The other day my younger son Dave called me to ask how much a charge on his car's air conditioner should cost. I thought that the widow should be $30 to $50 tops. He said that the dealer wanted $135 just to "diagnose" the system. I told him that if he were to come over on Saturday, I would put my freon gauge on his system and see how it looks.
Yesterday he came over and we had a look. Neither of my sons is particularly mechanically inclined and I suppose that maybe I am to blame. When I was a grade school boy, my dad had me under his old Studebaker that he drove to work. He told me it had a "knocking rod". He told me how to drain the oil and then remove the crankcase pan. I then had to figure out how to pull he end cap off of the rod and change the bearing's insert and put it all back together. It wasn't that my dad was a dedicated teacher. I it was that he just figured that kids were around to do the light lifting and he wasn't crazy about crawling under a dirty car. I, of course, was more than happy to do it. I loved all things mechanical. I still do. Being that the times have changed, I didn't make my kids crawl under my Porsche or Mustang. Besides, unlike my Dad's old Studebaker, they didn't need crawling under.
I showed Dave where the AC compressor was located and how it wasn't turning because the magnetic clutch wasn't pulled in. We first checked the fuse(s) and found a blown one. But it wasn't the one for the AC. I then put a gauge on the AC and explained that there was no pressure at all and that there was a low freon pressure switch to disable and therefore protect the airconditioner compressor when the freon leaks out. Off we went to Auto Zone and bought a $9.95 can of R134 freon. We hooked up the freon can to the filler and gave it a shot. We soon had pressure and the compressor started to turn. There was a charge but it was a bit low.
It was a good father & son day for me and Dave probably saved himself about $250 by doing it yourself.
I'll have Dave check the freon pressure in a few weeks to see if it is holding. If it is holding, I'll see if he wants to do the charge himself. Much cleaner for him than crawling under under a '41 Studebaker.
When it comes to tools, it's like WallMart. If dad doesn't have it, you probably don't need it.
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