Big $$$ AC repair on 03 Ford

[tallyho8]

Dealers today want to insure that they do not get a "call back" on a repair job. "Call backs" cost them money and are bad for customer relations. They cure this problem by replacing all components of a broken system to insure that another worn part will not break during the warranty period causing a "call back". Unfortunately, this is an expensive procedure for the customer and some may want to seek alternative repairs from another repair shop that will only replace parts that are already bad.
Examples: If your power steering pump goes bad, they want to replace the pump, both hoses and belt. If any part breaks in your transmission they want to rebuild it. If a valve starts leaking they want to rebuild the heads. (or the whole motor) If your brake pads are worn they want to replace the pads, cylinders, rotors, etc.
Many people who can afford it agree to this type of "preventive maintenance" but those on a budget generally prefer to only replace the broken part and risk further repairs later.

 

[lug nut]

Ask the service manager or service writer about an after warranty adjustment, or P05 repair. If you bought your truck from there, and have been a good customer, they will most likely get Ford to help you out by covering most, or at least half, of the repair cost.

Others are right in saying that they are most likely covering their backsides by pricing all components that are affected when a compressor fails, but it is not possible for a compressor to fail and still partially cool. A freon leak can cause a lack of cooling, but a failed compressor will result in a complete lack of cooling.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

I suppose that it is possible for it all to go bad, like the compressor starts dropping shavings from poor quality build or low on coolant and then those shavings start to mess up other parts. But I doubt it.

Find the best AC shop around and get another opinion.

this is what happened to me.

I had a similar sounding situation on my 1991 Chevy, I spent about $300 on all of the little fixes, then they wanted just shy of $1000, this was back in 1996 or 97.

A mechanic friend of mine had moved to Eastern WA, a year earlier so I called him and offered to pay him all of the money for the fix instead of some guy I did not know. I make the drive and he starts to check everything and said "it should be cold," but it was only cool air that was coming out. So he kept checking and saying it is something simple that is wrong, he just had to find it.

He then discovered that the $29.00 fan switch motor had went bad. The heat was never totally off, so the AC cold air mixed with the warm air and out came cool air. The heat that came out when the AC was off I had never noticed.

steve

 

[kenmac]

A freon leak can cause a lack of cooling, but a failed compressor will result in a complete lack of cooling.



If the compressor has failed this is true. Compressors will loose their ability to pump because of Wear due to loss of oil ,stuck valves , etc, & will still cool to a point but not as one one that will pump the refrigerant to the proper pressures.You could just have a bad orifice or expansion valve orifice could be stopped up by the way of something comming apart within the system. It's hard to tell what's wrong with the system without connecting gauges & checking the amount of refrigerant in the system & pressures that the compressor is producing

 

[riptides]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it comes to mind for this thread.

-Mike Z.

 

[N80]

I've been away for a day but I've read all the posts and I just got off the phone with the service manager.

He tells me that my compressor is 'locked up'. I asked him what that meant and he kind of stammered around a bit and said it seized up, all the internal parts burned out. Sounds very suspicious to me, but, I'm going to play devils advocate here. Maybe he doesn't understand AC systems, or maybe he misunderstood what the mechanic told him or maybe, and this has happened to me, he was having a hard time putting this in terms I could understand since he assumes (correctly) that I know nothing about these things.

He gave me this estimate:

1) New compressor: $320
2) New 'accumulator': $146
3) Refrigerant and oil: $50
4) Some type of seal: $7
5) Labor: $410

Total: $933

I'm assuming the labor is high because they have to pull a lot of stuff out to get to it.

Now, I talked to him before reading the rest of the posts in this thread, so I did not confront him with this. I politely thanked him for the info and the phone call. (I'm trying to keep this civil, remember, he and the owner of the dealership are patients of mine. Also, I did not by the truck there).

But it was around 96 degrees here today and I got in it after it was parked in the sun. It is a black truck. It took the AC a while to get going and it didn't get nearly as cool as it did 3 weeks ago, but after 5 minutes or so, it was relatively comfortable and the air felt cool coming out of the vents. There is definitely something wrong with it, but as several people mentioned, I'm assuming it should not be cooling at all with a compressor 'locked up', 'seized up' or 'burned out'.

I hope these folks have made a mistake and are not trying to fleece me. The cost for diagnostics was $80 for labor and $20 for refrigerant (why did they add refrigerant to a system with a 'locked up' compressor.

At this point I'll definitely get a second opinion either from the Ford place where I bought it, or from an independant.

If it turns out that they got the diagnosis all wrong should I ask for my money back in regard to the labor fee for 'diagnosis'?

What a goat rope!

Mike Z may have the best idea. I may just keep running the dang thing until it won't cool at all.....we should only have another couple of months in the high 90's.

 

[dooleysm]

If he knows that you're getting cool, but not cold, air I don't see how he could be telling you that your compressor has 'locked up'. Just doesn't make sense.

 

[frank_f15]

If the unit is cooling but not enough it most defenitly NOT a bad compressor, more than likly you have a leak and you lost some refrigerant. now where you lost it is another matter. but should not be hard to find.

 

[BobRip]

I had a compressor on my 86 Caprice that would lock up when the outside temperature got above about 90 deg F. It worked OK the rest of the time. This was the third compressor and the car had 205,000 on it, so we traded and got $80 for it. I found out I should have flushed the freon system prior to compressor replacement. Your Ford dealer is not replacing everything. Just normal stuff during a compressor replacement. There are still many hoses, evaporator, and condensor. You might ask about flushing out the system. Particles are generated when a compressor fails and they can damage the next compressor.

 

[schmism]

you can pick up a cheep recharge kit with gauge. its fairly easy to see if your just low on coolant...

locked up compressor = doesnt turn.

a buddy with simular symptoms had the accumulator or something replaced on his and fixed his problem. but it certanly wasnt the compressor.