The part that was
ordered on Feb. 8, 2005 finally came in from the dealer (the low-side service port
valve).
I arrived at the shop at around 8:30 AM and walked to a nearby restaurant to
have breakfast while they let
the thing cool down and start work (valve is very close to the exhaust
manifold).
By the time I got back (about 40 minutes), they already had the valve
replaced, the system recharged, and
they were checking everything out. A few minutes later, the van was
idling out front of the shop and was
blowing cold air (about 40 degrees F) from the dash vents. I drove off
with a working car air conditioner again!
Total cost, including parts, R134, oil, dye,
and labor - $128.
BUT...
Later in the afternoon (about 2:30PM), I went to pick up my son from school
and noticed that the air coming
out was not as cold as it was before. We had a couple of errands to
run, and at about 4PM noticed that the
air coming out of the vents was NOT cold at all AND that the compressor was
NOT coming on.
I went back to the shop and the guy that had done the work looked at it
again and said that it was "his problem" (he implied that he should have
fixed it right the first time). He said that there was a leak at
the same spot as before (see pictures above - dye is visible on the service
port cap). He suspects that at some time in the past, there was damage
done where the valve seats in the service port. He also said that he
could not get a valve that has a larger seal at the base. He was
concerned that replacing the entire hose might be VERY expensive since the
part had to be ordered from the dealer.
Since it was late in the day on Friday, and I had to go out of town the
following week, he said he would investigate what could be done besides
replacing the entire hose.
UPDATE - Feb. 18, 2005
I called after returning from my business trip to see what could be done
next. His "expert" had been sick all week and had not been able to
offer any advice. I asked if he had priced the hose and he said "no".
I decided to give a couple of dealers a call and found that the hose was
about $64.
I took a trip to the dealer parts department to verify that it was the
correct hose and discovered that the correct one was $55 and would have to
be ordered (NOT in stock). I faxed the parts diagram to the repair
shop and gave them a call and he said that I should also order the seals on
each end of the hose (the old ones cannot be reused) and he will install
them.
I ordered the parts ($93) and will be notified when they arrive.
See Next AC Service
Event
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