I just spent $600.00 to have A/C repaired 2wk ago. The system had no freon in it. Mechanic recharged the system and found that a switch was bad in compressor. He had to suck system out, replace switch and recharge again. Everything worked fine for a 1wk. Took it back last weekend and foundout that the dye they put in to show leakage showed the system was leaking out of compressor. $600.00 wasted. Now mechanic says I need to replace compressor. GM Compressor $706.00. But inorder for them to warrenty there work I must replace the Reciever/Drier $70.00, Orifice Tube $8.00, Condensor $180.00, Plus recharging the system and labor, total $1550.00. Can I replace the compressor and be good to go, or do you recommend that I replace the whole system? Funds are real tight. I am tempted to just buy the cans of R134 every couple weeks to get me through the summer. If I replace the compressor myself, can I just recharge it myself if I get a set of gauges? Or do I have to suck the system down first?

Do yourself a huge favor and at least replace the drier and orifice tube. They collect the metal chips and other crap when the compressor goes bad and even a flush won't get them out. Yes, I know from experience, it happened to me. The condensor, I think you can do without as long as you flush it REAL good. I think your guy charged you a bit much. When the local guy did mine (honest as the day is long and been in business 30 years) he said the same thing about the orifice tube and found mine plugged solid. I had already replaced the compressor myself and thought the parts store guy was stroking me about the other parts. The mechanic replaced the orifice tube and drier and flushed all the rest. It has been 3 years now and it works great. Oh, and he charged me $180 labor for all that work!!! :cool2:

I replaced every component on my dad's truck this spring. I paid ~ $90 for the condensor, $3 for the orafice tube ~$70 for the dryer and $165 for the compressor and ~$90 for the evap and $40 for the all steel line from the condensor back to the evap and $65 for the compressor hose. I barrowed a friends A/C vac and pulled a vac for ~30 min and put in ~$17 in r134a. It's blowing colder than ever and I know what kind of money was saved on labor/shop fees.

I replaced every component on my dad's truck this spring. I paid ~ $90 for the condensor, $3 for the orafice tube ~$70 for the dryer and $165 for the compressor and ~$90 for the evap and $40 for the all steel line from the condensor back to the evap and $65 for the compressor hose. I barrowed a friends A/C vac and pulled a vac for ~30 min and put in ~$17 in r134a. It's blowing colder than ever and I know what kind of money was saved on labor/shop fees.

and if it's keeping you cool in the texas inferno, you know you did it right :ro)

Quantum, where are getting parts for these prices? Local parts store? Are they GM or what? As far as replaceing all these components I am very capable of. Was there any tricks that I should know when replaceing these items or did most everything remove and install fairly easily other than taking along time to do them? Mechanic says 1.5 days to complete the job.

The hardest thing I had to do was remove the heater core and evap from their housing, not fun. I bought all my parts from an A/C specialty shop/distributor that carries just about everything in stock or has it in their warehouse. It took me less than a day to do all of it.

What about the warranty of the work they already charged you $600.00 for? It seems to me they completely missed diagnosed the original leak, and replaced the high pressure switch (I assume they claimed it was leaking), and now want to come back and make more money from you. I would make them give you some credit for the last repair before you agree to this repair, and if they won't, find another shop.

You only need to replace all of those parts if the compressor fails. In your case, the compressor is only leaking, so there will be little chance of any debris getting into the system (mechanical compressor failures can release a lot of metal and other crap, and will cause problems). The only part that should be replaced anytime the system is opened up is the reciever/drier. That will help filter the refrigerant before the compressor, and remove any moisture/wax that could cause problems. You would need to evacuate the system with a vacuum pump after replacing the parts if you chose to do the work yourself. Also, the refrigerant should be weighed in for an accurate charge. If you know anyone that does residential or commercial HVAC work, they could do all of the work for you. You would need to buy the proper set of guages for the automotive R134 system, and buy the refrigerant, but then you have the tools to do it in the future.

I do A/C work for a living, so feel free to PM me for any questions. If you live anywhere near Denver (for the next week) or in SW Virginia after that, I would be happy to help you out. If you could find someone to buy the refrigerant for you at a wholesale price, you could 15 or 30 lbs. at a time at a fraction of the price the shop is charging you per pound.

Hey James thanks for the info. I won't be getting this fixed for a couple of weeks. Looks like I need to do some research on getting the components. I was told the Orifice tube is like a filter. I this is not plugged with shavings, can we assume that there are no shaving in the system? Oh, as far as the warrenty on the $600.00 worth work already done, I was told that was already subtracted the of the estimate of $1500.00 for them to complete the job. Oh, and they did not charge me this last time that it was in to recharge system and find out that it was leaking. OOOOHH!! Believe it or not this is a very repitable shop in town that has about 12 different shop in the valley.

Every oriface I've pulled so far was gunked up with black sludge like material, on the lower filter part of course.

Every oriface I've pulled so far was gunked up with black sludge like material, on the lower filter part of course.

Spend the 5.00 bucks or so and buy the tube. IF it isn't right you won't get cool. That along with the drier and compressor should make a nice working system. I just got quoted today for those items was 475.00 parts and 250.00 labor. Thats a 50.00 saving because we chared up my caprice system last week and it quit working yesterday and it's compressor is leaking too. So I understand what you are looking at.

My a/c wasn't working this season when I tried to use it for the fist time. I thought the system might have been low on freon and I couldn't find my guage so I took a chance and put some freon in. Still wasn't working, for Sng's I tapped the clutch and everything started, real cold for 2 days. Then every thing quit and the compressor started making noise, my fault for not using a guage, I slugged the compressor.

This really didn't upset me too much as I had found that the problem was the clutch and I was going to have to replace the compressor anyway to fix.

Autozone: rebuilt compressor-$146 (1 yr warranty), accum/dryer-$45, orafice-$5, Freon-$50 (Wal-mart), Oil-$8, 1qt system flush-$6. Waiting for my friends vac. pump to be avail. to put it all together and finish the job.

I had to take a crash course in A/C systems as the vultures around here would rip their own mothers off. Taking advantage of people who don't have an understanding of A/C systems.

Two years ago my father went to a local A/C shop, and OF COURSE they told him he needed a compressor along with the associated work $1400 was the estimate. I put my guage on which showed he needed a charge. One $6 can of freon and its been blowing cold ever since.

How could it cost me $250 to replace every part in my A/C system including flush and re-charge, and a so called professional 6 times as much, and they're buying parts and freon at jober price. Friggin' RIP-OFF!!!!!!!

When I'm finished I'll post how many hours it takes me from start to finish so everyone can see the hourly rate we're being gouged with. I'm going to guess (for now) about 4 hours not counting the vacuum time as this is a set it and forget it part of the process. So that's about $285 per hour labor, man I'm in the wrong buisness.

Q. How many people out there know enough about A/C systems to question a proffesional when they show you a $1600 bill?

A. Everyone who reads this thread-pass it on! You might save your parents like I saved mine.

Where on the compressor is it leaking from? Is it from the shaft seal, or the refrigerant connections? Shaft seal=new compressor. Line connections *may* be able to be repaired.

Ask ye ole shop how long the GM compressor warranty is. IIRC, it's less than the Autozone rebuilt, but don't quote me on that. All that extra expense isn't justified for a warranty that may only be half of what the rebuilt one is.

I'll have to find the link somewhere, but last year I found a variable orifice tube. It would regulate the refrigerant flow better at idle than the fixed orfice tube that comes stock. $20 online, ackits maybe?

Autozone sells but doesn't stock the variable orafice tube $25, the counter people had no answers as to what the advantages were with the variable tube.

If someones used one and it worked let me know I'll return the stock one I have and get the variable.

Hey SRL,

I had the EXACT thing happen to me, and no way was I going to let the shop get any more $$ out of me. The compressors are pressed together at the middle and that's where they tend to leak. I was a hard a$$ too and refused to buy a dryer and orifice tube at first because they had only seen 5 months of service from the first "repair". Well, everybody in the thread is giving good info. Definitely get the orifice tube, they're cheap insurance! Mine was super dirty too.

I did all the work myself. The plumbing part is easy. The only hard part is learning what to watch for on the low and hi side gauges when charging. To tell you the truth, I dont even remember myself; I did it last year and have already forgotten.

Autozone will rent you a vacuum pump and gauges for free. Essentially, you "buy" them with your credit card and then they reverse the charges when you take them back.

The compressor has a chart to tell you how much oil to add to the system.

Took me about 5 hours total, which includes 1 hour to evacuate the system and 3 hours of letting it sitting there just to make sure it could hold the vacuum (no leaks).

P.S. The orifice tube is behind the grill on the passenger side. It's essentially a little screen cone that fits in the neck of the aluminum tube going to the radiator-looking-thingy (condenser). Just unscrew the nut from the hose and pull the old one out and put the new one in.

Ok, I'm learning alot here about how I am going to fix my A/C. I appreciate all the feed back. I went out to look at the different parts that I am going to have to replace. Compressor is easy to locate. The accu/dryer is located where? I have a cylinder tank mounted on the firewall that has no identification on it. I assume that this is the accu/dryer. The orifice tube you had mentioned was behind the passenger side of the grill entering into the condensor. I have followed one line from the compressor to condensor and see nothing like you are discribing. The other line comes from the firewall to condensor and I don't see anything in that line either. I think I figured it out. Do I have to unscrew the line at the condensor neck to get to the orafice screen in side the line?

The accu/dryer is located where? I have a cylinder tank mounted on the firewall that has no identification on it.
Yes, that is the accumulater/drier. Save the low pressure switch (located on the drivers side of that cylinder), you will need it for the new one.

I think I figured it out. Do I have to unscrew the line at the condensor neck to get to the orafice screen in side the line?
You got it. It is on the line exiting the condenser, going toward the evaporator coil. Sounds like it is cheap enough to replace, but you could always pull it and clean it, and put on some new O rings. All the orifice tube is is a small hole to meter the refrigerant into the evaporator, nothing special.

Thanks for clearing things up.