some food for thought:
an entire aircond system with ALL original denso parts for a 1999 iswara cost 2-2.4k ish.
not including labor/aircond gas etc

a Mitsubishi compressor ONLY for a lancer/inspira cost rm4k+ (SC price) part alone

depending on what needs to be replaced, you can get an idea on why air cond are expensive and why they should be serviced appropriately as it can save you hefty repair bills in the long run as opposed to replacing the entire part.

so if you think an aircond workshop is cheating you, think again.
when in doubt, go for second opinions before proceeding and most importantly go to legitimate workshops authorized dealers (eg: denso authorized dealer) or even SC

while you definitely need to pay more especially on the labor side, chance of them cheating you is a lot less and complaints/claims against them should shit happen/they actually cheated you is a lot more effective than against no name workshops (they don't have much to lose)

this.

a cooling coil ori denso is around 400-500+
not including labor to remove your glove box and troubleshoot (as nightstalker1993 mentioned) or use solvents to attempt to clean (if not leaking) etc

older iswara/wira shared almost all the same components in the air cond system

reminded me of my aircond trip last time (lol compressor/magnetic clutch exploded and had melted plastic bits all over my engine bay)

http://twitpic.com/photos/Quazacolt?page=24
the money shots:
http://twitpic.com/bl49d9
http://twitpic.com/bl49ii

yeap agreed.

there are reported incidents/forum threads that mentioned on service centers cheating as well.

the place i went to isn't cheap, but it sure as hell got ANY air cond job i've sent there done perfectly every time.

and their own "kpi" is that every car leaves there with less than 10 Celsius degrees on the thermostat mounted on the air cond vents.

the kancil gotten like 3 Celsius while the iswara went as low as 0.x c (pretty damn close to subzero lol) and the picture taken was 1.4 Celsius degrees with water condensation forming as additional proof as well lol.

compressor runs on oil as well:

similar to car's engine oil.

overtime you'll need to drain/replace, or even top up if there's reduction/loss in oil (eg: lots of usage especially under hot afternoon sun and you always have the air cond at maximum coldness temperatures to induce more compressor load)

typical compressor checking/refill/replace is 40-80k km or 1-2 years whichever comes first, or depending on budget. people tend to neglect this element, and only make noise when it's not working, and usually a LOT of noise because parts are VERY expensive.

not to mention, if the workshops/aircond shops are inexperience (eg: fail to troubleshoot on the first time properly), don't expect the layman to know any better as evident in this very thread.

good ma, that means proton not cheating you ma

no need also can.
some compressors are exceptionally resilient and tough, but the pricing of said compressors are exceptionally expensive too. and if you happen to blow a compressor (or it's magnetic clutch, whichever) and have it's debris/parts cycling in your air cond system, good luck

and by cats i assume you meant gas, gas is relatively cheap compared to full air cond service, WAY less hassle too.
notice how most aircond shops only refill gas and call it a day?
proper procedure is to have it vacuum (to remove any air in the air cond system)/cycle/recharging of the gas and that actually takes a bit of time having the machine running.

and to ensure a healthy air cond system, the drier unit is typically replaced as well during this service. think of it sort of an air filter.
not to mention the fan/cooling coil is typically removed and cleaned to ensure proper airflow so the compressor stress is reduced. (and it means fresher air in the cabin too)
then of course for modern cars the cabin filter is also replaced.

typically this servicing can cost between 200-500 or so depending on your car dashboard/aircond designs, and parts (such as drier/cabin filter) pricing.

well if you're taking a step further on preventive maintenance, that's needed since the moment you drain the compressor oil the gas is leaked anyways lol

and with modern car/dashboard designs, the moment you whack the fan blower/cooling coil it's not going to be cheap on labor already, might as well lo.

if budget is tight, consider just dragging the interval especially if the air cond is still fine and you're just doing preventive maintenance.

I've been told afterall even with proper preventive maintenance the compressor is going to eventually die someday anyways, just sooner or later.
maybe you can just f*** all on those maintenance and just gas refill/recharge all the time until the compressor die and just replace it one time deal lol. (iinm, the mitsu compressor from proton sc is exactly "4444.xx" ringgit, awesome number wei lol)

oh not familiar with the term

but yea my iswara had my compressor blown while i was red lining on highway.
not a pleasant experience rofl

and it's since then i started looking into air cond maintenance

iswara easy, inspira cooling coil

and yes they do have way better controls instead of a stupid pulley only/magnetic clutch. (lol the entire magnetic clutch melted for my iswara case and the melted liquid splashed and stuck all over around the engine bay)

not sure if that would increase the cost, because damn rm600-800 ori denso compressor compared to 4k is a huge difference for technically the same thing (well, a compressor lol)

con jobs lo, same system, 1 cost 4 times less

have you considered taking in second opinions? my aircond shop to go to:
http://www.denso.com.my/content/service-de...st.php?state=14


won't be cheap though especially if part replacement is involved

Highly agree on overfilling.
heck the second hand kancil i gotten it was "upgraded" (by previous owner) to a bigger compressor with bigger pipings/expansion valve, and what that did is that it over pressured the air cond system and sapped way too much power from the small measly 660 cc engine

my air cond shop generally prefers to avoid second visit, so if a part is not performing well already, replacement is advised.

however for the kancil they suggested against replacement (of the compressor) since it's still working and as they are confident that it'll last long, i don't mind trusting them and so far experiences has been very positive for the 2 cars i've sent there
expansion valves were replaced to minimize the pressure, and the drier replaced since we do not know it's previous condition.