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How did the dealer know this if you didn't take it to them to look at? Did they give an idea of what the real issue is?
Fred Anderson didn't charge to do this. I told them I got no cold air they said it was a leak somewhere in the system but that the compressor was still OK. They did tell me not to even try using the air because it would surely damage the compressor at that point. They wanted around $175 to fill Freon or whatever they use these days and that would show where the leak was. I never intended letting them fix the air they said if the system didn't hold Freon it might be around 1K for repair. The car is rarely used now but if it wasn't an outrageous amount to fix I would do it.
If the compressor works and is full of refrigerant, then it's likely something to do with the blend door systems in the dash. Not an easy or inexpensive job.
If it's not full of refrigerant, then it's obviously leaking and will have to be fixed. I hope it's not a newer system (2019 or newer, I think) that takes R-1234YF refrigerant, because that stuff is stupid expensive.
2014 Camry 80K easy miles the car is rarely driven anymore since I am retired and if we go anywhere we just take the other car. I might put 2K miles on it a year now.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I had a car with the AC working great until it got really hot and need it most, like above 90F. Then it would just blow warm air, and I determined that the compressor was not kicking on. If I waited until the evening when it cooled off again it worked great. Intermittent problems are hard to diagnose but I was able to eventually figure it out. The compressor is turned on and off by a relay, and in my case the contacts inside the relay were bending from the heat and losing contact. The replacement was just $20 or so online and very easy to replace. That doesn't mean that the OPs problem is the same, however.
Fred Anderson didn't charge to do this. I told them I got no cold air they said it was a leak somewhere in the system but that the compressor was still OK. They did tell me not to even try using the air because it would surely damage the compressor at that point. They wanted around $175 to fill Freon or whatever they use these days and that would show where the leak was. I never intended letting them fix the air they said if the system didn't hold Freon it might be around 1K for repair. The car is rarely used now but if it wasn't an outrageous amount to fix I would do it.
They fed you a lot of BS there. Normally if the refrigerant level drops too low the pressure switch will not let the compressor engage or run at all so no risk of damage. The dealer should have an electronic leak detector that can locate any refrigerant leaks within minutes, but sometimes they use a dye that becomes visible under UV lights. They're just guessing at the $1K repair estimate since they don't even know what's wrong yet.
You can add a can of refrigerant yourself to keep the AC system working even with a small leak as long as it's not completely empty which means external air has most likely entered the system at that point and would require full evacuation and recharge.
Fred Anderson didn't charge to do this. I told them I got no cold air they said it was a leak somewhere in the system but that the compressor was still OK. They did tell me not to even try using the air because it would surely damage the compressor at that point. They wanted around $175 to fill Freon or whatever they use these days and that would show where the leak was. I never intended letting them fix the air they said if the system didn't hold Freon it might be around 1K for repair. The car is rarely used now but if it wasn't an outrageous amount to fix I would do it.
On my 4Runner there is a leak that they can't detect, but if they can't detect it it's a slow leak.
I add a can of refrigerant from Autozone or Advanced Auto about once every two years. It was once a year when my wife drove more.
Youtube will tell you how to add it. It's pretty simple. FWIW, I'm into it for $40 for the chemicals alone so while it certainly would be cheaper at an indy shop the dealer at dealer shop rates is probably priced correctly.
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