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The AC on my 91 9000CD wasn't cooling so I took it to a local oil change/ac recarge gas station who charged me $140 to refill the system with what they claimed to be R-12. It cooled for a while, but within less than a month the charge disappeared completely and thus no more cooling in the hot humid NYC weather. I took the car back to the station and they admitted there must be a leak (though they had previously assured me there was not) and that the charge was gone. They offered to refill it for free once I got the leak repaired (a service the don't provide).
I took the car to MIDAS and they did a "thorough" check under the hood and could not find a leak. ($45 charge). So they thought the problem could be in the evaporator or elsewhere in the dash area.
I then took the car to a 3rd station (where it is now). They have checked and found a very slight leak in the compressor (which was replaced 2 years ago by a SAAB dealer and in which MIDAS did not find a leak yesterday), and a major leak in the evaporator. I trust this 3rd garage to the extent that they definitely sound like they know what they're talking about. The problem is they don't deal with R-12 and would need to convert they system to R-134 (new bottle, dryer etc.) in order to do any repair. They're going to charge me $855 total for the conversion and replacing the evaporator.
1) Does this seem reasonable or would you recommend returning to MIDAS who could presumably replace the evaporator (but not do the conversion) for less? Or is it the case that if I'm spending the money I might as well get the conversion done in the process? (they'll charge more for the conversion if I do it separately later).
2) The second issue is that this 3rd garage also did a test on the remnants of charge in the system and determined that either MIDAS or garage 1 had put a blend of R-12 and something called R-22 (about 4%) in the system. They suggested that the R-22 could be the reason for the slight leak in the compressor. Anyone know anything about this? Garage 3 believes the leak in the compressor is slight enough that putting oil into the compressor as part of the repair process might actually seal the leak. In any event if it continues to leak they advise that refilling later with the R-134 will be substantially cheaper. Any thoughts on this? Could this R-22 really cause a leak in the compressor.
I'm leaning towards authorizing the $855 repair and having the conversion done and the evaporator replaced and simply leaving the compressor alone for now. I told them I'd call back in an hour. Any insight you could give me would be GREATLY appreciated.
Perhaps I could get the garage that promised me a free recharge of R-12 to give me instead a regarge of R-134 if I should need it in the future.
PLEASE ADVISE. MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE.
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