Aircon Repair: Mario Reyes

[rbortega1981]

cjgambit naalala na kita ikaw ung naka violet na highlander buti naman ayos na din ung sayo magaling talaga sina mang Mario at pati na rin ang mga taga tsikot at kay sir OTEP na nag dodoctor hehehee.........

[av8or5]

I don't want to be a bearer of bad news. But, I didn't like my experience with Mang Mario. I visited his shop for a regular aircon cleaning. (Please take note my aircon was working good) After two days, it wasn't cold anymore. So of course, logically, I just thought the Freon leaked. So back to Mario I go. They checked the Freon, and their was no problem. They checked my condenser and evaporator and they suggested the problem was with the cap of my evaporator. Not having the parts there, I went to Banawe to scout for the piece. Showed the parts to the shop for a replacement, the shop were quite surprise that it needed to be replaced. Anyhow, I replaced it and went back to Mario’s. They installed it and still the aircon wasn't fixed. They had me replace something else (forgot the name of the part), but still it wasn't fixed. It took almost the whole day till it was fixed. Finally they found the cause of the problem. A non-functioning hose. They replaced the hose and finally it worked. They just laughed at themselves for diagnosing the problem wrong. They only charged me for the part they replace minus the hose and labor...I guess they felt sorry for me going all the way to banawe and getting parts replace when it wasn't needed. I was going to have my other car aircon cleaned after my first car, but no more...I remember one tsikot members statement, "if it isn’t broken, don't fix it".

[wrcastro_ph]

Bro,

magkano naman lahat ang nagastos mo?

[av8or5]

Bro,

magkano naman lahat ang nagastos mo?

mga less than 2k...

[jim]

ako kapapalit ko lang ng compressor ko. 2.5K lang gastos ko. pero hindi kina mang mario. may kakilala kasi ako sa TAMBO PARANAQUE. nalibre pa ako sa labor kaya yun as in nakamura ako. sarap talaga pag may kakilala hehehehe. grabe rin ang lamig ng aircon ko ngayon nggggiiiiinnnnnnniiiiiiiiiggggggg.........

[wrcastro_ph]

ako kapapalit ko lang ng compressor ko. 2.5K lang gastos ko. pero hindi kina mang mario. may kakilala kasi ako sa TAMBO PARANAQUE. nalibre pa ako sa labor kaya yun as in nakamura ako. sarap talaga pag may kakilala hehehehe. grabe rin ang lamig ng aircon ko ngayon nggggiiiiinnnnnnniiiiiiiiiggggggg.........

2.5K sobrang mura yata nyan para sa compressor. swerte mo naman Bro..

[chieffy]

jim ano name? saan sa tambo? mas malapit kasi sa akin iyan...

[n0gz]

ako kapapalit ko lang ng compressor ko. 2.5K lang gastos ko. pero hindi kina mang mario. may kakilala kasi ako sa TAMBO PARANAQUE. nalibre pa ako sa labor kaya yun as in nakamura ako. sarap talaga pag may kakilala hehehehe. grabe rin ang lamig ng aircon ko ngayon nggggiiiiinnnnnnniiiiiiiiiggggggg.........

chief saan yan sa tambo? nagpagawa kasi ako sa ADELCO ung sa kanto ng pasong tamo edsa... niloko ako e... pinapalitan sakin ung expansion valve ko tapos ngayon nawala nnman ung lamig... nagpapawis ung evaporator ko... nag yeyelo... sbi nila BAKA ung sensor ung sira saka ung termostat ko daw... palitan ko daw... e bkit pa nila pinapalitan sakin ung expansion valve na wala naman palang sira? tulong naman... saan yan sa tambo? bago ko puntahan ung MARIO LAND

[av8or5]

if anyone has a suggested reputable establishment for cleaning of aircon..please post. i need to have my cleaned. no problem with my aircon. car about 2 years old..just for cleaning.

[niwde11]

if anyone has a suggested reputable establishment for cleaning of aircon..please post. i need to have my cleaned. no problem with my aircon. car about 2 years old..just for cleaning.

Bro, bakit mo palilinis. My esi took me almost 7 years bago nalinis(mahina lang lumamig) at pagkita ng cooling coil, malinis pa rin. unless marumi yung loob ng kotse mo lagi . sabi nga nung mechanic ko, "garbage in, garbage out". still uses the original drier and expansion valve. motto na rin yung "pag hindi sira wag palitan". yung a/c mechanic ko layo nga lang sayo, dito sa valenzuela. yung mga anak na nagpapatakbo kasi tanda na yung tatay nila na galing pa sa Macfrost(sila maintain colt galant namin nung araw).

[FrankDrebin]

av8or5, huwag mo ng palinis ang aircon mo. Medyo bago pa ang auto mo. Just like you posted earlier, "if it isn’t broken, don't fix it".

[vinj]

Be wary with the term "if it isn't broken don't fix it" as there is also an animal called "preventive maintainance". ;)

The best person to assess if your a/c needs servicing is no other then the user/owner of the car. If you feel you always use the a/c and you drive to dusty places, etc... or always park under a tree where leaves and stuff fall on your car, you can consider having it cleaned.

Not all cars a/c systems are the same with regards to maintainance, it also depends on the useage of the vehicle and not entirely the age.

My .002

[Mojo]

Mario record is still flawless,

although pumapalpak sila in a way, di naman sobrang bubu, hehehe a minor/good faith mistake, pero sa dami ng satisfied customer, parang probabilities lang nayari kay AV.

[OTEP]

No establishment is perfect naman. I've had a backjob or two with them in all the years we have been their clients. Pero malapit lang sa amin si Mang Mario. I can even go there without having to put license plates on some of our project vehicles.

On a/c cleaning: Hindi ko din pinapalinis a/c ko. Can of worms lang iyan. Dati religious din kami sa paglinis ng a/c pero pansin namin, same din ang reliability ng units. They will usually break after 4-5 years of service. So antay na lang masira. Linisin na lang kapag baklas na.

And I'm not very kind on a/c systems. I use mine even with my windows down on and off-road.

[Mojo]

btw had may aircon clean nun black saturday kay mang mario, heheha ayaw na ng anak nya gumawa kasi daw whole holy week, thursday at friday dami nila customers. hehehe, dahilan nya wala na daw freon, paalis na sana ako dumating si mang mario, hehe sinabi nya sa anak nya, gawin na daw, kasi nga siguro isip nya dayo ako at medyo malayo pinagnalingan ko.

Under sa araw, init init tinira nila bilis mag trabaho, 900 lang singil for the whole linis, drier replacement.

lamig ng aircon ko ngayon.

[spidey1211]

ok talga si mang mario..ang bait pa ng misis nya..tisay pa hehehehe..

pinaayos ko ung mb100 namin ksi lagi nauubusan ng freon at pag idle ang engine hindi lumalamig. pero pag tumatakbo na ok na lamig..may problem daw sa compressor..sabi ng isang talyer..so dinala ko kay mang mario..7am andun na ako..kala ko ako nauna..d pala..pang 3rd ako. sins tinawagan ko muna sila 1day ahead kya ginarahe pa din ung mb100 namin..so nilinis ung evaporator. front and back...and sins madami din sila ginagawa, palipat lipat din sila..so para d ako mainip nag sm muna ako..isang ride lang sa trike. then after an hour sabi may butas daw ung evaporator ko sa likod pero kaya hinangin..so go ako..then after 30mins..bumigay na daw ung compressor..d na raw kaya irepair ung piston..in short hanap ng surplus..after an hour txt sa akin si misis..ok na daw..i was expeting aroung 5500 ung babayaran ko...gulat ako sabi 4800 daw lahat..eh di ok..nag sabi pa na dapat palitan ko na engine belt.

afte 2days bumalik ako ksi parang d luto ung lamig..ginawa ni ryan..binawasan lang ng freon..after that ok na..over charging pala ng freon..tpos ginawa na din ni ryan ung engine belt ng mb100(ang hirap palang baklasin nun) ng tanungin ko si mang mario kung magkano..ok na daw un..ako na daw bahala sa gumawa..hehehe ok un d ba. so binigyan ko na lang si ryan para labor..kakahiya din ksi tlagang hirap na hirap sa pag tanggal.

after a week, 3 cars naman ang dinala ko dun..sa akin, sa barkada ko at sa sis ng barkada ko..500 each lang ang singil hehehe

bargain talga..

[revoGSX]

sulit talaga dyan kay mang mario.. baka balik ulit kami dyan next week para ipalinis aircon revo ni erpats.. 5K kasi singil sa casa hehe..

[Field Master]

Hi Guys I have good experience to share with Mang Mario's service.
My Fieldmaster a/c clutch (magnetic coil) wires were broken as it get into to the steering mechanism. Mang Mario help me keep my 9K pesos from getting into undeserving hands. Here's the story:
1) Friday night as I parked on one gimmick place along east avenue I experienced heavy resistance from my steering wheel as I turn the wheel and all of a sudden a thud sound emanates underneath. After the sound I regained control on steering. I did not bother to check what's going on as some friends are waiting.
2) After the gimmick I drove my car home without aircon though the blower is functioning well.
3) Saturday morning, I brought my car on a/c shop near the village. Diagnostics last for 2 hours with 2 technicians attending and all they could come up with is there is some electrical problem, check my wiring, evaporator, fuses etc etc related to electrical.
4) The shop owners arrived, joined them in problem analysis and finally pinpointed out that my compressor is not functioning as the clutch connection is gone.
5) It is then that I realized what that thud sound is last night.
6) The shop owner told me the following:
- They need to pull-out the compressor from under so they need to lift my car.
- The compressor clutch will be replaced with surplus as there is no way to reconnect the wiring. If i insist not they will not guarantee the wiring soldering reliability.
- Since the freon will be purged then I have to replaced the drier and front/rear expansion valve. If not they expect that this will give way in week time.
- Since the drier and expansion valve will be replaced it is advisable that the evaporator got some cleaning.
- All in all this will cost me 10K pesos.
7) After much thinking I asked them to put everything back and will just bring my car back to their shop next weekend as I don't have 10K available at the moment. Having no 10K in my pocket was a blessing actually. Still they charge me 200pesos and I even gave the tech tip of 100pesos.
8) As I drove back home I remember Tsikot's Favorite Mang Mario. Good thing i was able to save his number and address on my cell. So I spin back and drive to Mang Mario's place. I knew the place as I lived in QC too.
9) I'm expecting big shop with the popularity of Mang Mario's but surprised to see street turned into shop. I arrived there 2:30 pm and its almost raining. Lots of car of different brand lined up along the street and two cars inside his garage.
10) Mang Mario was not there instead the tisay lady approached me (I never thought it was Mang Mario's wife until I read spidey's) and assigned tech to look after my ride.
11) They asked me to wait for mang mario and he arrived some 10 minutes later. Mang Mario inspected my car and gave me too estimates, P800 and P1500. The difference depends on amount of damage of the magnetic coil, if they could still solder the wire then that's the 800 otherwise 1500 for the replacement. The 800 charge is even less than freon cost from the other shop, imagine that. It was a great relief as all I have is 1800 bucks. So I said yes go ahead and make my day.
12) So Ryan works on my ride and promised to put it back before 4:30pm. Ryan did not lift my car and instead pull my compressor from the hood. The magnetic coil still can be soldered and that's what ryan did.
13) As Ryan fixed my ride I was having a good time with Mang Mario. He told me that the other shop 10K charge is due to the fact the shop owner has more than 1 family to support. We talked about politics and he feel so bad with our government talked about corruption and all that cheating while our asian neighbors is busy with their developmental works. He shared to me how he started and how his family grows in that aircon business. He is aware too how internet helps his business grow this days. I asked him why he charged lower than most of his competitors and he replied back that we will not get to know each other if he stayed on industry standard.
14) By 4:30 my aircon is blowing cool air. Ryan even works on rubber cover of my steering universal joint. I paid Tisay wife 800 and gave ryan 200.
15) By 5:00 I'm driving back home as happy and satisfied customer of Mang Mario's service. But the story doesn't end here.
16) Sunday morning on my weekly routine engine check I found out that Ryan failed to replaced back the cover of freon charging pin. I called mang mario's shop and the guy that answered assured me that it wont caused a problem. Anyway, I could still get that pin cover as I promised Mang Mario to visit his shop this weekend to have my Civic aircon cleaning this weekend.

Thanks OTEP for your great recommendation here.

[brock]

kilala na rin ko ni mang mario. libre nga lang last visit ko. kinabit lang nya wire para umandar compressor sa likod glove box. tapos alis na. wala na bayad.

pinacheck ko b4 sa aircon shop malapit sa bahay sabi palit na raw expansion valve, drier, at evaporator. 8k daw. ulul! sabi ko na lang "we will call you back". hehehe.

[kotiko]

Nice FR Field Master ;) hehe! Will definately visit him soon.