Is all of this necessary for air conditioning repair?
 

I have a friend with a garage in the back of his house and he does a lot of work on my car.
Lately my air conditioning has been blowing warmer so he tried to add some refrigerant and it wouldn't hold. Tried to hold a vacuum and the high side wouldn't.

So I took it to a local place were they injected dye and so they came back and said my compressor was bad. They want to replace the compressor, drier, expansion valve. $1,600 would be the total.

I don't have the know-how or the room to do something like this myself, and I don't think my friend wants to do the work either.

But does this price sound right, high, on the money? And does everything have to be replaced at once?

145,000 miles on the car and never had to mess with the air conditioning in 10 years.

Thank you.


Edit: moderators sorry that I posted here. I just saw the sticky. It's been several months since I've been to this forum. I do not know how to change it.

I've got the same issue. I was quoted $1300 from a local shop for the same work you listed. Might be difference in local shop rates depending on where you are, but that didn't sound too outrageous.

I'll take $1,300 over $1600. This was actually at Michel Tires Plus which is an offshoot of Firestone.

I'm going to call my local shop that's literally local on Monday. They put my clutch in for me. But I'll be damned if I go without AC lol.

I know it seems overkill, but if the compressor is internally bad and making noise especially, it could send small metal particles through the entire system, thats one of the reasons shops like to replace all the components in the system, the other is the warranty on the compressor... If indeed there is metal in the system and only the compresoor is replaced, then guess what? In short order, youll need another compressor. In my opinion, replacing all the components is the correct way to do it.

Thats a good way of putting it. $1600 Wouldn't be so bad except it just got out of the hospital and even with insurance, thats gonna be a small fortune.

Last Monday around here it was 70° and driving up and down 71 without air, ugh.

It will get done. Ty.

I’m a service advisor for Lexus and I agree.

I appreciate both of your opinions and I'm going to heed your all's advice. Thank you!

I bet doing the ac on a Camaro is relatively chump change compared to a Lexus. :smiling1:

as long as you dont have to replace the evaporator,heater core or blend door.then youll think 1600 is cheap...

:yikes:

The markup price from the parts department in the dealership makes me cringe

1,400 might get you a compressor �� (not installed)

GM compressor is p/n 23374616. List price is 541.65. Can get them for around 340-ish plus or minus nearly anywhere if they got 'em.

Expansion valve lists for 141.50. GM part number 92229746. Around 80-100 plus or minus generally.

Receiver/dryer is GM p/n 92229743. List price of 152.43. Around 90 plus or minus on average.

So even if you got the GM parts for nominal prices, you'd be pushing 600 if you bought them and around 900 if you let the service place buy them. Like fencing, usually doubling the cost for the parts and having someone else do it. So 1600 isn't really out of line. When you let the service place buy the parts, you normally pay full ride on them. Just depends on their warranty.

The 68683 number is a four seasons number. I'm not sure if that's a NEW compressor or what.*

Generally if you supply your own parts to a repair shop and you have a problem with fit or a defective part it's all on you. If the shop supply's the parts it's on them, consider the markup insurance.

Is the drier a part of the condenser?

Yes. It goes inside a "tube" connected to the side of the condenser. I don't recall if you bought a new condenser it comes with a new drier, but I'm guessing even if it did, that'd push up parts prices even further.