Leaking, dead aircon on a '98 V70 T5 SE Auto. Evap?

[jcowburn]

Hi All, the air con has finally given up the ghost on Esmeralda, our beloved '98 V70 T5 SE Auto (160k miles, silver). I know it's a big job to get at the evaporator etc and will cost well in excess of the "book value" but that is of no concern as she is in beautiful nick and now getting rarer. I live near to Bedford, can anyone point me to someone locally who can do the magic with dyes and stuff to :-a) find the leak(s) and then replace the bits and indeed any other potential failures while the dash is removed. She's routinely serviced by a very good chap in Hertfordshire who is a Volvo specialist but he's not that minded to do the A/C. Also just as a rough guide, assuming it is the evap and other bits of pipe etc behind the dash roughly what would we be looking at to get the A/C back to normal in terms of time and bits? 3-4 days labour? Bits £1K? Cheers for any guidance and comments. Jim

[jcowburn]

I'm pretty certain that the leak is inside car/dash etc as after the last re-gas, there was a faint oily smell in car and a greasy oil film developed on the inside of the windscreen when the A/C was running. It ran cold for a few days after the regas but then gradually gave up. The system can heat the car fine in winter and if the external air temp is much below about 10c then it's not an issue, but during thse balmy days of English summers then it's a windows open job.

[st1t5]

I have just had our C70 leak tested by Kwik Fit as they can provide that service. To just have the leak test carried out it cost an hours labour at £35. They found the leak then showed me. They can fix the issue if you wish and they will give you a quote, usually anything to do with air-con is not cheap though.
On our car it was the condenser that had leaks, more noticeably from where the 2 metal pipes join and connect at either side of it. To supply and fit a new genuine condenser and the re-gas i was quoted £275. However if the 2 connecting pipes at either end decide to snap then it gets really expensive, all in to change both pipes and condenser its about £650.

[5seaterT5x2]

Just done my 850 it was the dryer under the bonnet behind the drivers side headlight bit of a pain and needs one specialish tool got the dryer of flea bay about £32 odd a Delphi