Takami826 Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 OK, bear with me. I have a '97 Subaru Legacy L with about 125K miles on it and near the end of the summer, the a/c wasn't as cool as I'd like it. Given it was near the end of the summer, I didn't bother having it checked out. I have my car in the shop right now getting an oil change and asked if they could give me a price on recharging the a/c. I have never had a car with A/C before, I've always realied on 4x80 air (4 windows down, drive 80mph) but the air's been horribly thick and I figured for my lungs, getting the a/c up to par would be worthwhile. The price I got was $800. Needless to say, I said just do the oil change. Something about they charge $60 base cost and then it's $35/lb of freon after that. They put in 2lbs and I have to drive around for 2 weeks using the A/C and then bring it back in and they check for some sort of green residue in the unit (huh???) and go from there. If anyone's willing, could you explain why it's so expensive and what this 'test' is supposedly for? Does this even sound legit to anyone because to me (someone very a/c ignorant) that just seems strange. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwatt Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 OK, bear with me. I have a '97 Subaru Legacy L with about 125K miles on it and near the end of the summer, the a/c wasn't as cool as I'd like it. Given it was near the end of the summer, I didn't bother having it checked out. I have my car in the shop right now getting an oil change and asked if they could give me a price on recharging the a/c. I have never had a car with A/C before, I've always realied on 4x80 air (4 windows down, drive 80mph) but the air's been horribly thick and I figured for my lungs, getting the a/c up to par would be worthwhile. The price I got was $800. Needless to say, I said just do the oil change. Something about they charge $60 base cost and then it's $35/lb of freon after that. They put in 2lbs and I have to drive around for 2 weeks using the A/C and then bring it back in and they check for some sort of green residue in the unit (huh???) and go from there. If anyone's willing, could you explain why it's so expensive and what this 'test' is supposedly for? Does this even sound legit to anyone because to me (someone very a/c ignorant) that just seems strange. Thanks in advance. Good God, man, where on earth are you bringing your vehicle for service???? Even though the price of R134 refridgerant has skyrocketed this year, 35.00 per pound is WAY out of line....and where did they come up with 800.00 if they haven't even done any testing yet?? It sounds as if they're going to recharge the A/C and add leak tracer dye to it. After the system is used for a few days and the dye has had a chance to circulate, any leak on external A/C components (the "under-the hood" components) will be visable because the dye will show up, typically where a hose connects to a component because every connector has an "o" ring to seal it. But there are other items that can leak besides "o" rings. The condensor (in front of the radiator) could be punctured and leaking. The evaporator (under the dash) could be leaking....and because the evaporator is hidden, no "dye test" will show a leak there. Perhaps someone should use an electronic refridgerant leak detector to "sniff" around the components---those kinds of detectors are quite reliable and rather common..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 that's a rip. most a/c failures i see are due to leaky schrader valves that cost less than a dollar each. look at your a/c compressor and check out the two fittings with schrader valves in them. just look at the valves and it wouldn't surprise me if you see wetness or even bubbling if the system still has any pressure. seen this plenty of times, the valve stem cores have orings at the base that degrade over time and leak. same thing in a tire valve stem but they typically get changed out with new tires. it does take a special tool to replace them without releasing the refrigerant (though the tool isn't that expensive). or a 2 dollar bike valve tool will work as well. in any event if it's R134a you should just charge it yourself. a can of refrigerant is like 10 dollars. but i'd check those two valves for leakage before charging so you can tell where the leak is for future reference. unless your compressor has failed i would be your a/c system is fine though i can't tell without looking at it. there are diagnostic tests they can do including the leak test they described, but i find that test to be questionable at best. a sniffer is much better as that stuff will definitely show up wherever you put it in the system (which is through a valve that could be the problem to begin with). a sniffer is the way to go and i think they should check for free as if they can tell you the problem and be honest about it they would have had a customer. lots of people drop that 800 everytime though without questioning so they get in the habit of just charging that. i can't tell you how many of those $800 dollar jobs end up being 50 cent schrader valves, but i bet it's a large percentage. you can also buy a gauge from the auto parts store for a 10 or 20 dollars and check how much charge is in their right now. (the gauge is like color coded with directions and all so you know how much should be in there). they work. this will tell you if your system is charged right. if it's not then i would suspect your compressor. but i bet you're just low on refrigerant (happens all the time). and at 10 dollars a can, that will probably last awhile even if you have a slow leak. there's another a/c thread right now as we speak, i just replied to both. check it out as well, may be some good info in there. i'm by no means an expert but never had problems recharging or fixing miine. EDIT - i see the last poster commented on the leak testing too. sniffers are the way to go, that leak test stuff isn't nearly as good. but with a little tiny bit of leg work i bet you can get away with neither one. i think you should just try to charge it with a can and see what happens. but that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handtool Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Keep looking. $800 is ridiculous. I had a local independent shop pull a vacumn and recharge my system for $69.95 This didn't the slow leak, but it'll get me through the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 that's a good shop to do that for you. most will say they can't charge without checking for leaks first. that's what they tell all my friends anyway, i don't let anyone touch mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp98 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 A couple of weeks ago I went down to the local Wally World and picked up a recharge kit that included a cheepy guage along with a can of 134 with the dye in it to check for leaks and some fairly detailed instructions. The whole thing only cost $23.00. After driveing for the two weeks I still haven't seen any problems and the AC works great. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avk Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 800 bucks? That's a lot of green residue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takami826 Posted July 2, 2005 Author Share Posted July 2, 2005 thanks everyone. I knew that was way out of line. I search on some auto sites showed me I can get a can of stuff at Sprawl Mart for $16 that does pretty much what you guys all said. I wouldn't pay that much for A/C anyways, it wouldn't be worth it to me. I've gotten on for a long time without air in a car, so it was no big to-do but if it's cheap, and I can do it myself, I will get my coworker to help me out and we'll do it this cheapo way. thanks a bunch for your commentary. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being naive by NOT doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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