Vandit

I took the car to a P-car shop w/ an A/C that was not cooling. They evacuated the system (it was empty, but held pressure when they pressurized it), recharged w/ freon + tracing dye, and now the system blows cold. They did an inspection for any obvious problems and found none. They confirmed the compressor appears to be running right, the fan on the condenser is operating, no obvious leaks/issues. I think they also messed w/ the CCU, discovered my aux. engine fan is not operating (disconnected), therefore the CCU shuts off anytime it isn't on max cold.

They've asked me to bring in the car in a few weeks to see where it's leaking, if it's leaked by then (very likely IMO).

All this for $400+. Is that reasonable? I need to confirm, but i'm guessing my visit in a few weeks to search for the leak is gonna be another decent size bill.

I haven't picked up the car yet (traveling). They emailed me the preliminary bill and requested to continue looking into the aux. fan issue. At that point I confirmed w/ them the aux. fan does not affect the a/c blowing cold, so I told them to not look any further as I am not even sure if I want to keep heat in the car.

My point is, and my feelings are, that it looks like i'm going to end up spending what it would cost me to buy a Griffiths evaporator, expansion valve, and dryer (parts only, duh) and all i'm getting is a recharge that will likely be gone in a few weeks and a possible diagnoses. It almost feels like it would have been a better idea to just start replacing parts rather than tracking down the issue.

Dave White

R-12 is expensive, your bill is on the money from my experience. I thought about doing the same thing with replacing parts, but you are only thinking of replacing the cheapest ones, which usually isn't the cause of the problem. I have read those black hoses that you see in the engine bay tend to get porous over time, could be the condenser leaking slightly, compressor not being efficient anymore, etc. In case you haven't noticed, parts for our cars are very expensive, getting a good diagnosis will save you money. Now that you have dye in it, you can do some self diagnostics, all you need is a black light bulb to see the dye in a darkened garage. The condenser and dryer are in the left front wheel well, you will have to take off the wheel, and the fender liner to see them. My leak was here as the idiot that installed a remote mount radar detector years ago, attached it near the condenser, and it vibrated and wore a hole in it. Hopefully, I will still have good AC this year as it held a charge last summer. It sounds to me that the shop is doing a good, thorough job.

"aux. engine fan is not operating (disconnected), therefore the CCU shuts off anytime it isn't on max cold." This is correct also.

Vandit

Thank you for the response.

I just want to follow-up that it looks like they recharged w/ R134 for a total of $38 and $13 for the dye.

Richard Curtis

Just for what it's worth, this same sort of service on my '95 Ford Ranger last year cost about $140. Evacuate, check for leaks, refill with R134, etc. Looks like the dealer charged you 3 hours labor for something that took my non-dealer mechanic about an hour. Still blowing cold (and with all original components).

Dave White

I guess that is expensive for r134, they must have had 3.5/4 hrs of labor figuring out why it kept shutting off, due to the rear blower. Maybe get an estimate to check for leaks before you go back, should be an hour or less, or do it yourself. I have a black light bulb, PM me if needed.

Vandit

When I took it in, my complaint was simple, "A/C does not blow cold," so I guess I was expecting them to find the car sans freon, look for obvious issues, recharge if possible, and look out for leaks, and be done with it. They took it a step further, reviewing the functionality of the whole climate control system while they were at it. Thorough, but thorough comes with a price. I'll discuss it w/ them when I pick up the car in the morning.