So the Suburban's AC went kaput...

[Condor]

Actually it just stopped working... gradually. So I knew it had a leak. Took it over to the Firestone Store to have it charged. They reported two leaks. One in the Compressor and one of the valves. To fix it?? A grand. I don't think so.... Went to another repair shop recommended by my son-in-law. He said they all leak a little, charged it up, and replaced one schraeder. $60 bucks total. Firestone has lost any of my future business..... Should I stop by and tell 'm where to stick it....??

[friesman]

that exact thing happened to me a few years ago, I went out of my way to tell everyone that the CAA-run shop (AAA stateside) pulled that on me.

 

thats just out and out fraud.

 

Brian

[flb_78]

A/C systems are not supposed to leak.

 

Is that fella going to give you a nation wide warranty if it doesn't work again in 90 days?

 

It's not uncommon for the shaft seal on the compressor to start leaking and when it does, the compressor will need replaced. If you replace the compressor, you should also replace the accumulator/receiver drier, and the orfice tube/expansion valve, otherwise, many places will not warranty a new compressor if it fails again.

 

It's not uncommon for an A/C job on a car/truck/semi to run $1000 or more if it's repaired properly with warranty. Ive seen hundreds of A/C jobs run other that while working at the truck shop and the components are the same as a cars.

 

If we had a customer that only wanted a faulty compressor and replaced without the drier or expansion valve, their warranty lasted until they pulled out of the shop.

 

Now me personally, Id buy a can or r134a at Walmart with the hose and gauge and fill it up myself. That's what I do on the wife's car with her small leak that Im too cheap to fix.

[Yammer Dan]

A/C systems are not supposed to leak.

 

Is that fella going to give you a nation wide warranty if it doesn't work again in 90 days?

 

It's not uncommon for the shaft seal on the compressor to start leaking and when it does, the compressor will need replaced. If you replace the compressor, you should also replace the accumulator/receiver drier, and the orfice tube/expansion valve, otherwise, many places will not warranty a new compressor if it fails again.

 

It's not uncommon for an A/C job on a car/truck/semi to run $1000 or more if it's repaired properly with warranty. Ive seen hundreds of A/C jobs run other that while working at the truck shop and the components are the same as a cars.

 

If we had a customer that only wanted a faulty compressor and replaced without the drier or expansion valve, their warranty lasted until they pulled out of the shop.

 

Now me personally, Id buy a can or r134a at Walmart with the hose and gauge and fill it up myself. That's what I do on the wife's car with her small leak that Im too cheap to fix.

 

And you can also buy the kits to do home A/C. Lot less than they been charging me to refill it. Or you can slap some J B Weld on it and if you as lucky as I was with this one stop the leak!!

[Flyinfool]

I can still remember the good old days when it was legal to get a 1lb can of refrigerant and DIY. But WI is the only state where that is no longer legal. You can not even buy the stuff around here without a license anymore. $10,000 fine for each violation.

Since AC is supposed to be a sealed system, if it is low on juice there is a leak somewhere, A shop can not legally refill a system unless they have made some kind of repair. The closes thing to a loophole is that adding leak detection dye is concidered legal as a diagnostic aid.

So every 3 years when I need a pound added, it gets added with some dye and called close enough. Yes even with all of that dye in there we have looked and the leak is so slow that we can not find it.

I was told that the compressor that is in my 96 GMC P/U can have the shaft and seal replaced for around $100, instead of $700 for a new compressor. But it cant be that, it's only 15 years old with a quarter million miles on it.

[MiCarl]

On my Yukon I paid a local shop big $$ for a compressor and within a year it was leaking. They replaced it and the replacement started leaking almost immediately. I lived with it for a long time having it recharged every spring.

 

When the compressor clutch failed I called Autozone. A clutch was something like $180 and a compressor with clutch was about $200. A no brainer. I slapped it in, had it charged, and it's been fine for five years now.

[Texaskid]

Before we moved here (June of 09) I had the compressor and all new componets installed. (1994 Chevy van) Worked great, till last week. we had stoped to have lunch and then when we left, I turned the air on and noticed that I could smell rubber burning and no cold air. I shut the air off and heard this noise coming from the engine. Pulled over and opened the hood and noticed that the clutch was trying to turn and that is where the noise was comming from. All switches were off. Called the shop that installed the unit and asked if it was still undr warrinty and the people that he bought it from wants me to ship the compressor so that they can determine what happened. I don't think that is going to happen because I need it here to drive the van. I may end up selling it.