It's not so much a "Go Away" price as it is a "Cover my Butt" price for warranty work. You are asking a shop owner to work on a +16 year old system, then provide a warranty for 30 days on material and labor. If he converts the system to R-134a, all of the original components are subject to pressures that they were not originally designed for. If it was my shop, I would quote to replace the condensor, evaporator, compressor, receiver/dryer, expansion valve and refrigerant lines and upgrade the electrical wiring in the rear cabinet and let you decide which ones that you wanted to replace; but offer no warranty for the work. I have replaced the compressor, receiver/dryer, refrigerant lines and the rear cabinet electrical wiring after converting to R-134a and have acceptable system performance. Its not going to freeze you out of the Van, but will keep you comfortable once you cool the interior off (which can take a while after sitting in the afternoon sun). Where I live, I use my A/C 9 months out of the year and would sell my Camper if I couldn't repair the system and keep it functioning at an acceptable level. I have probably spent more money on the A/C system in the last +7 years/100,000 miles of ownership then any other system on the Camper. One last thing, when you or your shop is recharging the A/C, make sure they close the engine hatch and rear hatch when checking refrigerant pressures; you want to keep the incoming air to the evaporator as cool as possible like you would in a typical vehicle. Good luck, Tim
BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET> wrote: If you are planning this far in advance then I would spend some time talking to different shops as to who is willing to work on your van for a fair price. 90% of the shops out there will quote you a "Go Away" price to discourage you. Find the other 10% that will take the time to correctly diagnoses, fix and upgrade your system for a reasonable amount. Bryan
TJ Hannink Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition 1981 Bluebird Wanderlodge, FC-33SB Des Allemands, Louisiana http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FC_wanderlodge --------------------------------- Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. |
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