AC Help

Hello everyone,

My name is Heather and I am very happy that I found this forum. I have a 1995 Pont Grand AM, GT. I have owned it since it was new. My problem is with the AC. I have had it repaired six times since I have owned the car, and eventually it always starts just blowing warm air again.

The latest time was two months ago. I brought it to a new mechanic. He tried to just recharge (I thinK) and see what happens. Well, it was cool for about 3 or 4 days, then no more cold air. I took the car back. He looks at it again, and came to the conclusion it needed a new compressor. Same old Song and Dance. Same as the last 5 times I had it repaired.

At any rate, The car runs great and I have had no other major problems with it. The problem is that I drive 1 hour each way to work, on the highway, so opening the windows does nothing but blow my hair in a million directions and leave me looking like I was in a wind tunnell once I get to work.

Why do you guys think my car eats through AC systems. What questions should I be asking the mechanic. Different diagnosis other that compressor? I would like to keep the vehicle for 2 more years, but am a little worn out on the AC issue.

Thanks everyone for whatever adice you can give me. I am a 29 year old women with NO working know how with cars, so be gentle :)




Heather.

Heather, first of all take the car to a shop that specializes in ac repairs. They should be able to correctly diagnose the problem. Recharging it every few days or weeks only indicates that there is a leak and by doing this you are just wasting your money. If you take it to a shop, ask them to pull a vacuum on the system to see if it holds, if it does not then ask them to find and repair the leak. Second, once they find the leak ask for a written estimate on how much it will cost to repair. If they don't want to give it to you then walk away. Next, iask them if they guarantee their work, most shops will guarantee the work for 90 days especially on the parts that they replaced. Finally, compressors do go bad but in your case if the ac works for a couple of days and then goes out the problem is not in the compressor. If it works for a while it will continue to work until it loses freon and then it will stop. This is not to say that the compressor is not the source of the leak but I would bet that the problem is in either a connection or in the condensor on the front of the car. Let me know how it turns out. P.S. Just because you are a 29 year old woman with no auto knowledge doesn't mean that you should be taken to the cleaners on ac repairs!

Dealerships give a 12 month or 12K warranty on all labor and parts. GM Goodwrench dealers give a lifetime warranty on AC compressors along with many other repairs.

OK so shoot me about the warranty. The fact is she needs to get the car somewhere that they will give her quality service not just the runaround. If that is a GM dealer that's OK Too!

Thank you for your advice.

The first couple of times the AC went, the car was under its original warrenty. They fixed it, at least temporarily. The 3rd time, the GM dealership fixed it in June of that year. It went again in August of the following year. They said warrenty was out. I asked it their was a know problem. 3 AC jobs in 5 years. They said I was just unlucky.

The next time it went, I veered away from the dealer. Needless to say it happened again. Anyway, i know the mechanic who did the job 2 months ago will warrenty thr work. But, I feel something must be going wrong here, other than me getting every defective compressor made :)

I think an AC specialist might be the way to go. I think something must be blowing out these compressors.

Heather

OK so shoot me about the warranty. The fact is she needs to get the car somewhere that they will give her quality service not just the runaround. If that is a GM dealer that's OK Too!


No reason to shoot you just giving more options. Not all dealerships are bad I work for a decent one and I never take any money unless I am sure I fixed the problem.

For your compressors to be going, only thing that I can think of is the compressor blew apart and forced metal chunks thur out the system. Replacing the comp doesn't get rid of the metal, so after a while the metal hits the new comp and takes it out again.

Heather, If they change the compressor again make sure they completely flush the system to remove any metal fragments and change the filter in the system. If they do the job right they will do this anyway but some will want to take shortcuts and not flush the system properly. Good Luck!!!