[tellanand]

@shekaran - thanks. I called Anand and he picked up the phone this evening. I'm meeting him with my Car tomorrow.

@dkarthikkeyan - I'll send you my phone number to your email id.

Sundaram Honda told me that based on their past experience changing the condenser coil / clutch assembly alone may sometimes not fix the problem - the condenser might fail next, in which case they have to change all three (coil, clutch and condenser) again - which is why they are recommending to change the entire assembly at the first shot.

But, I'm really don't have a good feeling about this - Sundaram Honda oflate is just fleecing (I have other instances to quote as well) customers - all they care about is money - they care a damn about their customers. I can see the way they sell their useless side products everytime I go to get my car serviced with them!!

[esteem_lover]

I am not sure you can just change the coil and the clutch in the compressor, if it can be, it is a Pudupet job, not from Honda. I would suggest you find a good AC mech and get the whole system changed, meaning compressor, condensor and CC if necessary.

[rubicon]

My experience for Zen with two of the A/c mechanics suggested in this thread.

1) A C Team Services
2) Suresh Car A/C posted by Sukumar (lancer&shogun)

A C Team Services located at Vyasar Street, T.Nagar (adjacent road to Barbeque Nation).

Kumar is the proprietor (an old guy, carries a lot of experience in car a/c service, has a well equipped garage in his residence). But of all - highly egoistic which translates to poorest customer service.

Walked in to his garage two Saturday's ago and he was in his lunch break (home a floor above the garage). The mechanics advised me to leave and requested me to call him first (only to the landline number in his garage) to seek a time when I could make a visit.

So left and called him later on the same day and I was asked to come in on Tuesday at 10 AM.

Stepped in Tuesday morning at 10 AM and was able to meet Kumar. I just said, the cooling effect completely stopped all of a sudden and only the blower is running. After enquiring the cars year of manufacture, he quickly peeked at my car from about 20 feet distance and said all a/c hoses need to be replaced and then gas refilling.

It would cost Rs.4500 + anything that turns out to be faulty during the course of repair and needs replacement. Car to be left in the garage for 2 full days to complete the job.

As he did not even open the hood, I walked out with a polite thank-you.


Called up Suresh Car A/C and asked him the directions to his garage and reached him.

He had a very functional car A/c garage. He has got all the required equipments and a bunch of enthusiastic youngsters (were working on a couple of Scorpios for additional roof A/C, 2 Indigo taxis of fasttrack & a Amby registered with TMS series of number plate).

Suresh himself was very down to earth and seemed to be very frank in his communication.

He checked my car along with a helper and spotted an oil leak near the pipe connecting to the condenser.

He insisted that I am prepared to spend about 4 hours at the garage as its my first time visit and I would get confidence in his work.

The work began by removing the bumper and changing the faulty O-ring. He went ahead and cleaned the cooling coil after removing the glove box. Then performed a 2 hour pressure test by pumping in air and leaving the pressure gauge connected. No other leaks were detected.

Air was released and left for a while after which 134 gas was refilled. It took a whole gulp as it was a complete filling.

Everything turned out to be fantastic with excellent cooling effect. Have been using my car with A/c for the last one week and I am extremely satisfied.

Total charges for everything - Rs 1200

With confidence he says, I guarantee my job and you can call me anytime and drop in if required.

Without a doubt, he is my A/c mechanic from here on and will be visiting him with our Verna & Fiat very soon.

Contact Details :
V.K.Suresh Kumar
Suresh Car A/C
17F Parthasarathypuram,
North Usman Road, T.Nagar
(First left after Nokia Care near New Kodambakkam Fly Over)
Mobile : 98413-19844 , 99416-29996

[wheelspin1712]

Hey All

I got my A/C serviced today on my 2002 City (which i bought couple do months back) I guess this is the first time ever it has been done. See snaps..it was just so bad.

The guy cleaned the motor, coil, hose line with vacuum and then oiled the motor and charged it. Final bill Rs.2900. Not sure if i have got ripped off, but for the amount of garbage that he cleaned from the A/c system it looked worth.

The guy is Selva, (Siva Ranjani Auto Air con)has home /shop at the end of Beach road in Kalakshetra colony, Besant Nagar, Chennai. Cell - 9884243118.

The A/c is breathing much better now. I can feel an instant difference.

[MillionSwords]

Originally Posted by vdiatech

The pipe he got was not bent at the right places, although they were for a corsa ! He was as confused as I was. Then it was decided to the fix the hose in the old pipe itself. That took another day.

All things were put back and entire system was checked for leaks. None ! So after a bit of oil and gas things started working fine.

Its been over a week now, and AC works fine. Fingers crossed !

Total bill, 2100rs, incl gas Pipe repair (900rs) Labour !

I will be a regular customer at his and would always reccomend him!

same experience here. I took it to the 14 shops Anna nagar guy. He without looking for what the problem is, told me to change the coil. Did not mention any repair that could be done to the leak. 9300rupees. I came back with thoughts of when to spend that amount. With a new baby in the family' it was tough to take her out in the hot Chennai weather.

Then remembered seeing this thread long time back. Searched the thread and got his number, called and met him today after a month long procrastination. The moment he came to check, after his young and enthusiastic boys have done the prelim checks, he said, i will ask them to release the gas. Once it is out, wi shall insert pressure and check for leaks. If the pressure level holds, we are out of leak. New gas will do the necessary. - neat plan and explanation. I liked it. I thought he will take a day and ask me to come later. No. Wrong, he had already started to work, 45 mins later, no leaks. Filled new gas, all set, and ready to roll. Done. In 1 hour flat. 1300 rupees, and i'm back to go see my baby, to show her the chill A/c

Job well done. Won't i recommend him? Taking another friend tomorrow, and his Logan. will update tomorrows story again. !!

[wheelspin1712]

how much gas is required anyway when you service your a/c assuming that you remove everything and clean?

I ask this cause the guy who did it for me used one tin ( like the size of an air freshener) and I am now not sure if it was a new one either.

Its the 3rd day after A/c service and i feel the effect can be little better.

[dkarthikkeyan]

After a long delay, today I got a chance to take my NHC to Suresh(the a/c specialist) in Kodambakkam

Problem reported :a/c not working after 5/10 minutes or not at all working after start-up.
He checked and find that the compressor is not getting on.
Diagnosis:
1.Checked the gas availability using the meter he had and ensure that the problem is not due to non-availability of gas/leakage detection.
2. Checked whether the compressor is getting power(yes there is no power issue)
3. finally he suspected it to be compressor clutch coil problem and to check the entire compressor for any other worn out parts. This requires to dis-assemble the entire compressor.

Once he disassembled, he pointed out the worn parts of compressor clutch coil and this needs a replacement. He ordered the original one which costs 2000Rs and replaced it, cleaned the entire compressor and pulley set.
Mounted the same and started checking for any leakages and ran a quick 15minutes test to make sure the a/c has enough cooling effect.

Finally handed over the bill amt Rs4500(Compressor coil 2000 and labourer charges 2500) tip 100 to the enthusiastic boys and returned home happily with chilling a/c.


One word, yes he is a real a/c SPECIALIST who had numerous knowledge/experience in setting up a/c for the cars,travellers,etc.,

I would definitely recommend him for any car a/c issues.

FYI- For the same problem, Capital Honda quoted 30-40K and they said there is no other alternative apart from replacing the entire a/c set.

FYI- the new SANDEN compressor cost ~18K for NHC outside A.S.S.S

< A.S.S.S and the spares cost is something which needs a major change across all car manufactures/>

[callvvijay]

Thanks to all of you here - tomorrow I am taking my Alto to Suresh for checking the AC. For the past few weeks, my wife and parents (esp. parents who occupy the rear seat) were complaining that they don't feel the chillness at all and have been urging me to check the AC. After reading this thread, decided to take my car to Suresh.

Called him up today to check his availability. On telling the issue, he asked my car's year of mfg (May08) and odo reading (38K+). Just by hearing this, he said that it would be compressor coil issue and might need a replacement. He also said that most of the Altos face this issue. Has anyone faced this issue before?

Price of Compressor coil:
Subros - 5500/-. Though he said that its not easily available.
Another brand -3500/-. Was informed that this is also a good brand and people do buy this also. However, he said that he can confirm if a replacement is required or not only after checking the car.

[greenhorn]

I'm pretty new to chennai, and from the one time I went to T nagar, it was incredibly crowded. I'm planning to find this place out on foot and then take my car there. Any advice on when would be a relatively less crowded time to go there?

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I'm pretty new to chennai, and from the one time I went to T nagar, it was incredibly crowded. I'm planning to find this place out on foot and then take my car there. Any advice on when would be a relatively less crowded time to go there?

Went there today, and he was very professional to deal with. After checking my indica (It took him about 1.5 hours), he said that my compressor bearings are bust, and that we would need to change the compressor (10.5k for compressor, 2k for filter & 3K labour). When I asked him if i could continue without replacing, and what would be the impact, he just said that I could, and other than the vibrations, It should be fine.

Cost me 350 Rs for the check. He appeared competent. And honest advice is worth its weight in gold. Am definitely going there once/if my car ac goes kaput, and would recommend him gladly

[callvvijay]

Thanks greenhorn for your new posts that made me realize that I have not updated my earlier post with the review about Suresh (Car A/C Mechanic) after my visit.

As I have mentioned above, I did visit him and he was really competent. It did not require me to change the compressor coil. He removed them, cleaned and then put them back and filled the gas. The total charge was something around 1.5K - don't remember exactly. Post the service, the a/c was doing real wonders. Even during peak Chennai summer, it hardly took any time for us to fell the chillness. And, now even after 6 months of that service, it feels the same way.

He also advised me to keep the aircon in "re-circulation" mode itself and not to put it in "fresh-air" mode. The reason he said was that in cars like Alto, there are no filters which would take up the dust. So, all the dust from outside would choke the coil very quickly making the aircon ineffective soon. And to my question that we are always advised to use it in "fresh-air" mode for the first few minutes when we start, he suggested me to roll down the windows instead.

Would I recommend him? C'mon. Yeah!!

[DWind]

Hi,

The wiring harness (the wiring from ECU to the Fan speed selector) on my Santro needs to be changed. I had taken my car to a ac service center in OMR (next to Grand Sweets and Snacks, Kottivakkam) and that was the diagnosis. He had done a juggad by selecting a wire from battery to the fan selector switch. But now the fan works only in 2 speeds (as opposed to 3). Do you think Suresh would be competent in diagnosing the issue correctly and replacing the harness if required. The AC center in OMR said that he was not qualified to do it and does not have the spares. Please let me know your thoughts.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by dkarthikkeyan

After a long delay, today I got a chance to take my NHC to Suresh(the a/c specialist) in Kodambakkam
.
.

One word, yes he is a real a/c SPECIALIST who had numerous knowledge/experience in setting up a/c for the cars,travellers,etc.,

I would definitely recommend him for any car a/c issues.

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Went there today, and he was very professional to deal with.
.
.
He appeared competent. And honest advice is worth its weight in gold. Am definitely going there once/if my car ac goes kaput, and would recommend him gladly

Originally Posted by callvvijay

Thanks greenhorn for your new posts that made me realize that I have not updated my earlier post with the review about Suresh (Car A/C Mechanic) after my visit.

As I have mentioned above, I did visit him and he was really competent.
.
.
Would I recommend him? C'mon. Yeah!!

Good to see these many positive feedbacks about V.K.Suresh Kumar (Suresh Car A/C , Kodambakkam). With Chennai's super summer fast approaching, its time to visit him for a general A/C service (mainly cooling coil clean-up & gas top-up).

[Blue Thunder]

Has anyone used the services of Suresh Car A/C, Kodambakkam recently.
Both the numbers given above seem to draw a blank. Has he changed his numbers recently.

[raguprasad]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Has anyone used the services of Suresh Car A/C, Kodambakkam recently.
Both the numbers given above seem to draw a blank. Has he changed his numbers recently.

Hi Blue Thunder, did you happen to visit Suresh? is he still operating there? Do you have his latest contact number? I am planning to take my swift to him this saturday.