Car A/C Repair

[twbird18]

My car A/C stopped working at the beginning of the summer.  Not really a big deal, but I do a fair amount of road tripping in August & September for vacation & as it got closer I started to realize how uncomfortable that might be without A/C.  So, I got to work troubleshooting the problem & eventually determined that my Air Compressor was seized.  I have never done any type of auto work, but since I started reading MMM I have being trying to do as much stuff as I can that will save money/increase my skills.

Price estimates from a couple shops were $800-1000 to replace the compressor.  I figured that I could purchase new tools & the parts, come out ahead and have the tools for future use.

It turns out that actually replacing the compressor is relatively simple after doing some research.  Really the job took longer than we planned not due to replacing the compressor, but simply due to our inexperience & a comedy of errors.  Although we ordered the correct after market compressor, we received the wrong model - which we didn't realize until the car was dissembled. We had to reassemble & wait 3 days for a new replacement to arrive.  Then, we were missing a bolt as one of the new parts didn't attach in the same way as an old one & our brand new air compressor for drawing the vacuum & blowing out the lines was broken & had to be returned.

All in all, though this was actually kind of a fun skill.  I own a bunch of new stuff that I can use for other things - particularly the air compressor & I saved $200.  After a lot of trial and error my buddy & I got the compressor replaced and I now have cold air blowing again & I am more confident about being able to do other repairs in the future.

[exranger06]

What kind of car is it? A lot of times when a compressor seizes, it will basically grind itself up inside and spew metal shavings throughout the whole system. Properly fixing it involves flushing out all the lines, evaporator, and condenser and replacing the drier and orifice tube. And some condensers can't really be flushed out so you may be better off replacing it. If there are any metal shavings in the system, you will quickly ruin the new compressor and you'll be right back at square one.

My mother's Explorer seized the compressor about 3 years ago and I fixed it myself. I got a junkyard compressor, all new lines, condenser, orifice tube and drier. I had a shop flush out the original evaporator and recharge the system. That was my first AC repair; I've done a few more since then and now recharge systems myself, too.

[DirtBoy]

The flushing the system part is essential and the biggest pain IMHO.  I use a flush kit I got off Amazon and Duraflush (which is some seriously nasty stuff).  I had a accumulator/dryer leak tiny clear grains of desiccant into my Honda's system.  It was a PITA to know if it was cleared out.

Anyway, good job twbird18!

[twbird18]

2008 Honda Civic - the old compressor did not appear to have any metal pieces falling off ( I disassembled it for fun afterwards) - but to be on the safe side I did replace the drier, flush the systems, pull a vacuum & then recharge.  Really, the hardest part of the job was playing with the serpentine belt.