this chap to went there to get his Civic coil replaced the very next day (all this was late last week), he said he was quite happy with the service as well.

Contact Information

S Jagannathan Auto Air Conditioners
New # 66, North Usman Road, T Nagar, Chennai 17

Landmarks

Opposite Repco Bank, and 4 buildings down the road from the Croma store.

Contact

J Prakash Jana (proprietor). 98848 56703

Google Maps

The shop is opposite this location marked here. https://goo.gl/maps/YQiXffYyEiu

I second @hserus ' recomemndation for this place.

Got Prakash's reference way back in 2011 from an old bhpian @camchennai and have seen that their diagnosis is quite good.

The cars that I've seen rectified are an old gen Camry, a Safari Dicor, an mHawk Scorpio, a Beat, an Aveo and a City.

The mHawk's fresh air intake was in bad shape causing rain water to enter the AC blower circuit but these guys managed to do a fabulous job in fixing the issue.

The Beat's issue was traced to low coolant, causing hi temperature and thus cutting off the compressor; any other place would have insisted on a compressor clutch replacement.

The only minus is that they don't have a Gas charger/recovery equipment but they more than make up for that with their diagnosis and rectfication.

On a side note, it is shocking to see a less than 4 year old Scorpio needing an evaporator replacement; speaks volumes of the poor quality of this part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vigsom (Post 4459594)

On a side note, it is shocking to see a less than 4 year old Scorpio needing an evaporator replacement; speaks volumes of the poor quality of this part.

It HAS done 51k km in those 4 years, of which 12k were in the past 6 months itself.

And I don't think the previous owner cared about replacing the AC filter at earlier intervals - Mahindra's replacement cycle only changes it every 20k km. That is grossly inadequate for the kind of dusty conditions on Indian roads.

Still yes, way too early for an evaporator replacement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vigsom (Post 4459735)

^^
Curious to know how the old coil looked like.

Could you post pictures of the old and new evaporators?

Attached. There was an oil stain on one side of the old evaporator, though not much dirt.

Also -

Quote:

Originally Posted by vigsom (Post 4459594)

The Beat's issue was traced to low coolant, causing hi temperature and thus cutting off the compressor; any other place would have insisted on a compressor clutch replacement.

He diagnosed the exact same issue for an Etios cab that had come while I was there. Pouring water on the radiator caused the AC to kick in, as the engine cooled slightly. He advised the cabbie to top up the coolant, as well as take his radiator to a professional radiator mechanic (there was one right across the road) for cleaning it.