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| | | Think of a car air conditioner as a refrigerator installed in a strange layout, one that is designed to move heat from inside your car to the outdoors. | | |
| Typical costs: | - Expect to pay $250 -$650 to test for leaks, replace a few minor parts and then top-off or completely recharge the refrigerant in a vehicle's system. The work takes an average of four hours labor, at roughly $50 -$100 an hour, plus parts; for luxury vehicles both parts and labor may cost more.
- It can run $800 -$1,200 or more for extensive repairs replacing or upgrading most of the major parts in an existing A/C system (upgrades are most commonly needed in pre-1995 vehicles, because of changes in environmental requirements). Vehicles with easy access to the A/C system and plentiful low-cost parts could be less; high-end luxury vehicles will often cost more.
- Installing air conditioning in a vehicle that doesn't have any could be around $2,000 -$4,000 or more, depending on the year, make and model. Again, luxury vehicles could cost even more, depending on location.
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| What should be included: | - Air conditioning repairs involve locating and stopping leaks; it can be tricky to find a small, slow leak in a hard-to-reach area, so it can sometimes require several attempts to fix the system. Most auto air conditioners have five major components--the refrigerant, which carries the heat; the compressor (the heart of the system) which draws in refrigerant, compresses it and moves it along; the condenser (often similar to a car radiator), which expels heat; the expansion valve, a nozzle that regulates the refrigerant flow; and the drier/evaporator, used to cool the car by blowing the hot interior air across the refrigerant. FamilyCar.com provides a basic overview.
- The refrigerant in older cars (made prior to 1995) was usually CFC-12, known by the brand name of Freon. This product is no longer manufactured in the US because it depletes the ozone layer, and there are limited quantities available of a replacement refrigerant. The US Environmental Protection Agency discusses the options for converting a car to a better refrigerant and when it's good to top-off a car's A/C system with a little more refrigerant and when it's best to empty it and completely recharge the system.
- DIY Network descrubes repairing and upgrading the A/C system on an older car and how to install A/C in a car that has none.
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| Shopping for car air conditioning: | |
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Article updated October 2007 |
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