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During the last episode of MaggotWaggon In Distress, I went to an A/C diagnostic place, which stated the compressor was weak and that a good $800 would fix everything.
Today, while driving around doing errands, I passed another A/C shop, and decided to get a second opinion. They gave me an additional pound of R134a, and that still didn't do the trick, after taking a road test. The mechanic started thinking about other problems, and we discussed the blend door. Hmmm. He had me adjust the temperature control to find the motor/device that adjusts the door, and discovered it wasn't really closing fully in the full cold position! However, we could manually close the door, and lo and behold! the air became about 30* colder. Apparently the cable is either stretched or the housings are damaged, so that the controls don't fully work. We'd need to take the dash apart and replace a bunch of parts....
or....
Manually set the motor device to full close blend door and not adjust the temperature control. Sounded good to me! Total cost for R134 and diagnosis? $50. Continued on my errands, and the car is quite cool and comfortable. Whew. Dodged a bullet there. I love them shade-tree fixes!
Today, while driving around doing errands, I passed another A/C shop, and decided to get a second opinion. They gave me an additional pound of R134a, and that still didn't do the trick, after taking a road test. The mechanic started thinking about other problems, and we discussed the blend door. Hmmm. He had me adjust the temperature control to find the motor/device that adjusts the door, and discovered it wasn't really closing fully in the full cold position! However, we could manually close the door, and lo and behold! the air became about 30* colder. Apparently the cable is either stretched or the housings are damaged, so that the controls don't fully work. We'd need to take the dash apart and replace a bunch of parts....
or....
Manually set the motor device to full close blend door and not adjust the temperature control. Sounded good to me! Total cost for R134 and diagnosis? $50. Continued on my errands, and the car is quite cool and comfortable. Whew. Dodged a bullet there. I love them shade-tree fixes!