1997 Park Avenue AC Compressor

My AC stopped working the other day so I decided to take it to my local mechanic. He did some work and upon arriving told me I had a small leak of somesort. He filled up my AC compressor with some freon but didn't say how long it would last. He also said that if I wanted everything to be fixed, he was gonna charge me $650 (parts and labor). How complicated is the AC system and if I purchase a compressor (around $150) is this something an amateur mechanic like myself with minimal tools could fix. I also have access to freon for refilling.

Thanks

Ouch...Last summer my AC quit working on my 97 PA and I had it filled. They put some dye in it to find out where the leak was. After about a week it started to fail again. Well...I found out that the leak was in the evaporator core. Then I find out, to get to the evap. core they needed to take apart the dash. The dealer wanted $1100 to fix and I said no way (Labor was like $700 bucks). I ended up waiting about a month to see if I could get by for a while, but it was just too damn hot in Illinois. So I forked out about $950 to have it done at a shop by someone I know. :(

I hope in your case this isn't the problem. I am still amazed that something like that could end up costing that much.

-NV