93 a/c help needed

[windsor_linc93]

Hi everyone! I'm glad I found this site. I can't find any information anywhere and I desperately need some. I bought my car (ownership says it is a 94, but mechanics say it is all 93 parts) in May, and the a/c did not blow cold. About two weeks ago, the whole blower stopped working. I brought my car to a local garage and paid $796 Canadian to get a new blower and the a/c problem fixed. The mechanic said he checked for leaks with dye and found none, so he filled the freon, charged it and sent me on my way. I used the a/c about 4-5 times and it worked great. This past weekend, I went on vacation to northern Quebec (to visit family, not my first choice for destination!!!! lol ), so we did not need to use the a/c. Driving home to southwestern Ontario and the staggering humidity, we turned the a/c on and noticed that it was no longer blowing cold. By the time we were about twenty minutes from home, we were stopped at a red light and noticed smoke billowing from the hood. My husband saw sparks/flames (?) coming from the compressor, and when we turned the climate control off, the sparks stopped and the smoke dissipated. We waited a few minutes, ran a system check (all good), and drove home. I went to the garage the next morning, and the mechanic told me that the compressor sounds like it seized and wanted to charge me hundreds of more dollars, saying that there was no way he could have predicted that the compressor would go as it is an internal problem. HERE IS MY QUESTION(s): Is what he said true about not being able to tell if or when a compressor would go? When hoses are checked for leaks, don't they start at the compressor? (he said they didn't do any work anywhere near the compressor, nor did they check it or touch it, that all the work done was at a different part of the car) Could the compressor been damaged when they did work on my blower, or the oil leaks that were repaired?

I know I wrote a lot, especially for my first time, but I am very disillusioned right now, not to mention broke, and know that I won't be able to run my defrost, heat this fall/winter without the compressor working. Any advice????

 

[marked8]

A compressor can go without warning at any time, so what the mechanic said is true. Sometimes they give symptoms, sometimes they don't.

 

[JLewisinSyr]

If you're checking for A/C leaks, you would be checking from the Condenser to the Compressor, Compressor to Evaporator, etc. So, if they really did check for leaks, they would be near the Compressor.

The most common reason most compressors fail out of the blue is low freon/refridgerant. It is true compressors do go bad, but not usually the way you describe unless they're trying to cycle with little to no oil and refridgerant.

 

[bufordtpisser]

Let's take a look at this issue.........................

You take the car into a dealer that fixes the problem. It works for a while, and then it takes a dive. While what the mechanic said was partially true, it is far from the whole truth.

While checking the system for leaks, they more than likely added freon and dye to the system so that they could use a special light and or a sniffer to check for leaks. Due to the expense of freon and environmental laws, they more than likely jumped the low pressure switch on the compressor so that the system would cycle and circulate the freon to conduct these tests. While this is a perfectly acceptable way to perform a leak test, you have to be cautious so that the compressor is not run for extended lenghts of time under low pressure which can and will cause damage to the system. The preferred way to test the system for leaks is by using the deep vac method. using this method has distinct advantages. One, no freon leaks into the environment, and two, it removes all of the old freon as well as the moisture that may be trapped in the system. And you do not need to run the system to vac it, so you preclude damaging the compressor by running it with low pressure.

Upon finding no leaks, you would fill the system with the proper amount of freon and also an oil charge and a dye charge. Then as a final test and upon having the lower limit of freon installed in the system, you recheck for leaks before topping off the system. Unfortunately a lot of shops use the fill with a little freon and low pressure switch jump method to test for leaks. And they usually do not care if the compressor goes out during testing as that is a replaceable part that means more parts and labor money in their pockets. Compressors do go out, but I would be more than a little skeptical about it if it happen shortly after getting the system recharged. You also do not say whether they replaced the dryer and or whether they deep vaced the system.

Sorry for the long post, but being that I am a Certified Class 1 AC Tech, it makes me mad when people get hosed by shoddy mechanics.

 

[windsor_linc93]

According to the bill and what I was told when I picked up the car, dye was added for leaks, freon added because the level was low and the system was charged. The bill said "no leaks", but when I questioned the mechanic after the compressor went, he said there was a leak....hmmmmmmmm, then changed his story and said, "oops, I must be thinking of a different car." I appreciate all of your help and suggestions with this. I still don't know what I will do with the information......is there anyone out there from Ontario that would have a suggestion for me? Do I just suck it up and pay another hefty bill so I can have defrost and heat this fall/winter, or is there something I can do?