Your advice please!! Fix it or Keep it ??

[Caralyst]

Quick background:
93 Dodge Caravan, 206,000 miles (that's not a typo!), original motor and tranny. A/C is out.
Live in Houston, TX
Single mother working full time with two kids (5 and 7)

A/C was quoted at $1200, recently spent $86 on a recharge that lasted ONE week. Can't really afford to fix it, but where there's a will, there's a way...

In humid Houston, TX it is very hard to show up to an office day job with the wind blowing through your hair and completely sweating AND trying to look professional in your professional clothes.

Also, my heart hurts picking up the kids from day care/school and putting them in a HOT Caravan with no a/c, and driving them home or going to the store, or anywhere. The kids are angels during this time. God bless their hearts for their mother.

Should the 206k mile Caravan's A/C be fixed for $1200+ (there's always a "+" to any of MY estimates) OR should the same money be spent on a newer (94-96) Dodge Caravan with high miles ?? (I've done enough research to know that I'd likely want an R-134 refrigerant minivan (1994 and newer) and it is tough to properly retrofit R-12 systems in older Caravans)

Edmunds.com states my 93 Caravan is worth $452.

Your advice???

Thanks in advance!
Caralyst

[slantsixness]

I would vote NO. Besides, $1200.00 to fix the AC is horrendous.

Buy another Van, or a cheap car to get you through 'til the humidity dies down in September.

Don't pay that much to get it fixed. Have you asked another shop what it'll cost to fix? I could see 300-500 but not 1200!

[Bigjohnjr]

$1200 to fix a leak?

You said that after it was recharged it worked fine for a week, it sounds like a leak to me.

I would take it to another place and get another estimate first, keep in mind the milage on the van.

John

[WissNX01]

Get a new van.

[lamehonda]

sell the kids and get a porsche with the profits

[WissNX01]

Sell the kids, yeah, that would work......Or open a sweat shop, they could buy you that porsche

[lamehonda]

just some friendly advice from your local AF humanitarians

[GTP Dad]

I agree with the more relevant posts. $1200 is way to high for a simple leak. Take it to another shop and get another estimate. And actually it is not hard to retrofit a system. It only takes evacuating the system, putting on some new fittings and recharging the system to 85% of the R-12 charge. Any reputable shop can do this for you relative cheaply. It sounds like you need a van to haul all the kids anyway. If you can't get the AC fixed look for another cheap vehicle for the summer and keep the van for when the weather cools down.

[WissNX01]

relevant posts? Yeah I guess, Im accused of being a human rights violator on other threads. But anyway, your not going to get any % of R-12, since its illegal now. There is R-12 safe R-134 refrigerant. Hope that wasnt confusing.
Get the AC system pressure tested to find the leak, and have it charged, should be okay, otherwise, Id go with the sweatshop.

[mmont0]

My in-laws had a 90's Caravan where the A/C went out. They took it to a lot of places, but they never got it fixed 100%. It seems that the A/C is a very hard thing to fix and Dodge Caravans are notorious for A/C problems. After a few fixes, they had to put in the refrigerant every month or so. They finally got rid of it and got a new one.

I also have a 2001 Grand Caravan and received a notice in the mail that they are extending the warranty of the A/C compressor for 7 yrs instead of the 3yr standard warranty it is coverered under.

So, it depends on what you're able to afford. If you have the $ to try and get it fixed, go ahead, but I would probably recommend a new/used vehicle. Preferably a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey.

[WissNX01]

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/airbag.htm

[jlso13]

i have a 92 caravan if u get it fix make sure that u use r-13 cuz they used r-34 on mine cuz they didnt have r-13 and he was like o yea by the way this will mess up your compressor in a little bit and i was like what. but i didnt care that much it was for free