I don’t know anything about cars but almost two years ago I bought a 2010 Toyota Rav 4 with 14,000 miles on it. It had been owned by one previous owner for a year. It now has 60,000 (unfortunately I drive a lot for work). A few months ago the air conditioning stopped working. The fan still goes but no cool air comes out just the outside air. I took it to a mechanic who said there was no leak and the fuses looked fine. He suggested I take it to the dealership and hope that whatever is wrong is under warranty. So Today I finally got around to taking it to the dealership and they said the compressor is bad and needs to be replaced for $2100 plus $400 labor!!!
The only other car I have ever owned was a very old Saturn so when I sold that and bought the Rav4 I thought I was done with car problems for a while. I never thought I would have to put $2,500 into a three year old car (which I owned for less than two!) Is this a common problem? I feel like I had to have been sold a car with a defective compressor! If that is possible is there anything I can do!? Any advice would be appreciate.
A/C problems can be difficult to diagnose over the internet without knowing the basics. What needs to be known first off is whether or not the compressor is engaging, the system static pressure, and both high and low side pressures when the compressor is engaged.
Right now the complaint is very vague so it’s difficult to determine if the compressor is actually bad or whether it’s an electrical glitch or system pressure issue causing the compressor not to engage.
Just because the dealer said the compressor is bad does not make it so. You really need to get another opinion and ask for the info I mentioned above.
Seeing as how your mechanic was referencing fuses, it sounds like the compressor is not engaging and that doesn’t mean that the compressor is bad.