This car (4 cyl) has been amazing and with 230,000 on it with just service costs, it owes me nothing. I've had the a/c charged twice this past year and it's just blowing hot air again. I can hear the a/c kick on, but no cold air. The mechanic said he did not see any leaks, but that they can be difficult to spot.
So assuming it's time for a repair, what else besides a new a/c compressor should be replaced? Do rebuilt a/c compressors have a good reputation? What about hoses..should they all be replaced? Anyone know a ball park amount that this would likely cost for parts and labor? Thanks in advance.

 

I think you have no choice but to replace the compressor.

 

the mechanic found a leak in one of the hoses. The new hose won't arrive until Monday, so hopefully this was the problem and not the compressor. I will post the final result after it's replaced..fingers crossed.

 

A dedicated A/C shop will evacuate the system, re-gass it & add a UV dye, then run the system while wearing special UV glasses & look for signs of dye leaking out. It may take a week of driving to detect minute leaks.

Regassing it twice in a year is a dead set symptom of a leak.

 

Thanks Grim. Hope the mechanic has correctly diagnosed and found the problem. Good to know about the dye and I will ask if that's what he does.

 

Just finished work on my 2004 which would not hold a charge. Put UV dye into the system and found that the high and low pressure AC line connections at the compressor were leaking. Look there. In my case, I took the connections apart, changed the o-rings then evacuated the system.....checked that the system held vacuum then recharged with refrigerant. All is back to normal.