Replacing my 2011 Cadiallac CTS Condenser

I have a 2011 CTS4 with the 3.0 engine with about 85000 miles. I was told on Saturday that the reason my AC was blowing warm air was due to a hole in the condenser.

A. Is it possible for a Condenser to get a hole in it?

B. Would this cause loss of cooling by the AC?

C. They said I’m looking at $530 to replace it and recharge the system. Is that a fair price?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Tester

3 Likes

What @Tester said. How did they find the leak in the condenser?

Put some type of dye into the system and said it could be seen leaking from the condenser.

That sounds legit. What kind of shop is this? Chain? Dealer? Independent? A/C shop?

Tires Plus, they are a chain here in Indy, have almost all my car work done with them, always been a pretty straight shooter with me on repairs.

As long as they know what they’re doing with a/c. Not all shops do.

They have two guys who are certified AC mechanics as I guess in Indiana you have to be “certified” to work on them as both had sunday off so they could not do the work then as the part would not get in till Sunday so I am going back this saturday. They have been straight forward with me on previous repairs and done good work.

Anybody who services/repairs mobile AC systems as a professional service must be certified.

https://www.ase.com/Tests/cfc.aspx

Tester

Yea I guess my shop only has 2 guys certified. I had no idea you had to but I guess it kinda makes sense giving you are dealing with chemicals. If I didn’t have an all black car I might not have worried about getting the AC fixed as you can drive without it, but on really hot days it can get kinda uncomfortable. I am surprised that given it’s a cadiallac that this repair doesn’t seem to “involved” where as almost everything else I have had to have done seems to be more involved with it being a cadillac.