Last time I had the A/C recharged I took it to the Toyota dealer. They told me that they had to use a special machine so that my car and/or their machine wasn't contaminated, because the Prius has special non-conductive oils/fluids in use. OK, fine, the A/C recharge wasn't expensive so I didn't really care too much. But now I live 1.5 hours round trip from the dealer and I want to get the A/C looked at. Can I get the A/C examined/serviced at the local garage (Bosch - seems competent), or was the dealer right and I should take it back there? Thanks, Andy
If you are confident that the local garage fully understands the Prius AC has an electric compressor and has the correct non-conductive oil. If not, the inexpensive recharge will get expensive if the electric compressor is damaged.
Andy, The Toyota dealer is correct. Toyota uses a special "ND-11" oil. A separate set of gauges and hoses and that NEVER has been with other R-134a oils is set aside to be used only with Prius AC service. If your local AC shop understands this and has set aside a separate set of equipment, then you are fine. Then again, I might NOT trust the shop, as they may be lying just to get your business. The damage from contaminating they system with other oils might NOT show up for years, if even at all. But, if it does, the offending party would likely NEVER admit it, or the statute of limitation for liability has long past.
How often is this happening, and is it due to a lack of cooling, or? AFAIK, you should never need to recharge an AC system. If periodic recharge is needed, there's a leak in the system that should be addressed.
