Yeargh....
Two weeks ago I had the AC on my bimmer serviced; doing the R134A conversion, and a charge and fill, which came out to about $170.
Not bad actually, considering it took a 3lb charge, and R134A is significantly non-cheap (about $10 a pound wholesale, plus the environmental fees associated with it and the disposal of the r12, which darn near triple that).
Well, the AC was doing great, and we headed up north to the canyon. The first day up we took the twisties (89a, GOD I LOVE that road), which necessitated a long time at low medium speeds and high revs; pretty much the worst possible conditions for vehicular machinery.
Some time around Sedona I started hearing a metallic rattle, which sounded suspiciously like my AC compressor. I tried turning the AC on and off, and sure enough, it was the compressor clutch. A little spray lube worked out for a few hours, but the rattling returned. I checked out the clutch when we stopped for the night, and it wasnt rattling/loose etc... so I figured it would take a real mechanical inspection.
We finished up our trip the next day, and the AC was working well the entire time. Unfortunately when we went out the next day, there was no AC whatsoever.
I did a little visual inspection, and there was a pool of fluid under the compressor, and the belt was gone.
Oi
So I went back to my AC guy, and the short story is (too late), I need a new AC compressor.
So six WIDELY varying quotes later, it comes down to $900 installed for a rebuilt third party compressor, out to about $1600 installed for a new OEM compressor.
OUCH.....
Of course you cant really get around here without A/C....
Did I mention OUCH!
I'm jsut going to ahve to bite the bullet and take the cheaper option. It's jsut going to take a nice big bite of my reserves.
Oh and of course I need to change the belts now as well, but honestly I've needed to do that for a while.
GAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
Ok, I feel ... not better, but a little less irritated
