Car in question is a 1995 Ford Escort with the 1.9L engine, and I live in Baltimore, MD. The car has 213,000 miles on it. It has a leak in the A/C system which I have made several attempts to find, and despite the fact that it won't hold r134a for really any amount of time, I am unable to find any leak. As a last ditch attempt to fix it, I may inspect everything in the A/C system as I remove it to see if I find anything obvious since I really can't check the compressor seal, the back of the condenser, or the part in the dash (which I will not be removing. The rest of the car is in poor condition, except for the interior which is still nice.
But my question really is should I even bother attempt to repair the A/C on a beater?
I mean, where I live I would only really miss the A/C on afternoons on my way home from work, during the summer, and that's really not so bad. That and I can just do what I did most of last summer and drive my other car that has working air conditioning. Plus on this Escort, A/C was optional and removing it should clean up the engine bay nicely, and making future repairs easier. I would need a shorter serpentine belt, but other than that, the prescribed belt routing for this car without A/C will work just fine once the compressor and an extra idler are gone.
But my question really is should I even bother attempt to repair the A/C on a beater?
I mean, where I live I would only really miss the A/C on afternoons on my way home from work, during the summer, and that's really not so bad. That and I can just do what I did most of last summer and drive my other car that has working air conditioning. Plus on this Escort, A/C was optional and removing it should clean up the engine bay nicely, and making future repairs easier. I would need a shorter serpentine belt, but other than that, the prescribed belt routing for this car without A/C will work just fine once the compressor and an extra idler are gone.