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Got a new AC Compressor today

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Pluggo, Aug 9, 2019.

  1. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    The dealer confirmed that my AC stopped cooling because the compressor had an internal failure.

    Compressor $1486.28
    R13A Freon $16.04
    Labor $247.80
    Tax $105.00
    Total $1,855.12

    My cost: ZERO. Bought the car used with a Certified Platinum extended warranty 39 months ago.
    Nothing but smiles all over the place. I didn't even need to produce any paperwork because all the information was attached to the car's history from the dealership where I found the car. Overall, I think their prices look fair and I would have paid, if I had to. On the other hand, a simple top-off charge, if that's what I needed, would have been $65 and not covered by any warranty. Still, not a bad price.
     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Congratulations!

    How much was the warranty, are you ahead now?
     
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  3. Grocery Boy Jr

    Grocery Boy Jr Junior Member

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    Hey pluggo;

    Good job, good job. The quote you got for the work (from the dealership) is actually very LOW. I'd have gladly paid that money instead of the nearly $3k I just now paid. (I did get a new condenser, however....)

    I got active here on PriusChat because I just now experienced an AC Compressor failure on my 2011 Gen3 Prius 2. It rattled me pretty bad.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    nice!

    my biggest fear, and no warranty. how many miles on her?

    that is a fair price, i've seen $2,500.+
     
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  5. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    The extended warranty was $1095 and there are 55,610 miles on her, but GET THIS: After an icy-cold ride home 1.5 miles from the dealer, the exact same symptom presented within 5 minutes when I took a short trip later in the day! Right now I'm feeling a little bit bad for the shop, wasting a perfectly good compressor. I've already booked another appointment for early next week.
     
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  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i wouldn't feel too bad, it was their diagnosis, and now you have to go back.
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i wonder how that works with the warranty company
     
  8. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    See if the system works now. If it does, there may be some moisture in the system causing the expansion valve to get clogged with ice. When the ice forms the system cannot operate, but once it melts then the system will work.

    If you find this is the case, the system just needs to have the refrigerant removed, then a vacuum drawn and the system recharged with refrigerant.
     
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  9. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    Technical Question: I thought I read in this forum that the AC compressor (at least on the Plug-in) requires an oil-free refrigerant. The dealership guy left a little oil spill on the floor pan under the brand-new compressor's connections. The car is in for service again today because the AC blows hot after 5 or 10 minutes.
     
  10. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    The compressor requires a special oil which doesn’t conduct electricity. It is not easy to find R-134a combined with the correct oil, hence the advice to use only pure R-134a.
     
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  11. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    Excellent. So a bit of spilled oil does not necessarily indicate it's the wrong refrigerant, and, if every Prius uses the same, then any dealership should be able to do the job. Still, I wonder why a new compressor would blow hot air after 5 or 10 minutes. Overheated compressor? Defective thermostat? I'll report back later.

    Update: I got the answer sooner than expected. Dealer confirms that they accidentally overcharged the system trying to use some new gear in the shop. They added "about" 4 oz. of non-conductive oil, the exact quantity being determined by the amount of oil that was drained from the system. Shuttle van is enroute to pick me up. Life is good.

    Specifically, I had 1.346 lbs, rather than the required 1.14 lbs., or just about 18% too much Freon.
     
    #11 Pluggo, Aug 13, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2019
  12. lech auto air conditionin

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    1: Don’t worry you are not the only one they did that to.
    2: 4oz of oil drained out of old compressors? That’s a bit much, because there is more in the evaporator and condenser + a little in all lines. That would indicate a oil over charge. How did that happen?. Did someone add the can of r134 from. The auto parts store that contain oil + maybe leak sealer + Plus other stuff ?.
    3: back to the over charge. That much over charge would spike the high side pressure on a hot day and any confident technician would notice that right off the bat on the Prius because they know how sensitive it is to overcharge. So I smell a cover-up of a mistake or incompetence.
    If you over charge a Prius that much on a cold day you would barely notice it but your symptoms would be as the temperature warms up . The compressor would run a little bit at first you would start to get cooling but as the high side pressure went up and started approaching 440 psi it would kick the compressor off . As the air flow to cross the condenser and cooled down the condenser which in turn would drop the pressure the compressor would kick back on and repeat the cycle on a hot day . All this any technician from a distance can hear with their ears and immediately almost know what was wrong. And if there are using one of those big dumb stupid box automatic charging machines they do have a set of gauges on them and when the technician was finished he would have seemed unusually high pressure so apparently he has no experience with Prius or not a clue of what is normal and not normal.
     
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  13. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    I guess "Certified Techinician" can sometimes be misleading..............
     
  14. lech auto air conditionin

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    Very miss leading.
    Here’s a link of a video I made I posted it on YouTube


    The second one is on a Prius Taxi cab that was pretty dirty. I believe this video was part two of three videos
     
    #14 lech auto air conditionin, Aug 14, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2019
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  15. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    @lech auto air conditionin Thank you for those videos. They are sobering enough to discourage any do-it-yourselfer. As far as I know this was the first time AC was ever serviced. While it was in its overcharged state I could hear that the compressor was abruptly switching from low speed to high speed each time I hit about 15 mph going from stop sign to stop sign. That seems to have cleared up now.
     
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  16. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I find the Repair Manuals (aka Shop Manuals) have that effect too, when you read up, see what the job entails. Somethings are relatively easy to DIY, others are too tough, required specialized tools, and/or too much at stake.
     
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  17. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    @lech auto air conditionin Right again! The car went back to the dealer for the 3rd time today and they are keeping it overnight to continue clearing excess oil from the lines, condenser, and evaporator. To his credit, their ace AC specialist realized there must be too much oil in the system. For those keeping score: first the compressor went bad, then the car went back for service because it would only cool for a couple of minutes, then, after removing excess Freon (but not the excess oil) AC remained very weak until I took it in again today. I told the service rep that PriusChat said there was too much oil left in the system. (Poetic license, I find I need to talk fast and be brief with the reps, they always seem like they're a bit overworked and in a bit of a hurry to serve the next customer. Or maybe I just get the vibe that they think, here's an old guy, he's gonna bore us talking round and round in circles).
     
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