AC System Repair Estimate

Posting my experience here, so that I'll be subscribed and able to find this thread easier. THANK YOU to the OP!

My '09 was fine up to 115K miles and 14 years (2023). I went to run an errand in the truck and when I got back in the truck and started it up, the serpentine belt was screaming like a banshee. I pressed the AC switch, and the screaming stopped. It seemed that the compressor was locked up.

I brought the truck to an AC specialist shop in Ft Myers, and they quoted me over $2K to do the job. I had time, but had never worked on AC, so I bought the tools (vacuum pump and gauges) a new Denso 471-1293 compressor, a

$104 Denso 477-0839 A/C Condenser

Denso 477-0839 A/C Condenser, new serpentine belt, R134a refrigerant, an AC O-ring set, a new in-line refrigerant filter, PAG oil, new pulleys for the serpentine belt and some miscellaneous parts. The total came to $1121. The Denso compressor arrived damaged, so I returned it without installing it. I then ordered a Delphi A/C Compressor -

$395 CS20055 Delphi A/C Compressor - CS20055

CS20055, and installed that.

The system worked, but the compressor made a ridiculous racket when it was running. I brought it to the same local AC shop in Ft Myers that I had been to a month earlier. They quoted me $1300 to change the compressor and re-charge the system. I was about to make my annual 1600 mile trek north, and I needed the AC system to work, so I had them do it. They used an aftermarket compressor, and gave me back the Delphi, which I also returned. I suspect that the Delphi had been returned and rather than fixing it, the seller just shipped it out to me.

My TOTAL after all was said and done (buying tools, parts, refrigerant, PAG oil and TWO defective compressors) was about $2300.

The AC has been working fine for the past two years.

 

I just had the AC compressor, condenser, & drier replaced in my 2014 by a local shop for $1200. Recharged also. This is at 67,400 miles.