A/C Compressor?
My car is starting to act funny since I took it to get an oil change. Comes to find out that I need a new compressor mine is blown. He told me that it would cost 1200 to change it ...Basically charging me 900 for labor because my father found a compressor for 300. I just want to know if anyone knows anyone who charges less than this in the dfw area?
Comments
I don't know of any shops and the $900 is a lot but you should know it isn't all labor. When a compressor dies on a car the whole system is contaminated. This means:
recovering whatever refrigerant is left in the system
unhooking all the lines
flushing the system to get out any burnt oil, metal shavings, or other debris
install new filter/drier and new compressor
reconnect all the lines using new O rings and gaskets
add proper amount of refrigeration oil
pressurize with dry nitrogen to check for leaks and fix any found
hook a vacuum pump up and run it for several hours to pull out all the nitrogen, air, and any moisture
weigh in the new charge of refrigerant
test system for proper operation and recheck for leaks using a sniffer.
Basically you are paying for a compressor, drier, refrigerant, flush chemical, and possibly an expansion valve if it got plugged with gunk in addition to the labor charge. Also if they skip any of these steps your new compressor can and will be damaged and the system won't work as well as it should.
There is more to it than just replacing the compressor.If yours did blow up it put trash in the system. So you need to take the system apart and flush the lines and cond and evap. You need to change the filter drier its like the oil filter on you engine, and you need to replace the orfice tube or expansion valve (whichever it has) then put on new compressor add oil and evacuate the system and put the freon back in. There are lots of tools etc for this job.Depending on the car 1200 is not to far out of line. If you just change the compressor as you want or cut any corners you will be doing it more than once. Check around you may save a few bucks but the price you got is close..............UJN
The second guy is right. If a leak from the evaporator (or anywhere else) caused the compressor to die then a new compressor will only last until the freon/oil mix leaks out again. It will then burn out once again. Leak check is a must. My only addition would be to have a mechanic check to see if anything is bent/cracked to cause a leak in the system. It may have been caused by the oil change guy. These days, filters are very hard to get to in some cases and he/she might have bent/cracked a line getting the filter in. It DID start right after the oil change. Possible reimbursement from minimum wage oil change guys company ?
R-134 will not cool as good in a R-12 system because there is a difference in the condensers. A R-134 condenser has smaller and more tubes in it so that it will dissipate heat better than a R-12 condenser.
so why don't you put it on yourself. take the belt off, remove the compressor and put new "o" rings on them and take the wiring off and reinstall it. I can't believe he's going to charge $1200 for an hours work.