AC Work

[tiger862]

Just a rant. Sister had a compressor whining on her new to her Infinity SUV. They gave her a short warranty so she figured what can go wrong. 4 trips to the dealership to replace a compressor. Vehicle was cooling before and lasted all of 2 hours after she picked it up. Without looking at it the tech stated only replaced compressor so it must have been bad. They ordered another and set up an appointment 3 days later with 100 degree heat. She uses vehicle for Door Dash delivery so lots of miles get put on an already high mileage vehicle and now no A/C. They get new compressor in and can't charge it so some switch gets ordered which means 2 more days. Another trip with 3 more hours trying to charge so she tells them if you can't charge I will carry it to someone else and bill you. They finally got it but man what is wrong with techs today that are certified and can't charge an A/C system or properly repair the first time? I suspect they pinched a seal and never checked for vacuum hold. All I know is extended warranty must love these type of techs. Anyone else seen this trend lately?

 

[Chris142]

It likely needs a complete replacement at this time. Compressor,condenser, expansion valve etc. You can't just put a compressor on and hope it works

 

[tiger862]

It likely needs a complete replacement at this time. Compressor,condenser, expansion valve etc. You can't just put a compressor on and hope it works

I agree. I just did an Impala recently and bought a complete kit. Came with expansion valve, Condenser, along with compressor but was lacking orifice tube which I found odd.

 

[Soft Cars]

Dealer techs seem to be getting worse and worse. I came to that conclusion after hearing PHAD complain about them so much.

 

[demarpaint]

It likely needs a complete replacement at this time. Compressor,condenser, expansion valve etc. You can't just put a compressor on and hope it works

+1 Hopefully the receiver dryer is part of that kit. If not odds are the system is not going to blow as cold as it should.

 

[tiger862]

+1 Hopefully the receiver dryer is part of that kit. If not odds are the system is not going to blow as cold as it should.

Don't know off hand about Infiniti but the Impala has the dryer in the condenser. You can either weld new one in or replace condenser.

 

[demarpaint]

Don't know off hand about Infiniti but the Impala has the dryer in the condenser. You can either weld new one in or replace condenser.

Something worth looking into, if it comes with the kit which contains the condenser and it is in the condenser it should be fine.

 

[atikovi]

You can't just put a compressor on and hope it works

Depends on the cause of the failure. The front of my Honda's compressor had a crack and wouldn't hold pressure. I'm thinking, hoping, just replacing the compressor and doing a 2 hour vacuum will get it working again. Most of these techs seem to vacuum all of 15 minutes and call it a day. Any moisture in the lines needs a deep vacuum to boil off and get drawn out, and that takes hours.

 

[zzyzzx]

Warranty work with a rebuilt compressor with a tech paid at warranty rates is my best guess.

 

[Chris142]

Depends on the cause of the failure. The front of my Honda's compressor had a crack and wouldn't hold pressure. I'm thinking, hoping, just replacing the compressor and doing a 2 hour vacuum will get it working again. Most of these techs seem to vacuum all of 15 minutes and call it a day. Any moisture in the lines needs a deep vacuum to boil off and get drawn out, and that takes hours.

Ya you may get lucky if it was caused by rust behind the clip. Something I have never seen. People here often have a complete compressor failure. They only put a compressor on it. It fails soon after again.

One shop here put 5 compressors on a car. That system was full of metal and everything had to be replaced. They never did anything else to remedy the problem.

According to robinair who makes ac machines 15 minutes vacuum is enough and anything over that overheats the pump. I don't believe them that 15 minutes is enough.



Going over 15 minutes will smoke the pump though in their machines

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I had a lot of issues with the AC on my Subaru. I'm glad that car is someone else' problem. It had 6? warranty visits to the dealer over AC issues. I believe after the 2nd compressor failed it should have received EVERYTHING replaced under warranty.

With the Subaru, for some reason when it lost refrigerant it would run the compressor until it died. Unlike most vehicles that cut off when the pressure gets low (standard operation).

The AC in my Grand Marquis stopped working when summer hit this year. Checked for dye. Turns out it was leaking out of the schrader valve and cap. New valve and cap set in and it works great now!

 

[atikovi]

According to robinair who makes ac machines 15 minutes vacuum is enough and anything over that overheats the pump. I don't believe them that 15 minutes is enough.



Going over 15 minutes will smoke the pump though in their machines

That's because their crappy pumps are made in China. I had one 25 years ago when they were still made in the USA and never had a problem. When I decided to upgrade for a larger unit 10 years ago and saw their new ones were all made in China, I said no thanks. Switched over to Yellow Jacket.

 

[zzyzzx]

According to robinair who makes ac machines 15 minutes vacuum is enough and anything over that overheats the pump. I don't believe them that 15 minutes is enough.



Going over 15 minutes will smoke the pump though in their machines

Which is why I vacuum out the air and then close the shutoff valves, and turn the pump off for a while. When the pump cools off, I turn it back on, open the valves and let it run some more. I repeat this cycle many times and then leave it in a vacuum for a while like that.