The A/C Evacuation Predicament (Solved)

Maintenance/Repairs
22

If you can get the A/C system discharged professionally for $50, as you said earlier, I would JUMP on that. NO ONE is going to take a quick glance under the hood, much less do any actual work for the pittance you want to pay. In fact, I am amazed anyone would agree to touch your car for less than the cost of 1 hour of labor, which is around $100 in most places.

Also, once you get the system discharged, then what? When installing a new compressor, unless the problem was that the compressor leaks refrigerant, you are supposed to flush the system, and whenever you open the system for any reason, you are supposed to replace the accumulator/drier, pressure test, and evacuate prior to adding refrigerant. I don’t see where you plan to do any of this, or are qualified to do any of this.

23

I read that thread when it was active. That was a frustrating experience. But I think it may be because you used the wrong kind of shop for that work. There are places that exist just to do these kind of repairs. They are usually attached or affiliated with a parts supplier. They do bearing pressing, rotor turning, small machining jobs etc. They do jobs for guys walking in off the street all the time. The better ones even handle outsourced jobs for professional shops around here. Going to a full service professional shop and asking them to do this kind of work is a distraction for most. It takes time away from more lucrative jobs. It’s fraught with potential problems that others have pointed out. And they have higher overhead costs. All this leads to a higher price to you and reluctance to do such work. A take out pizza costs much more from a full service retaurant than Dominos…

Now few places are going to be willing to do a partial AC repair. If you find one, expect to pay for it. Frankly, I’d be surprised and ecstatic for an evac to cost only $50. You’re still saving a boatload if you can do the rest yourself. Arguing over $20? I just tipped the guy that delivered 10 pizzas to work that much to add some perspective…

24

I’m also not a professional mechanic but enjoying doing the work myself and having seen my share of shoddy, over priced work, I understand the poster’s feelings BUT trying to DIY this job is a bad idea.

What you’re paying for in the shop’s hourly rate is the cost of the building, utilities, tools, equipment, insurance and “something to live on” but more important, the mechanic’s skills and experience so $100/hour is actually a bargain. Further, A/C is a “complete system” so working on “just a small piece of it” is them just asking for problems if anything else goes wrong.

The solution is to first know what work you can do entirely by yourself and for the work you can’t, bite the bullet and turn it over to a trusted mechanic with the skills and experience to do it right.

1 Like
25

Be my guest @old_mopar_guy…

26

This whole thread illustrates why it is very important to build a relationship with a quality mechanic and garage. I have found, again and again, that my mechanics are always fair to me and the garage never overcharges me because we have a long term relationship built on my continued patronage, which is built on my trust in them.

I do many of my own repairs, but when I am out of my league I know my garage and mechanic will treat me fairly and I don’t nickel and dime them on prices. In exchange I get quality repairs and fair treatment at a reasonable price. It doesn’t hurt that I occasionally bring a dozen donuts with me for the mechanics and service writers.

7 Likes
27

You’re replacing just because of a startup squeal? Don’t do it.

That funny thing on the end of the pulley is an electrical clutch. When no cooling is called for, the pulley spins but the compressor inside does not run. When cooling is called for, the big electromagnet behind the pulley presses the two parts together and the pulley drives the compressor.

It’s a heavy startup load, so it slips at first. That metal on metal contact makes the squealing sound. Just ignore it.

You can replace the drive belt cheaply. Sometimes those squeal too.

Larry

28

This, right here, is your problem. Besides the fact that you seem to have very skewed ideas as to what constitutes a “fair” price, as someone else also pointed out, you shouldn’t have to “call a bunch of shops” in the first place. There are only a few scenarios where this is acceptable:

  • You are buying your first car ever, and have never had the need to find a trustworthy mechanic
  • You just retired as a mechanic yourself, and no longer have all of the tools, equipment, and licensing to do the work yourself
  • You are a jerk customer who automatically assumes that a shop is ripping him off, and are constantly shopping around for the lowest bare-bones price, without recognizing the inherent quality tradeoffs.

I sincerely doubt you fall into one of the first two categories. The statement about all mechanics being out there to rip you off is completely and unabashedly wrong. Besides that, I will point out that if you don’t know the difference between an A/C condenser and a compressor, you shouldn’t be getting anywhere near the system other than to turn it on and off.

Find yourself a highly-rated mechanic, take the car to them and explain the symptoms (don’t try to tell them what you “know” the problem to be), and begrudingly swallow the repair bill when it comes back, with the knowing that you’re keeping a local shop in business. That’s how owning a car works.

29

Your $30 and attitude is not worth the time and effort to hook up my $3500 machine. I’d be absolutely fine letting you go elsewhere to have this done and missing out on your $30.

2 Likes
30

I think it’s safe to say if this A/C system has ANY problems in the future it will all be blamed on the last shop that was foolish enough to even touch it.

I’ve run into this thing a number of times and flat refused to service the car. I politely tell them that we prefer not to be involved with it and they should try elsewhere for a cut-rate price. Some get belligerent and at that point it becomes a matter of there’s the door; you best go through it right now.

In retrospect, I’ve had 2 open heart surgeries in the past year. The total surgical bill for both was right a 240,000 bucks. Wonder what they would have said if I had mentioned 30 bucks being a fair price… :slight_smile:

9 Likes
31

I’ve had used and new compressors put in and I would only go with new. It’s just too expensive work to take a chance on a used or rebuilt. There is a lot more to it such as cleaning any debris out of the system, checking for leaks, adding the proper type and amount of oil, and not to mention the refrigerant itself. Yeah it’ll cost around $1000 but I’m beyond fooling with AC.

This discussion reminded me though I got ten trees with my lot but I had to help the developer with the tree spade go dig them and plant them. We were flagged down by a guy that wanted some trees planted but the contractor just told him he was so busy he just couldn’t do it. Afterward the contractor looked at me and said that guy is a chisler, wants everything for nothing, will complain like crazy to get the bill knocked down, and no way I would deal with him. I knew another guy that couldn’t buy a car in town because all the dealers were tired of dealing with him. Car repair is a two way street. Some people just aren’t worth the effort.

1 Like
32

For well over 25 years I worked at least 60 hours a week to take care the repairs that I took on in a reasonable time and there was always a list of people waiting for me to call when I could work in a major repair for them. With such demands from established customers why would a shop owner waste time on a someone who immediately makes it plain that they question their honesty.

Long ago someone wanted the price for replacing the starter on a Chevette which required some peculiar gymnastics and when given the price they immediately said it was not worth that and left. A few days later he was back and asked how to get the top starter bolt out and I explained it required some peculiar tools and moving some things out of the way. He had the gall to ask if he could borrow the tools and get me to show him how to do the work. By the time he finished talking I had him heading out the door and the next time I was at the nearby McParts store it was obvious the Chevette owner had bought the starter there and had explained what a jerk I had been. I wonder if that fellow ever caught on to just how foolish he made himself look and if he ever got that starter replaced… And wan’t the Chevette a great little car.

33

A guy came into the Subaru dealer where I worked and priced a clutch job. He was given a fair price. He then insinuated in a very subtle manner that we were charging too much.
Fine sir, you’re perfectly free to have it done somewhere else if you choose.

He stands ther e a few minutes and then has the gall to say…

“What if I do the clutch job right outside the doors of the shop and buy the clutch parts from ya’ll?
That way I can use your cherry picker and any other tools I need and ya’ll are right there if I need any advice or help”.
Yes, he left mad and quite likely bad mouthed us to everyone on the planet.

Could have said sure, have at it, and the clutch assembly is a 1000 bucks.

34

Don’t most people like that spread their good will around so that everyone who knows them wishes they could avoid them. And their families wish they could price them out of Thanksgiving dinner.

35

I agree, you first said that you wern’t sure where the squeal was coming from, well its either the compressor clutch or the belt,(I’m betting on the belts). so stop being so cheap buy a set of belts and see if that fixes your problem. Don’t always assume the worst, start with the easy things (and lower cost ) fixes first!

36

Sidney , Larry is not the one with the problem .

37

Yeah, and a fair price for a Porsche to me is 50 bucks. Unfortunately, Porsche and reality don’t see it my way. :wink:

You’re right that you can save money by doing it yourself, but that isn’t because the mechanic is ripping you off. When you do it yourself you aren’t paying rent on several thousand square feet of commercial building space, you aren’t paying to insure yourself against customer lawsuits or on-the-job staff injuries, you aren’t paying staff wages, or for expensive equipment like lifts, and tire balancers, and you arent’ paying taxes on the money you’re saving yourself.

The mechanic is paying for all of that and more, and after all that gets paid for, he still needs to take home some money for himself. That’s not to say there aren’t ripoff garages out there who charge way too much. There are, but it’s not universal or even overly common, as long as you stay away from the often-crooked chains like Jiffy Lube.

There’s an old story about a repairman called in to fix a machine in a factory. The owner had been trying to fix it for a couple of days and finally gave up and called in a pro. The pro came in, opened a panel, and replaced a fuse. The machine worked, and the pro gave the guy a bill for $100.

The owner got mad like you, and demanded an itemized bill before he’d pay. The pro returned “Fuse: $1. Knowing which fuse to replace: $99.”

In short, if you have to ask on here, and you didn’t even get the terminology right, you don’t have the knowledge or experience (or, most likely, the equipment) to pull this job off yourself. The mechanic does, and he put a lot of time, effort, and money into learning how and acquiring the tools to be able to do it. He deserves compensation for that, not accusations of dishonesty and sabotage.

2 Likes
38

I dunno it seems like if folks think the prices are so outrageous, they should try it sometime. Did I tell my plumber story? Yeah guess I did, but we put in new granite counters with a new sink. I knew I was in trouble trying to hook the drains up because I was off a couple inches. In anticipation I bought $30 worth of parts at Menards. Then on the day to hook the drains up I made two trips to Ace for more parts and finally gave up. On my third trip I went to get a plumber and explained the problem. The next morning the guy shows up, spent a couple hours, two trips back to the shop, etc. but had it done after re-doing the whole thing. I asked him if he needed any parts and he said no. I got the bill for $134. It was the first time in 50 years I ever actually hired a plumber outside of initial house plumbing. Next time though I’ll save the trips to Menards and ACE.

39

Anyone who can’t identify a compressor should never work on on.

5 Likes
40

You can often tell more about a person by the questions they ask you than the answers to questions you ask them.

1 Like
41

I just know that for compressor failures one has to be quite certain that they have appropriately flushed all traces of messed up compressor material from the lines or it can easily result in a second blown compressor. Give it a shot and see if it works, it could be awesome. But even with used compressor and a 50 buck evacuation you might be in enough $$ to just pay to have it done right. Im thinking you’ll be in like 250 right?