I have an '86 coupe. Can anyone tell me about air conditioners - if it is blowing only air, bearly cool, if at all. If I take it to the shop, what should I expect them to want to do? With our temps here in Sacramento this summer reaching 117 it is near impossible to drive it without the air working, especially in a black car! Thanks for any advice.
Paula J.

 

Autozone sells a DVD that will give you a real good idea of what's going on inside your A/C - it's less than $10. Go to Autozone.com and check it out if you don't have an Autozone in Sacremento.

Part #ACVID1

 

Great, thank you very much, I will do that, and yes, we have Autozone.
Paula

 

There's a couple of things you can do first: See if the compressor is engaging. With nothing running, grab the outer hub and turn it - should turn over with minimal resistance. Then have someone start the car and with the a/c on max, that outer hub you turned should be spinning with the pulley. If so, see if stops and starts again and if it is, time how many stops and starts it makes in a minute. Specs are no more than 8 at 70 degrees and if it's 117 (hey, it's 100 here!), it really shouldn't stop at all. If it's on and off a lot, the charge is too low and a shop should be able to charge it back up for $100, maybe $150 and still make a decent profit (though when it's hot, prices climb with the temperature).

If it's spinning and doesn't start and stop, see if the big line running from the top of the Evaporator (big part jutting out into the engine compartment on the right side of the Firewall) is sweating or if there's moisture dripping from underneath the Evaporator case. If there is moisture, it's at least making some cool air and the door that let's that cool air get to the vents may be stuck or the linkage that controls it could be broken. On the top left side of the Evaporator Case is a module which can be unbolted and removed. Do so and you can look inside to see the door. Have someone switch between heat and a/c and that door should move. If it doesn't, the linkage or whatever controls it has probably broken. Sometimes you can take a screwdriver and move the door until you can get that fixed - otherwise, you need to remove the cover beneath the passenger's side dash to access whatever makes it move.

To have it checked out, Pep Boys advertises a $29 Performance Check special in the Sunday Funnys (at least down here they do - I'll be curious to see how much it is tomorrow!). And if you go to a shop, there are some laws in CA that protect you. Any work performed has to note the operating pressures when it leaves the shop, the temp of the air out of the vents, and outside air temp (which you can then post here so all of us experts can tell you why it isn't right!). There isn't any law though that requires the shop to fix any leaks before they charge it up - but it makes little sense to put any gas in it if it's all going to leak out a block away and tick you off. The Bureau of Automotive Repairs fields all complaints and from time to time, puts the bad guys out of business.

If everything is shot, a complete rebuild with new parts would be about $1500, a couple hundred less with a remanufactured compressor. Doing it yourself with new parts, about $800 ($150 to $350 more if you need to buy the tools to do it right), assuming it needs every new part or reman part there is to make it work.

 

Wow, now I am overwhelmed. I was thinking it just needed something added to make it cold. Doing all that checking myself is out of the question, as I don't have a clue, but thank you for explaining all that, maybe my son can give it a try. The pep boys deal sounds like a plan!
Thank you, Paula