TheClairvoyant

Hi All,

Can anybody recommend a reputable shop to check out my AC, ideally within an hour drive of Edison, NJ? Can drive further if necessary.

System is still on R12.

Had an AC line (92857309707), expansion valve, and receiver drier replaced recently along with a full charge of R12. Paid $2K after tax. Is that a reasonable amount for a high end shop to charge for that amount of work & parts, or was I, to paraphrase a trusted Rennlister on this board, "f##### in the ### with a chainsaw"?

Picked up the car within the past two weeks. AC worked great. Only drove 3 times until today. Today, it's suddenly blowing warm again and compressor clutch doesn't seem to be engaging.

I am taking it back to the shop to follow up, but if they point out anything else I need to spend money on, I think I want to bring it to somebody recommended by a Rennlister.

Thanks.

FREAKINHEAT

You could try MrMerlin, he's in North Philly. Drive car down, take train back north, and then reverse order to pick up.

ROG100

Pete the Greek
Pete's Stop Auto, Smithtown, NY 11787

TheClairvoyant

Thanks guys.

dr bob

Affirmative on the chainsaw thing.



Stan knows this 928 stuff pretty well. Give him a call, and he'll tell you honestly whether this is something he wants to attack.

And, assuming that the chain has been dulled at this point, the guys who fixed it originally need to step up and make it right. For the cost of that chainsaw chain and fuel used, they should reseal everything, rebuild all the hoses, rebuild compressor, and warranty the work. Let's hear from them what they think is still leaking, along with an attitude check; if they don't step up willingly, you might not want them working on your car again.

TheClairvoyant

Hi Bob. Thanks for the feedback and confirming the chainsaw.

I'm brining it back next week for them to check out and see what they say, but don't plan on dropping anymore money.

What made the chainsaw extra sharp was that they had the car over a month. A week of that was waiting for their parts supplier to respond to them, until I pointed them to the Big Three. Even after I had to tell them to get the parts from one of the Big Three (parts shipped very fast) and the foot dragging on actually performing the work, they still marked up the parts 50%!

I went to them for 14 years before starting to do my own work on the car. Guess they don't give a crap.

dr bob

That kind of stuff is what drives the cars into barns and fields. "It ran when it was parked ten years ago" may be true in some cases, but that says nothing about all the stuff that isn't directly related to engine running. The cars get parked for stupid but too often unnecessarily expensive support procedures needed. The shop makes more money doing little things like topping R-134a int few-year-old Honda Civics, but knowing the risk of real or perceived collateral damage when they do something on an old 928, they quote a sky-high price to make sure there's no way they can get hurt.

There's no possible way I could justify owning this car, even if I never drove it, if I had to take it to "someone" to have it serviced. You have the good fortune of being in easy driving distance of MrMerlin, and can do a lot of stuff yourself too. Meanwhile, AC systems are perceived by many owners as some dark mysterious black hole. The myth continues of course.

Years ago at an August Devek Days event, I was invited to give a short clinic on 928 AC systems. Sounded great. But later the discussion and clinic content was severely restricted, thanks to Devek's nearby AC systems contractor. Strict laws limit our ability to release refrigerant during DIY servicing of the cars. When you apply for a EPA certification to buy R12, you pay a fee and fill in a brief questionaire. In that, you agree that you will use recovery equipment and won't pollute anything while working on the systems. Anyway, the discussion was strictly limited to describing how the system works, some troubleshooting, but nothing about service details that include the possibility of leaking anything. I suspect that service places are at least partially to blame for these rules, to help protect a dwindling market that includes a higher and higher percentage of cars that take less and less maintenance.

So we can buy all the tools, read all the books, gain all the knowledge needed to work on our cars, but can't legally open a connection until all the old refrigerant has leaked out. Gotta love all the protection we get.

Jim Devine

Shops (not all thankfully) seem to greatly over charge for any r12 work. I have an early 80's Olds
that has a bad compressor. Didn't want to do it myself. Changed my mind when the AC specialty shop quoted $1600- !!! ???
Part of the est. was r12 @ the low low price of $145/ lb. !!!! ?????????
Not gonna happen

TheClairvoyant

Since the car is still on R12, that's the main reason I didn't want to attempt anything myself originally. Had it been 134, may have given it a go, but I figured R12 was too expensive to be wasting if I didn't have the ability to reclaim it. There's enough knowledge on Rennlist that I could have done it myself. It may have taken me a month (I work S L O W), but the shop that did it wound up taking a month anyway

Bob, you're right about not paying someone else to do all the work. If I hadn't found Rennlist and started doing my own maintenance 5 years ago, the mounting repair bills would have certainly led to some marital discord in my house

I have no problem paying for work done when the expense is justified, just don't like getting raped. Oh well, live and learn.