chevy a/c repairs

A new compressor is around $450. Dryer is another $50. Add a couple hundred for flushing the system and replacing the compressor. Normally I would expect somewhere in the $800 neighborhood for a job like this. Did you take it to the dealer? Best bet will probably be to find a good independent a/c shop.

Steve B.

Must be a dealership price... You should also tip him about $1000,

It must have "Black Death".

Mel wrote:

Shep...she took it to a local independent garage in good standing, and was told the comp, seals were leaking, and needed a drier. The trouble-shoot cost 89 bucks,

Steve B...yep, an independent, prolly MORE than a dealer, huh? thx, Mel

HLS...mebbe the 1500$ included the one grand tip! thx, Mel

You can get a remanufactured AC compressor for about $300 online from here:

Call around to your local auto parts stores and get quotes on a reman unit, it will be similar or possibly lower. Then tell the garage you have been calling around to auto parts places for pricing on reman compressors and you want them to to quote a reman compressor for this job. It will probably be at least 10% higher, but if you tell them your buying the compressor elsewhere and having them install it, they won't warranty the work. That should be enough to keep them from completely hosing you down on the compressor price.

If the system just recently stopped working, then a new compressor and a new drier may be fine. But if the system has been nonfunctional for a year or more, then water will have got into the lines and to really do it right everything needs to be pulled apart and flushed, with new o rings used throughout.. It is a big, long, involved job that takes a lot of labor so that price may be accurate.

This is why I've been doing my own A/C work for years.

You can also get a used one from a wrecking yard for about $100 but it will probably be leaking also - unless of course it's been replaced. Since the remans and replacements have stickers slapped all over them it is usually fairly easy for wreckers to identify the good ones, and they will warranty them. Of course you will pay the garage for extra time if they install one from a wrecker and it leaks off the bat and you have to take it back to the wrecker and get a different one, but that may not be a lot of time. Of course, once again, they won't guarentee the work if you do that.

Ted

Spend the extra $100 on a new one. The rebuilds really suck on these. A rebuilt alternator isn't so bad when it fails but a rebuilt compressor requires that all the work be done again costing you several hundred to replace the compressor that has a "free replacement warranty"

Steve B.

I've found Rock Auto to have great pricing - and based on your vehicle:

ACDELCO Part # 1510088 RECEIVER & DEHYDRATOR,A/C {#151818} $74.79

FOUR SEASONS Part # 67476 w/MSC130CVSG2 Reman Compressor; w/ Clutch; w/ Rear AC $346.89 $36.00 $382.89

ACDELCO Part # 1521183 OMPRESSOR,A/C w/RR AUX A/C(C69) {replaces 5-20445 #1520445} $478.79 $0.00 $478.79

ACDELCO Part # 1520744 COMPRESSOR,A/C w/o RR AUX A/C(C69) {replaces 15-20444 #1520440} $487.79

... Just for parts, the cheapest would be ~$460 and the worse case scenario: $555. Labor in the $200+ range.

thx for all the urls, mst...I think mebbe the daughter needs a few more estimates! I dont know if the quote was for new or reman but the labor cost looks like at least as much as the parts so I would think new would be the best way to go. Mel Owen

Steve B...I agree, who wants to buy double labor charges @ 7/800$ a pop?? thx again... Mel

Ted...thx for the great tips. Now if I was just 40 yrs younger I might consider trying it myself....wait, I just recalled what that engine compartment looks like. First time I looked I was unable to find the

-battery- no kidding! Mel

I've found that if you do the job right the first time, that is clean out all the lines and such, that the rebuilds last well beyond their free replacement warranty period.

I think the problem is one of perception. Remans are generally used by DIYers and used car dealers and such who just replace it and fill it and hope the thing holds together long enough to sell it. As a result they almost always blow up rapidly. So the popular perception is that the reman units are crap, when the real problem is that people that do crap AC work always buy rebuilds, and the professionals that do good AC work are charging so much money (due to the labor involved) that an extra $100 on the bill is a drop in the bucket.

In any case if the OP is having a shop do it, he's going to have to be looking at the warranty period the shop gives for the entire job, not the warranty on the compressor.

Ted

Mel I figured you wouldn't be doing it yourself. The advice I was giving was intended to assist in negotiating.

All shops put a markup on parts, but some shops put a fair markup on parts, and other shops put a gouging markup on parts. You should know what the retail prices are of any large ticket parts going into a repair on your vehicle before you sign off on an estimate. If the markup on the parts that the shop puts down on the estimate is in the gouging category, and you display to them that you are aware of current street prices of the parts, you may find that suddenly they become very flexible on the parts cost.

The other thing to keep in mind is most garages have ongoing relationships with parts suppliers and as a result, aren't paying retail on the stuff to begin with. So for a compressor that you pay $450 retail on if you buy it over the counter at NAPA, the garage is probably paying NAPA $410 for it or even lower.

While I generally try to avoid having to pay a garage to do work, every once in a while I have to. Such as recently when I was 20 miles from home on the other side of a very congested set of highways, and the alternator V-belt broke. The repair place charged $20 for the belt and a half hour labor the total bill was $60. (the belt that broke was the outside belt and would have taken a mechanic about 5 minutes to change) The belt was $20 MSRP, but retail over the counter cost is about $6. The garage probably bought it for $5 so I got stuck with a 400% markup on this, plus paying 30 minutes to a tech where 20 of it he was probably sitting on his ass taking a smoke break. But I can't complain since I should have been paying closer attention to the belt condition. And for a $60 bill it's not worth arguing over.

Your daughter is operating under 2 handicaps here. First she's a woman, and I don't give a crap about what anyone says about equality, women get screwed over by repairs more. Simple fact. It is probably the perception by garages that woman are more easily lied to, I don't know. But we all have seen it and there's no point in arguing.

Secondly and more importantly, she is trying to get a system fixed that is non critical, it isn't a requirement for running the vehicle. Any garage knows right off the bat that with AC work, if someone wants to spend the money to fix it, they obviously aren't living hand-to-mouth. It isn't after all like the vehicle isn't running and is needed to get to and from work. Not only that, the mpg hit taken by rolling down the windows vs running the AC is not that big, quite likely at most a couple bucks a tank of gas. So your looking at most likely years of time before the repair cost is paid for by the fuel savings. Fixing AC is thus almost purely a convenience/comfort thing for the driver, like fixing a broken cupholder, and the only people who can afford to do it are the people who have enough money so that the garage can get away with charging what the market will bear. Garages aren't stupid and know all of this.

Ted

You still didn't answer his question. What parts are they replacing? How much are they charging for each part? How much labor for each part?

-------------- Alex

Alex...I havent seen the repair estimate, I have to go by a quick phone conversation, so I had to advise her to shop it around for a better idea of a final price. thx, Mel

I think you are probably right for many compressors but not this particular one. I don't know enough about them to know why they rebuild poorly but I have owned or been associated with enough of them to know that this one just doesn't hold up after being rebuilt and it doesn't seem to matter who rebuilds it.

Steve B.

Ted, thx for the truly excellent insights into this situation, a great post!! Mel