AC Compressor replacement

[OregonApe]

Was just quoted $1,003 for this at the local shop.

Long story short, last year my AC started to get weak and only worked when I was moving. Coming to a stop would cause it to start blowing lukewarm air. At first I thought maybe the fan had died but it was working just fine.

Took to the shop, $150 for a recharge and it worked fine until this last week. Last time they said they included a UV dye. I just got back and they say the compressor is leaking and needs to be replaced along with some connector or such.

It sure doesn't seem like this one is holding up as well as my Toyotas and Nissans have in the past. Broken trunk wires on both sides, flaking interior trim, broken sunroof, blindspot detection has been spazzing out. There has also been a sort of engine ticking noise since my father bought it new, though that might just be a cold weather thing. I haven't noticed it lately.

Anyway, any thoughts about the reasonableness of that quote?

Given that it seems to take a year to leak enough that it is noticeable I wonder if I could just get a recharge kit and limp along until I replace this thing.

 

[EdP]

Was just quoted $1,003 for this at the local shop.

Long story short, last year my AC started to get weak and only worked when I was moving. Coming to a stop would cause it to start blowing lukewarm air. At first I thought maybe the fan had died but it was working just fine.

Took to the shop, $150 for a recharge and it worked fine until this last week. Last time they said they included a UV dye. I just got back and they say the compressor is leaking and needs to be replaced along with some connector or such.

It sure doesn't seem like this one is holding up as well as my Toyotas and Nissans have in the past. Broken trunk wires on both sides, flaking interior trim, broken sunroof, blindspot detection has been spazzing out. There has also been a sort of engine ticking noise since my father bought it new, though that might just be a cold weather thing. I haven't noticed it lately.

Anyway, any thoughts about the reasonableness of that quote?

Given that it seems to take a year to leak enough that it is noticeable I wonder if I could just get a recharge kit and limp along until I replace this thing.

Price is not bad from what I recall paying on a GM car a few years back. the $150 recharge may las a year or a couple of days. crap shoot on that. It is July and I'd want the AC working either way.

 

[carguy75]

Was just quoted $1,003 for this at the local shop.

Long story short, last year my AC started to get weak and only worked when I was moving. Coming to a stop would cause it to start blowing lukewarm air. At first I thought maybe the fan had died but it was working just fine.

Took to the shop, $150 for a recharge and it worked fine until this last week. Last time they said they included a UV dye. I just got back and they say the compressor is leaking and needs to be replaced along with some connector or such.

It sure doesn't seem like this one is holding up as well as my Toyotas and Nissans have in the past. Broken trunk wires on both sides, flaking interior trim, broken sunroof, blindspot detection has been spazzing out. There has also been a sort of engine ticking noise since my father bought it new, though that might just be a cold weather thing. I haven't noticed it lately.

Anyway, any thoughts about the reasonableness of that quote?

Given that it seems to take a year to leak enough that it is noticeable I wonder if I could just get a recharge kit and limp along until I replace this thing.

Well, the issue could be from bad o-rings(green ones) on the coolant pipes that goes into the compressor. The fix would not require a new compressor; just new o-rings. However, if the leak is from a bad compressor seal then you may need a new compressor or you can replace the compressor seal.

Generally, a compressor seal failure would sling PAG oil on the outside of the engine. No UV dye needed for that inspection.

My guess is that you only have a o-ring leak in the AC lines that connect to the compressor. Easy fix. Just require knowledge of where the leak is located. The hardest part of the job would be finding a way to remove the old refrigerant to swap out the bad o-rings and to pull a vacuum on the AC system after the repair to remove moisture/air in the system before recharging it with refrigerant.

As for the quote; it seems fair since a new oem compressor for our cars cost about $710.00 alone without labor cost. Therefore, an quote based on an aftermarket compressor unit in which the shop is probably going to use would maybe be half the price of the oem compressor plus the labor cost to get to the $1000 quote.