A/C Doesn't Work

[Diesel JD]

Even if you replace everything it shouldn't cost that kind of money, not if you can do some of the labor yourself. You need to have somebody recover the refrigerant who can contain it properly (real mechanic usually) and to vacuum the system down for you too and maybe fill it again. That's about 1-2 hrs worth of labor. The rest the home mechanic can do. I am dealing with this now actually. Here's how it broke down:

Labor to recover and refill.... a "short hour" $40
Accumulator/dryer............... 28.99
New Compressor.................. 185.99
Orifice tube (standard) .... 1.99
Condenser core.............. 124.99
Accumulator core........ 80.99
New high pressure to condenser hose... 28.02
Grand total: $463.00
That should be your worst case scenario around 400-500 bucks to replace everything or almost everything. I didn't include refrigerant in there. It's not expensive but the cost isn't insignificant either.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Good call Diesel JD.

Most important part is to suck the system down to get any moisture or non-refrigerant funk that may have gotten in there. Good idea to replace the orfice tubes, or at the very least clean them. I have converted many R12 systems to R134 and as long as they weren't opened up to atmosphere and truly contaminated, you should be ok with a little work.

Good luck

R. J.