Finding a good mechanic?

[scouser1]

I am noticing that there is no cold air coming out of my A/C a couple of days ago, I take it to one guy and he says the compressor will need to be replaced costing around 700 bucks, of course I now turn to my fellow Terbites and ask does anyone know a good mechanic in the Scarborough/North York area they trust that can give me a second opinion? its a 2003 Toyota Matrix

 

[bananaman]

A Toyota dealer should be able to assist. I think the one on Eglinton between Vic Park and Warden is pretty good from what I've heard.

 

[tboy]

A very nasty trick is to take it somewhere reputable and find out what's wrong, then fix it yourself *eg*.

One of the first things that they'd check is to see if there is refridgerant in the system. If there isn't? You have a leak somewhere and then they'd located it and repair it.

If there is refridgerant in the system then it could be one of a number of things and yes, a bad compressor is one of them.

Too bad you're so far away. Goldie at Import Auto on Gerrard just west of Carlaw is a dynamite guy, will NOT rip you off, and give you a deal if you pay in cash. For eg: I once got "family" discount to do the front brakes on my old F150 (about half price) and when I needed them done again, I had this guy do them and he was only $200.00 more. (I was in a hurry as I was driving to New Orleans the next day else I would have waited to get them done at ford again).

This told me a couple of things: his invoice had the same parts Ford did. His pricing was good as it wasn't too far off from Ford's (with the family discount, without that he would have been cheaper by $800.00 +/-)

 

[james t kirk]

Be happy it's not your evapourator. Your entire dashboard would have to come out and it takes all day to do.

That would be twice the price.

Problem with AC is that next year, it will be your evapourator. Then 6 months later, it will be your condensor at a grand. By the time you're done, you will have spent 5 grand just on air conditioning.

Better to sell the entire car now and buy a new one.

 

[scouser1]

thanks tboy if it does come down to have to take it that far then I will, A/C problems isnt something I wanna start poking around myself especially when it comes to a compressor and flushing out a system etc etc

as for the Toyota dealer recommendation I may be a Terbite but I am still a teacher and nowhere as rich as some of my fellow Terbites

 

[james t kirk]

as for the Toyota dealer recommendation I may be a Terbite but I am still a teacher and nowhere as rich as some of my fellow Terbites

Oh oh, don't start that discussion again.

 

[landscaper]

you really cant fix your ac yourself anyway. The govt wants a licensed mechanic to do it do to the coolant recovery. Get the problem diagnossed first. It may be the compressor is not good enough, finding out in the middle that you need the whokle system is a pain

 

[LancsLad]

you really cant fix your ac yourself anyway. The govt wants a licensed mechanic to do it do to the coolant recovery. Get the problem diagnossed first. It may be the compressor is not good enough, finding out in the middle that you need the whokle system is a pain

If the coolant collection rules are anything as strict as the home a/c units you sure don't want to try anything yourself. We had one of our home units recharged this spring and there was lots of paperwork. Seems the tech has a prenumbered set of forms that he must fill out when coolant is added or drained. They can then track stuff with a who touched it last paper trail.


.

 

[landscaper]

its exactly the same deal. There are some products now that you can install yourself into an empty system but draining and servicing are controled

 

[Moraff]

Be happy it's not your evapourator. Your entire dashboard would have to come out and it takes all day to do.

That would be twice the price.

Problem with AC is that next year, it will be your evapourator. Then 6 months later, it will be your condensor at a grand. By the time you're done, you will have spent 5 grand just on air conditioning.

Better to sell the entire car now and buy a new one.

This is exactly the story of my 2000 Focus. AC compressor seized. Had it replaced, worked for awhile and now something else has gone.

Now the car will be soon gone before the repair bills go through the roof.

You should give serious thought to trading in. AC repairs are not cheap!