There is no such thing as a "bendar motor". Are you sure he didn't say "blower motor"? If you have a leaking evaporator and hose, you would be wise to have all the O-rings replaced at the same time.
You can not do the work yourself, unless you are exceptional and have access to some expensive tools. After the repairs have been made, the system needs to be evacuated, and filled with the precise amount of refrigerant.
You can buy a "recharge kit" at many automotive parts stores. This will contain a can of perhaps 12 oz. of refrigerant, with a hose to dispense it into the system. This is not a permanent fix, and results are not assured, but many people have used it as a "temporary" fix. Availability depends on the laws of your state.
This is not a good thing. It takes quite a bit of effort to get at the evaporator.
o-rings probably. Look for grease/dirt around the fittings. A bit of oil escapes with the R134a and traps dirt. Resist the urge to overtighten the banjo bolts on the AC compressor, they are into very weak aluminum.
Blend-Air motor. This is the doodad that moves the damper between cold and hot or the cooling coil and heater core. They can go bad but it's not usual. They do stick and wear, but it's not common.
Check the recall first.
Generally AC work is hard for the backyard mechanic to do because of the equipment required to pump the system down if you replace major parts and the evaporator is a MAJOR part.
Given the evaporator might be leaking the price (based on hours of work) isn't that far out there. Getting that part out is a bitch of a job.
What you could do is get a R134a recharge kit with pressure gauge and put some more coolant in there. It will leak out again but at least your AC will probably work for a few more years. (all depends how much of a leak you have.)
In my experience, which isn't all that much but it is something, if you have a leak that is enough to stop your AC from working, then one of those recharge kits is good for a season, maybe. Still, if you don't have the money this year, but you might have it next year, it will be a good investment. Especially if you live in Florida.
Where I live, if you are too hot, just drive up hill. ;^)
As others have pointed out, replacing the evaporator is a MAJOR job. It took the dealer an entire day, and they knew what they were doing. It involves taking out the entire dash among other things. You really don't want to try to do it yourself. Never got all the rattles out of the dash after that. Even today.
When our evaporator was replaced in 1994, it cost over $1,000. I'm sure it's a lot more now. Between rebuilding the compressor head (O'Rings), replacing the hose and heater motor, I'm sure what you were quoted is not out of line.
Ok, I have read in a few places that the blend air door is defective which effectively stops the AC from working because it won't go from 'heat' mode to AC mode under the dash.
I believe it is also vacuum operated and the vacuum line can become disconnected. Hear any strange hisses or have any other vacuum related things that work slowly?
I am wondering if this is all that is wrong?
If you turn on the AC and things under the hood appear to work, than maybe it's just that door?
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
I figure the leak just started in the past year, and then drained down the system, to the point that it would not cool. That is my experience with leaks anyway. It is unrealistic in the extreme, to expect that a recharge can is going to give another ten years of service. Otoh, they cost a lot less than $1,700.00!
That actually makes it look easy. What the picture doesn't show, is how many connections and how many fasteners you have to remove, to get to that point. I'll bet, it's a few.
When I took my daughters Cougar in for A/C service the first they specifically asked if it had been recharged before and when.
Apparently they are not supposed to just add R-12 to a leaky system but if it had been a few years then it was kosher with whoever made the rules.
Personally if an annual recharge would hold me over then I would have no problem with that as his system uses R-134 then I would do it myself..
On the blend door problem, unless the fix is something quick, easy, and cheap I would suffer along with letting the system blow the cold air wherever it wanted which in this case seems to be the floor vents.
Perhaps the EPA needs to add regulations requiring that the A/C systems actually be easily serviceable. I know I would be less resistant to $100 worth of labor than $1000 worth.
Leaks of any kind never get better, and very rarely stay the same. Heh, with regard to the Cougar, if the refrigerant charge was down, the system leaks. I have heard some pretty outrageous stories from air conditioning mechanics, to explain failure to find a leak. "O-rings shrink in the cold, and let all the refrigerant out. Now that it is warm, we can't find the leak." That just means that they are not looking hard enough.
At least if you use the annual recharge method, and keep looking, sooner or later you will find a wet spot. That is your leak.
In the case of the Cougar it was pretty much on a 2 year leak down cycle but as I said I would spend $20 a year to recharge it annually rather than put $1700 into a 10 year old car. (Assuming there is no emotional attachment to the vehicle or a collector vehicle)
I would plan on applying that $1700 to the replacement when that time comes as by the time my vehicles get to be 10 years old they are well over 150,000 miles...
Most of the cars I have owned were valued at less than $1700..., the ex-, however, always had a nice new car....
This is a good policy if it works, but it didn't work for me. Now I have a vacuum pump, gauges and a few simple AC tools. This is not a strictly EPA-compliant setup, but it is enough to replace a compressor, metering orifice, O-rings and the like. Your point, "that the A/C systems actually be easily serviceable", is well taken. I don't think that I could legally get a system recharged by a commercial repair facility, without having to drive one hundred miles to do it. The last time I did this, the Penske place had something wrong with their recharging station, that required us to wait around the half-abandoned mall in Durango all day, while the poor broken thing slowly sucked down a vacuum. They didn't actually find the leak either. They just gave me a c*ck and bull story about how it had probably sealed itself while no one was looking. Real AC systems do not do this.
I got my wife a new car seven years ago, and she wants another one already! I just can't figure women.
Instituting that requirement would certainly be easy... just send Teddy or Hilary a hooker, bottle of Scotch, and an envelope full of cash and have them hide it in an amendment to a school appropriations bill.
Imagine a requirement that the entire system be removable within an hour or just require that, as a potentially air polluting problem, that A/C systems be warranted for 7 years/70,000 miles. The manufacturers would either make the systems more durable or more repairable... whichever was cheaper... either way in the long term the consumer would benefit.
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