joefr1162

Having trouble with A/C and wondering what options are available. Summer of 2021 a rock chipped a hole in the A/C condenser and I paid around $850 to replace that, using a local repair shop. Few months after that the AC stopped working. Took it to local Lexus dealer and after paying $560 to test and assess the AC system; The dealer gave me an estimate for $3500 to replace the A/C Evaporator, Expansion valve, and Receiver Drier. Said they would have to remove the whole dash to get to these parts. They did say the A/C compressor is working fine.

Live in the Northern Virginia area and have two questions: 1) Wondering if there are other qualified mechanics in the area who can do this for less? 2) Is it worth getting this repaired on a 13 year old car with 175K miles on it?

We love this car, it has been well maintained and trouble free till last summer. And the price of used RX's are ridiculous these days.

Mesquite77

They are correct about dash removal to fix evaporator, expansion valve. Once you do all that then changing both makes sense, but I would want to be sure that either he evaporator is leaking, or expansion valve was stuck first. I would try a flush before doing all that if there was no leak, but maybe they did.

And hell yes, it is worth it, got another 125K miles left in that thing...

Margate330

Way back in the day I loved doing AC work because it paid so well and most people didn't have the tools or knowledge to do it.

Times have changed thanks to the internet for finding specialty tools and youtube for diy.

I have to ask- how do you know you need an evaporator core?
What evidence or tests have you seen performed?
Why did you bring your car in for AC service, was it not blowing cold or other reason?
What do you mean by "AC stopped working"?

PS- you got robbed @ $560 to test the AC system in my opinion.

Margate330

Basically for DIY all a person needs to diagnose an AC system is a set of decent AC gauges and a refrigerant leak detector.
Harbor Freight sells some with mixed reviews but there are youtube videos explaining how to use them and are probaby fine for DIY repairs.


Harbor Freight Gauges


Leak detection:
I used a refrigerant "leak sniffer" going back to 30 years ago and they still work just as good today.
There is no need to pay someone to pump UV dye in the system and make a big deal out of it because if the AC is leaking refrigerant in amounts fast enough to worry about a "leak sniffer" will find it fast.
If it can't find it then the leak is so dam small I wouldn't worry about it(my opinion)k because we are talking losing less than a can every year or two.
I can see some benifits of UV dye for very small leaks or leaks hard to detect but if the leak is in the evaporator core or anywhere the UV dye can't be seen then the only way to find a leak is a "leak sniffer" running the wand up under the dash and listening for it to beep like crazy.

I bought one of these and haven't had a chance to review it yet for everyone but I used it to find a small leak on my neighbors SAAB by running the long wand back behind the engine at the firewall where eyes can't see.
I had to poke the wand down in there and when I was at the leak it lets you know with fast & loud beeps- can't miss it.
Try finding that leak with a UV dye kit. haha
Took all of 60 seconds to find it.

Harbor Freight "leak sniffer"

spinellib

Yes and No.
Not worth paying that kind of $$, anyway,

Here's what I would do (if I couldn't do the work myself) : Go somewhere else and ask them to pull a vacuum. If it holds a vacuum, tell them to refill the refrigerant. See if it works.
Get a price, first. They should do this for under $200.

Evaporator. Expansion Valve.
Which is it?
This diagnosis doesn't make sense.

Margate330

I agree with Mesquite above in that the car is worth putting the money into.

For $3,500 I'd pay to have the transmission rebuilt but hell no would I pay that much to fix the AC, way too much money $$$.
Even if I was a Noob to AC work I would become an expert quick and educate myself and do it myself or find someone compenent to do it for a lot less.

HOWEVER- unless we know more why they want to replace the evaporator core -with evidence of how they diagnosed it as faulty- I would STOP and get some real answers before proceeding

Add- for anyone following along in the future- if only replacing the expansion valve- the dashboard does not need to come out like it says in the manual and the dealer knows this- don't let anyone jack you around. The complete fan blower assembly drops down with only a few screws and provides all the room and clearance a person could want. Can be done in an hour by a pro and 2 hours for DIY. Pics and walktru can be found in my "All keys lost" Immo box thread.

joefr1162

Thanks. I believe its got another 125K left as well.

joefr1162

Some responses were asking what diagnostics were done and what was wrong. I have attached the invoice from the Lexus dealer where they performed the diagnostic for the AC system and outlined in red are the parts they recommended be replaced.

Invoice for AC Test from Lexus dealer

Margate330

Hi friend, I'm noticing you only have 166k miles.
How long have you owned the car?
Do you run your AC often?
Also, when is the last time you bumped the AC system with some refrigerant?
Did you notice the AC was cooling less efficiently before it finaly stopped blowing cold and what time frame did that hapen?
Did you try just bumping it with a can of refrigerant to see how long it will stay blowing cool(confirms how bad leak actually is).

What I see in that invoice is NOT a diagnostic and I would've never gotten away with something like that.
When getting a free estimate I can see doing a quick writeup and a recommendation for work so a customer is not obligated and heavily invested so he can be free to get another opinion but when charging a customer $560 I feel the customer should've got a lot more evidence for the money- including showing the customer the leak. We have no idea how this was diagnosed.

Here is what a diagnostic looks like.

Diagnostic:
Customer complains the AC is not cooling.
What was done:
A/C system was found to be low on refrigerant.
Bumped the system with some refrigerant and compressor clicked on and system is blowing cool as it should and compressor sounds ok(not laboring).
Looked for source of refrigerant leak and found leak using a refrigerant leak detector at the O-Ring where the expansion valve attaches to the evaporator core- minor leak.

OR-
Found leak at evaporator core when running the regrigerant leak detector down the AC vent- major leak
OR-
Removed the glovebox and dropped the blower assembly and ran refrigerant leak detector up into the evaporator core area and found the leak- minor leak.

* Notice in my diagnostic I explain what method was used to find the leak and the car would be left apart if needed to show the customer if they wanted to see the leak detection method and not take our word.

I'm sorry but problem I have with this is I don't see what they actually did for $560- no explanation whatsoever.
And by the time you get it fixed it will be up to $4k.

If I was the customer I would've appreciated a phone call to invite me to come down and see where the leak is coming from- we did this all the time.

Add- we have to be very careful in the diagnosis on our cars because it is a big job removing the evaporator core and pulling the dash. There are potential leak points at the line set and expansion valve that should be ruled out first because those repairs can be done without pulling the dash.

tomr51

as suggested in earlier posts , get a vaccum test done to confirm there is a leak if a leak isconfirmed, get it gassed and locate the leak
until you do the above, you cannot move forward.

spinellib

It looks like they're suggesting to replace the TXV as a "might as well," as in we might as well replace the TXV while we're in there.
I'd be curious to see if they're still double-charging you for the Time it takes to do both jobs -- the evap and txv.
They want to replace the Drier because they figure its contaminated and old, anyway.

My first guess is you have a leak where the recent work was done, that is, the Condenser. I suppose they checked it for leaks, though.

joefr1162

Found a reputable local repair shop that was able to diagnose the problem and repair it. They did the dye test and found it leaking from behind the engine; had to remove the dash and replaced the AC evaporator. The AC is working just fine and haven't noticed any rattles from the dash area.

Felix

Thats great you found a reputable shop vs the dealer & they repaired it correctly. btw there are quite a few ex dealer tech's out there working in indy shops.....Thanx for the feedback as well.....