I wanted to share a recent and on-going experience.
Background
About 1 month ago my 2014 XV air conditioning stopped performing like it did new. The air coming out of the vents was not sustained cool and measured about 60 degrees F. This was acceptable in the shade or on cool days, but not in the recent heat.
My car was equipped with the 'old' compressor model that was likely failing, however it was not failing with weird sound effects, moans, or whines that I have seen others post about.
At this point in time, I decided to do a little troubleshooting. The Low pressure line measured at ~20-25 psi when the compressor was on (clutch engaged). I evacuated the system with the suspicion of finding a bad o-ring. Sure enough, the o-ring on the L pressure port to the compressor was ruptured (pic). The H pressure o-ring was fine but I replaced them both just to be safe.
During re-installation of L pressure line, the 10mm bolt ended up breaking in half. I did not think that I was putting nearly the torque required to break a bolt. It was still fairly loose. I'm honestly not sure if the 10mm bolt was weakened or is naturally weak but that was very odd to me about how easy it broke. (pic)
Dealership Situation
I dropped my car off at the dealership requesting a new bolt and an A/C system recharge. Of course they charge a $100 initial inspection and another $130 to vacate and flush the system lines and recharge the system.
After the inspection, I was told that they'd just put a new bolt on and were okay to recharge the system. I said great lets do it.
A few minutes later they said that the tech just noticed it was the old compressor, and that they cannot service the old compressor and a replacement would cost me $735. I pumped the breaks immediately with major suspicions. According to Subaru, when the system is evacuated the compressor loses all of the oil in it, and will die within a matter of weeks. This didn't make any sense to me because essentially means that a full leak of refrigerant would always result in replacing the compressor.
I was later told by the master tech that as soon as I started the car with no refrigerant or oil in the system, that the compressor would instantly go bad.
I asked only for the system to be recharged first and then we'd go from there.
The results of the recharge put me in the exact same scenario where it started, 60 degrees F coming out of the vents and both H and L pressure lines reading about 20psi below what they should be at.
A bad compressor was now the culprit. This was followed up by an offer to replace my compressor for free, as a one-time good-will replacement. I obliged.
Additionally, Subaru recommended that my condenser be replaced as well, which would also be covered by this good-will replacement. The part had to be overnighted, so naturally it came in 2 days late.
Upon installation of a new compressor, a new condenser, and another recharge, they called me in to pick up my vehicle.
Upon first inspection, the clutch is now engaging and disengaging every 5-10 seconds or so (click, whisssssss). The car would shake with the changes in RPMs as well, very odd. The air was blowing cool when the compressor was on but blowing very noticeably warm when the compressor was off. This was cycling for over 20 minutes until the service rep decided it was officially still broken. (pic) Unacceptable.
After reviewing their work, it was determined that somewhere in their repairs, a hose got kinked and slowly leaked all the refrigerant out. Another part was being overnighted for replacement.
The Present
The tech is now noticing that there are bubbles foaming and forming somewhere in the a/c systems connections that he says are indicative of additional out-of-spec refrigerant or oil added to the system. Additionally he has found that there are pressure abnormalities surrounding the evaporator and believes that there is a clog in the evaporator. The only fix here is once again to replace the part.
Replacing the evaporator comes with a full removal of the dashboard, approximately 11 hours of labor.
Additionally, the tech revealed that they knew the compressor would have been replaced under factory warranty which is why they okayed the one-time goodwill replacement.
I am wondering why the evaporator is now the faulty component after all of this troubleshooting. I am also wondering why they would claim it is clogged now, rather than during their initial inspection, and if recharging the A/C system 3 times could have lead to the clogging.
Background
About 1 month ago my 2014 XV air conditioning stopped performing like it did new. The air coming out of the vents was not sustained cool and measured about 60 degrees F. This was acceptable in the shade or on cool days, but not in the recent heat.
My car was equipped with the 'old' compressor model that was likely failing, however it was not failing with weird sound effects, moans, or whines that I have seen others post about.
At this point in time, I decided to do a little troubleshooting. The Low pressure line measured at ~20-25 psi when the compressor was on (clutch engaged). I evacuated the system with the suspicion of finding a bad o-ring. Sure enough, the o-ring on the L pressure port to the compressor was ruptured (pic). The H pressure o-ring was fine but I replaced them both just to be safe.
During re-installation of L pressure line, the 10mm bolt ended up breaking in half. I did not think that I was putting nearly the torque required to break a bolt. It was still fairly loose. I'm honestly not sure if the 10mm bolt was weakened or is naturally weak but that was very odd to me about how easy it broke. (pic)
Dealership Situation
I dropped my car off at the dealership requesting a new bolt and an A/C system recharge. Of course they charge a $100 initial inspection and another $130 to vacate and flush the system lines and recharge the system.
After the inspection, I was told that they'd just put a new bolt on and were okay to recharge the system. I said great lets do it.
A few minutes later they said that the tech just noticed it was the old compressor, and that they cannot service the old compressor and a replacement would cost me $735. I pumped the breaks immediately with major suspicions. According to Subaru, when the system is evacuated the compressor loses all of the oil in it, and will die within a matter of weeks. This didn't make any sense to me because essentially means that a full leak of refrigerant would always result in replacing the compressor.
I was later told by the master tech that as soon as I started the car with no refrigerant or oil in the system, that the compressor would instantly go bad.
I asked only for the system to be recharged first and then we'd go from there.
The results of the recharge put me in the exact same scenario where it started, 60 degrees F coming out of the vents and both H and L pressure lines reading about 20psi below what they should be at.
A bad compressor was now the culprit. This was followed up by an offer to replace my compressor for free, as a one-time good-will replacement. I obliged.
Additionally, Subaru recommended that my condenser be replaced as well, which would also be covered by this good-will replacement. The part had to be overnighted, so naturally it came in 2 days late.
Upon installation of a new compressor, a new condenser, and another recharge, they called me in to pick up my vehicle.
Upon first inspection, the clutch is now engaging and disengaging every 5-10 seconds or so (click, whisssssss). The car would shake with the changes in RPMs as well, very odd. The air was blowing cool when the compressor was on but blowing very noticeably warm when the compressor was off. This was cycling for over 20 minutes until the service rep decided it was officially still broken. (pic) Unacceptable.
After reviewing their work, it was determined that somewhere in their repairs, a hose got kinked and slowly leaked all the refrigerant out. Another part was being overnighted for replacement.
The Present
The tech is now noticing that there are bubbles foaming and forming somewhere in the a/c systems connections that he says are indicative of additional out-of-spec refrigerant or oil added to the system. Additionally he has found that there are pressure abnormalities surrounding the evaporator and believes that there is a clog in the evaporator. The only fix here is once again to replace the part.
Replacing the evaporator comes with a full removal of the dashboard, approximately 11 hours of labor.
Additionally, the tech revealed that they knew the compressor would have been replaced under factory warranty which is why they okayed the one-time goodwill replacement.
I am wondering why the evaporator is now the faulty component after all of this troubleshooting. I am also wondering why they would claim it is clogged now, rather than during their initial inspection, and if recharging the A/C system 3 times could have lead to the clogging.
