Your Opinion on Changing out A/C System??

[Airmaster]

Hey guys, hope all is well, I wanted to ask a question on my aunt's account.

She currently has 200,000 miles on her 1997 4.0 and the A/C went out on it finally. Her mechanic has told her it would be $700 bucks for the new A/C for parts and install.

My worry is that I have heard whenever you go into the A/C system it never quite runs the same and problems can become repetitive.

I'm beginning to think I should suggest she purchases a newer truck and to finally let her good ol' yellow splash good bye.

That brings me to my second question, would you guys call 200,000 miles a good number to retire the truck at? She has literally never had an issue, oil and tires are the only thing she has changed.

Here are some pictures of the truck... It's in good shape

Thanks for your opinions!

 

[adsm08]

If an A/C repair is done correctly it will function perfectly for a long time. Some failures are harder or more expensive to repair correctly though.

And 200,000 miles means nothing. If the rest of the truck is fine I say keep driving it and just save up in case something were to happen to it.

 

[Jraymer360]

looks like it will last another 200k more.

 

[LearjetMinako]

I've done A/C repair a few times on the Ranger. Heres the order of how things went out.
Ranger:
1. Accumalator rusted through
2. Original compressor front seal blew
3. High pressure port started leaking
4. 2+ years later, the replacement A/C compressor blew a front seal. Now take into account that this was a new compressor, but it had to go through the two hottest years on record (30+ days over 100*F).

Blazer:
1. Compressor gernaded (Warranty repaired)
2. Compressor front seal blew out
3. Bad compressor hose O-rings (yeah nothing beats wasting another $75 in service because of a bad 25 cent o-ring that leaked the whole system in a week).
4. High pressure port leak

Dodge 2500:
1. Fixed so many time, but never fixed right by the owner. The list would be too long.

Buick Regal:
1. Compressor gernaded

 

[colby450xc]

Would you seriously get a new car because the air conditioner went out? Mine has a leak in the system somewhere, 30 days after recharging the a/c does jack shit. Unless I have more money than I need to pay the bills I'm gonna say phuck it and just leave it the way it is. I can survive the heat considering I dont have a monthly payment on my 17 year old ranger. If it were the heater that would be a different story, usually that is cheaply fixed, and I cant open all the windows to fix the issue......

 

[Rangered06]

i say remove the compressor get a shorter belt and roll down the windows that truck is to nice to give up

 

[Jraymer360]

on second thought, retire it and let me have it.

 

[JoshT]

I can't speak to the longevity of the repair, but I replaced nearly the entire system on a 96 Probe I had. The AC wasn't working when I bought the car, can't recall what was determined to be wrong but IIRC I replaced everything except the hard lines, the evaporator, and the condenser. The AC set to max would keep the inside of the car at 50 degrees on a 90+ degree day. That's better than any factory AC I've had. I only had the car about a year when the transmission failed and I decided not to spend the money on fixing it, so I can't say how long the repair would have lasted.

I replaced the components myself. Only thing I really changed from the factory set-up was a variable oriface tube, can't remember now what the reason for that was, might have caused it to cool better. When charging it we used the 134A with the "artic freeze" additive. Total cost was around $300 IIRC buying most of the parts through autozone (they were running a special $10 gift card per $100 spent), plus $250 tool rental for a vacuum pump which you get back with return of the tool. I also needed a set of R134a gauges, I bought then for $30 at harbor freight I think, they may be rentable though. That said I don't think $700 is unreasonable for the work as long as they do a proper job and give a good warranty.

EDIT: Forgot to add that in the shape that things appears to be in I wouldn't retire it. Definitely not if the only thing wrong with it is the AC. With proper care and maintenance I can see it making 300K easily.

 

[doorgunner]

If she's rich.....get a new vehicle & sell the truck to one of us!

If she ain't......$700 is a fair price for an A/C repair.....provided the REAL problem isn't just a blown fuse or leaky pressure fitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[84bluebronco2]

Fix it and keep going. The body looks perfect! If the engine runs well, and the transmission shifts smooth, don't lose what you have. Driving a paid off car is money in the bank!!

 

[kimcrwbr1]

That is like buying a new truck because it has a flat tire. Pressure test the A/C system and determine where the leak/s is/are. A compressor seal first suspect but get it to hold pressure with no drop in pressure after 45 minutes at 200 lbs. Vacuum the system into a deep vacuum and add the factory charge by weight. First you must determine the fault is it a relay, clutch, loose belt. Depress one of the schrader valves if there is still pressure in the system do a soap test on everything and look for a leak. It could be as easy as adding juice to it but if the system has no pressure find fix the leak and do a system flush before you vac it down and add refrigerant.

 

[Airmaster]

i say remove the compressor get a shorter belt and roll down the windows that truck is to nice to give up

Haha, lmao, I like that idea, there'd probably be a few horses to pick up in doing that, but alas it's not my truck... but hell if it was mine I couldn't do it living in South Florida...

 

[Airmaster]

Thanks for all the tips guys, I'll make sure to forward this to my aunt, I'm gonna ask her if she's having any other issues and if it's just AC I'll tell her to pull the trigger.

If she does go for a new car I'll let you guys know about it, I wouldn't have the time to make a project out of it with my schedule but I'm sure someone else on here would haha.

 

[Earl43P]

That price is about 2 average car payments.......


I'd fix it!

Insist on all new hoses, new compressor, filter/receiver/dryer and new condenser. A new evaporator installation is gonna be pricy and I'll bet that is not included in the estimate. If it is.....that mechanic is pretty cheap! I'd have guessed all that parts/labor would be well over $1000.

 

[adsm08]

Fix it and keep going. The body looks perfect! If the engine runs well, and the transmission shifts smooth, don't lose what you have. Driving a paid off car is money in the bank!!

Plus I have seen a lot of people who traded their trusty rusty that they loved on something brand new because they were fearing the worst just because their old car was getting up in miles and were severely disappointed in what they ended up with.