Life of A.C. 2002 Buick Century

You don't tell us a thing about what was wrong or what was done to your AC. You want us to give you a "creative" answer. The mileage is a bit low. If the vehicle sat all winter and never had the AC/defrost on, the seals could have leaked. Maybe the car was in a minor accident or used over very bumpy roads. An AC repair after four years is not totally unexpected.

Depends. My '91 Regal was repaired correctly after three attempts by the dealer when it was about 2 years old. Lasted until this past year with

148,000 miles. Did it really need $700 in repairs? Hard to say. Could have been a bad compressor and dryer, could have been a simple seal leak.

In my case, the dealer (under warranty) "repaired" my AC twice. The second time I did not even make it home a mile away and it died. Dealer insisted they fixed it right. We has a long discussion about AC and how they work and I asked what they did. I asked if the evaporator was checked. He said no, they never go bad. You can figure the rest of the story.

A long time. My 92 G/A has never had the a/c worked on, never had to add r-12, and it still keeps me comfortably cool in the Houston summer time when the temp reaches the 100's F.

I'm shocked that "you" were shocked! Did you just drop the car off and say "fix it"? Did you get an estimate? Did you ask them to diagnose it first and give you an idea of what it needed?

You gotta take control of your auto repairs. Otherwise, you will probably continue to be "shocked".

Ian

The condenser failed on our '02 Olds about a year ago at around 55k miles, so you situation is not unique.

John

I'll save Mike the trouble of posting;

You must've abused your A/C or You didn't take it into your authorized GM dealer for maintenance

and besides GM sells more A/C units than Toyota !

( so there )

Thanks for all the good responses. I was told that the bill would be over $700 but when we paid it was about $500. About $200 for labor and $300 for parts.

The blend door actuator was replaced.

Being a very old bugger I never cease to be shocked at the cost of everything. Some brain cells are still set at the 1950's prices.....gas at 18 cents a gallon, great houses sold for $30,000. My new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere hardtop convertible with fins cost $2500. (not $25,000)

Too bad we don't have a time machine.

Hey - you gotta use last names. There's more than one Mike here. And you forgot to mention fleets.

We mostly all knew he meant the guy with all the money, all that valuable GM stock he's holding til it comes back. He has a new family room needs papering. It's the guy that buys so many new cars all the time and never frets over a $1200 ABS module or active suspension component. Everybody makes near perfect products. That's the Mike. Mike HXXXXX something I believe. Still, glad you cleared up the confusion. Full disclosure is the best way.

Yes but you forgot that in 1957 $1.50 an hour was a good union wage, a Buick cost $3,500 a bit more than the average annual income and a new car warranty was only 30 days or 1,000 miles WOF. Today buyers expect the manufactures to fix their vehicles for free forever. LOL

mike hunt

Depends of the quality of the car. For GM, NOT SURPRISING.

Your income of 1957 vs now was???FYI the ratio of costs and income in that period is over 10 to 1.

The HVAC 'computer' can cost you up to about $600 alone when that goes out.