Help. Drove to Florida and AC broke

[Anonymous]

Our Acura MDX has 92k miles and a broken AC. Took to local repair shop ans he said it needs a new compressor $1100
Local dealer here can also do and hasn't seen car yet. That involves loaners and more headache during our vacation. And probably 2k.
Any experts have opinion on whether a local repairs shop can handle? They have good reviews and DH can ride his bike there and not waste time and money.

Also thjs car is 2015 and I just put 3k into tires and brakes. Sigh. It's been paid off.

[Anonymous]

Honestly I would just wait until home to repair. Keep the windows down while there. It will suck and be hot but it's Florida.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I would just wait until home to repair. Keep the windows down while there. It will suck and be hot but it's Florida.

That's what I would do too. You can survive a few days without AC OP. Just enjoy your vacation and deal with it after you come back.

[Anonymous]

And drive all the way home from FL with no AC? I am assuming OP is from the DMV. I think that would be the really awful part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And drive all the way home from FL with no AC? I am assuming OP is from the DMV. I think that would be the really awful part.

Right. We drove 10 hours down without jt (once it broke) and it was terrible. But we could leave early and will be going north. It was so loud and was 20
Hour ride. Sweating and gross. I don't care about having AC while here.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes from DMV. Options are dealer which is double the price, getting a loaner and hassle of driving back and forth 40 min. Use a local repair shop. Half price and bikeable but if something goes
Wrong we are screwed. Or waiting until home but that seems horrible.

[Anonymous]

You could always take the auto train back. But the cost of that might be more than a new compressor.

[Anonymous]

It will not be cheaper to repair around here. If it is, in fact, the compressor (getting confirmatory diagnosis from the dealer might not hurt), that should not require a huge degree of specialized skill

[Anonymous]

Buck up and endure the heat and fix when you return home. Come on, you have survived the pandemic 😷 You can do this!

[Anonymous]

We live in FL and the repair shops here definitely get a lot of practice diagnosing and fixing AC. Both DH and my parents have had theirs fixed at a local repair shop and everything went well.

[Anonymous]

Get fixed there but inquire about the quality of compressor your getting and if there is a warranty. Often times you can pay the repair shop more money and they’ll give you a quality rebuild or new dealer part which is what you want. The price quoted is probably for a cheaply rebuilt compressor. There are many levels of quality on rebuilt parts. Maybe the repair shop is giving you a quality part. I would ask, every repair shop operates a different way.

[Anonymous]

Happened to us, had them fix it. Do you really trust dealers more in DC than in FlA?

[Anonymous]

I would do the dealer repair down there, because if the repair fails or you have issues later on, you might have some leverage getting a dealer up here to fix the fix, as it were, without additional charges.

Jim-Bob’s Gas N Lube has no incentive to do quality work on out-of-state tags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would do the dealer repair down there, because if the repair fails or you have issues later on, you might have some leverage getting a dealer up here to fix the fix, as it were, without additional charges.

Jim-Bob’s Gas N Lube has no incentive to do quality work on out-of-state tags.

It’s an A/C compressor replacement, not building a SpaceX rocket. You pull the refrigerant out of the system with a vacuum bottle tool, remove the serpentine belt, two or three mounting bolts, disconnect the high and low pressure lines and wiring harness, and take the old compressor out. Then you bolt the new compressor back in, reconnect the high and low pressure lines and wiring harness, recharge the system with refrigerant, and put the serpentine belt back on. It takes about 30 minutes. I’ve literally done it in a parking lot of an Autozone (with rented tools, no less!) in less time than it took my wife and her parents to finish lunch at Applebee’s.

Seriously- who can’t do this stuff themselves??? Do you people have ANY life skills?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would do the dealer repair down there, because if the repair fails or you have issues later on, you might have some leverage getting a dealer up here to fix the fix, as it were, without additional charges.

Jim-Bob’s Gas N Lube has no incentive to do quality work on out-of-state tags.

It’s an A/C compressor replacement, not building a SpaceX rocket. You pull the refrigerant out of the system with a vacuum bottle tool, remove the serpentine belt, two or three mounting bolts, disconnect the high and low pressure lines and wiring harness, and take the old compressor out. Then you bolt the new compressor back in, reconnect the high and low pressure lines and wiring harness, recharge the system with refrigerant, and put the serpentine belt back on. It takes about 30 minutes. I’ve literally done it in a parking lot of an Autozone (with rented tools, no less!) in less time than it took my wife and her parents to finish lunch at Applebee’s.

Seriously- who can’t do this stuff themselves??? Do you people have ANY life skills?

It is doable but definitely not a straightforward job for somebody who doesn’t work on their car regularly. Some cars also have more complicated setups for example, mine requires recharging the AC by weight. I don’t know the specifics of the OP car but I’m sure they could easily look it up.