A/C Service?

Today I took my '95 850 in to a non-dealer Volvo specialist garage for its
50k service. (Don't drive much.) I told him the A/C seemed to be cooling
OK, but was cycling on and off about every 10 seconds.

Later he called and said the system was very low on refrigerant. No leak
was apparent. He said the system should be evacuated and refilled with
refrigerant, including a dye to help trace any leak. He said the price for
this would be $175.

This seemed to me outrageous. My Hayes manual shows how to recharge the
system with canisters from the auto parts store. When I objected, the guy
said gauges couldn't accurately reflect the pressure, and overcharging could
ruin the evaporator coil, and he didn't want that liability. I declined the
service.

Was this an attempt at rip-off? Should I get some canisters from Pep Boys?

Many thanks,

Mike

 

I've just been through this, and while I believe it's best for a pro to
handle the recharge, your guy is overcharging you. The tab should actually
come to something more like $130. Including the dye is essential to
determine if in fact there's a leak. If you have to recharge frequently, it
means there's a leak or the evaporator (very expensive from a labor
standpoint to replace) is bad.

 

Unless you know what you're doing let a shop do it, I do my own air
conditioning work but I have access to a vacuum pump and my car just happens
to use almost exactly 3 cans of refrigerant. $175 sounds pretty reasonable,
though it wouldn't hurt to shop around. If you screw up the system it could
cost you a whole lot more to have it fixed right.

 

Yes, the garage will be making a nice profit out of you. On the other
hand, there's quite a lot to learn before I would feel confident at
tackling air conditioning work myself. So that's exactly what I'm
doing. If garage mechanics can learn how to service air conditioning
systems, then so can I! They'd also say they've invested $000s in
specialist equipment which you would need. Nonsense! There are
workarounds which might cost only a few hundred dollars - not much
more than the garage would charge for a single visit. By comparison,
if one buys a simple vacuum pump, gauge set and other essential gear,
it should last decades.

Another point is that the $175 might be only the starting point.
They'll probably rip you off for further charges once they get
started, not least because you aren't in much of a position to argue.

Start by visiting aircondition.com and ackits.com where there are
forums packed with advice, including how to use canisters from places
like Pep Boys. I suggest you need more knowledge than will be printed
on the instructions with such canisters.

Regards
George