A/C repair quote advice

[Big_nate]

My A/C is making some noise initially after turning on. I would describe the noise as kind of a growling when the car is idling, followed by a fair amount of 'resonance' or 'whirring' when the rpms increase. From previous threads it sounds like the compressor is going (any other theories?). My dealer also believes its the bearing in the compressor. Oh yeah, almost forgot, A/C blows cold.

They quoted me approximately $1200 for; compressor, clutch pack, freon conversion, and labor. I believe the breakdown was ~465 for comp., ~250 for clutch, ~260 labor, and the rest misc. parts.

Questions;
1. Do you think its necessary to replace the clutch? They told me they like to do it all at the same time in case of a later failure of that part. I would end up paying the labor twice and the part is 13 years old.

2.Anybody experienced with rebuilt compressors, good or bad? There is a company on Ebay, Airco, selling rebuilt compressors for NSX/Integra WITH clutch for 179. I know everybody likes OEM but a $500+ savings is pretty tempting!

3. Any other advice from those that have been through A/C work?

Thanks a lot for the help!

Nate

 

[loNfastNSX]

1200 for the compressor is crazy, especially when you can get one on ebay for 175 bucks. I got my commpressor with NSX clutch from HondaAcura parts at 299.00 + shipping. Do a search and you'll find alot of resources. Ive also read on past threads that replacing the compressor is not that complex of a job. Best of luck!

 

[nsxtasy]

1200 for the compressor is crazy

Re-read his post, and you will see that that number includes lots of other parts, and labor. $465 was the amount for the compressor. And, while that is full list price, there are often reasons to buy parts from the dealer who is performing the service, as I just noted earlier today in another topic.

I bet if you got friendly with the folks in your dealer's parts department, you could negotiate some savings on their parts prices, and maybe with the service people on the labor as well, considering that it's a significant repair...