Waaah, no A/C for me

[POS carb]

I took my car to get a leak test done and they hooked it up to this pump cuz the guy said the condensor had water in it and after an hour or two of testing and replacing 2 seals the guy comes out and says, "Man the stuff that was cming out of the system looks pretty bad, and I'd say it's safe to assume every seal in the system would need replacing and it's not worth the money because it would cost more than the car is worth, no charge" so I was like "Damn, now what" but at the same time I was happy these guys weren't charging me even though they took time out of their work day to do this (they must not be on commission or profit share lol)

Would it be feasable to buy an Accord with working A/C and transfer all the parts over without having to replace seals or do they break once they are opened?

[dj99]

Yeah, after they sucked out your R-12 to resell it to the tune of $50/lb. Stuff coming out of the system looks bad? How could it look bad? And if it all leaked out due to bad seals, how would anything come out? I smell a rat!

(This opinion is my own, and may not have a basis in reality)

[ACCORD EX]

my opinion that this guys fucked up with your system so he didn't want to tell you ! and he told you the above shit and didn't charge you money because he knew you would shut up because you are happy you didn't pay any money !

MIKE

[seancornelis]

Was your A/C working when you brought it there????

If so, you got burned.....take it back to them and make them fix it.

[dj99]

This is from a summary of Federal Requirements (law) regarding R12/R134a recovery:

"If the customer arrives with
some unknown amount of refrigerant
in the system, and it is removed
by the technician, and the
system is not repaired, the technician
must return to the system any
refrigerant which was in the system
when it arrived, unless the
customer agrees to its removal."

[POS carb]

umm I crashed the car 2 years ago and the compressor exploded 3 years ago so most of the crap inside was gone (a/c has not been run in over 3 years), the condensor DID have water in it anyway, that I am sure of, and that would have probably ruined whatever r-12 was still inside it, right?
either way it was useless to me because the a/c don't work

[dj99]

Yeah, he was probably right about your A/C system. Where's the drama in that?

So let's assume you want a working A/C. It would probably be the cheapest for you to go to K-Mart, buy the A/C retrofit kit for like $30 (on sale last week). It has seals (o-rings), PAG oil and R134a w/charger hose & instructions. Replace your compressor with a used one (Nippondenso labeled), since it was probably messed up. After you install the new seals (yourself), I'm not sure about this, but you may want to have it leak tested before you charge it up.

A big part of fixing our A/C is the rising cost of R-12. You would need $100 worth in freon alone to fix yours.

[Einstein]

I'm going out today to get the largest 12V fan I can find. Will be a fraction of what fixing the A/C would be. I have to drive to the airport in 90°F+ high humidity weather Wednesday, and this is the quickest cheapest option I have.

[dj99]

POScarb - You would have to get a new receiver/drier because yours would be shot. Add another $40.

I luckily have a functioning A/C, but it needs a freon charge. I followed advice that I learned here on 3geez and sent away for the $15 section 609 certified technician test, and received it yesterday. Took about 1 1/2 hours to study and take the test. I am mailing it today. When I get the card, I can then purchase R12 in quantities less than 20 lbs! I scored a recharge hose off ebay. I may get freon there too, depending on prices.

[A20A3Power]

I pulled all of my a/c stuff out because the compressor was shot...now its very humid and about 90 here...and im kicking myself.....i wouldnt get r-12 anyways....i would just vacuum the system and then put R/134...i did that to my moms car; she had perfectly fine a/c, and i cleaned it out....and the a/c feels a helluva lot colder than it did before...now i gotta get a condenser/dryer for my colt....apparently there is supposed to be a low side connection on it from the factory...but there is none...so i gotta get a new one from the dealer cuse the mitsubishi dryer has a fitting and the dodge version doesnt...stupid domestics....

[POS carb]

dodge colts are just re-stickerd mitsubishi's
The guy did mention that it would be best if I replaced the reciever/dryer but that it wasn't entirely neccesary, and I did sign some paper there before the test so I dunno, can't water contaminate R-12? I am 100% sure there was water in the condensor, I saw it beofre taking it in.
Also I dunno about those do it yourself kits, if you say they're all what they say they are I may give it a shot, it's better than nothing, and I can always buy little 2lb cans to recharge it, not like the R12 my friend said he could get in some like 20lb ammount that would cost a fortune. The estimate for the whole job was about $200 WITH a hookup from a friend.
Would those retrofit kits include all the seals I need?
Eric

<edit> the ORIGINAL $200 estimate was when I first got there for labor, 2 lbs of R-12, evacuation, charge, and leak test and they said that's assuming it doesn't require a bunch of repairs, which it does <edit>

[POS carb]

How can a retrofit kit be so cheap if I've seen ones from $800-$900??

[POS carb]

n/m, that was some german company and it includes the compressor and a bunch of other stuff, look at this one:
http://www.leatherman-tools.com/cps/flush.html

[Einstein]

OK, so I didn't get the biggest one I could find, but I did get a fan for $9.97 at wal-mart. Has a big clip that you can attach to the cassette holder or just below the sunroof (where I like it best).

I can buy a new fan every year forever and still not pay what it would cost to maintain my A/C. :p

[ACCORD EX]

Originally posted by Einstein
I can buy a new fan every year forever and still not pay what it would cost to maintain my A/C. :p

i see that you love fans a lot !

MIKE