2004 Toyota Sienna Airconditioning in van

Canadian law does prohibit adding or leaving freon in system. Shop was doing the right thing. In USA you can put R-134A into a leaking system

Thanks for your time! My real problem is that I wish that they had communicated that fact to me when I was making the appointment or before they took the actual action of draining it and acting like they did nothing but diagnose it. I'd expected them to diagnose it and let me be the one to decide what I want to do about it.

I have one more question for you, what is the real problem with leaving freon in the system. Is it dangerous/unsafe because 1. it is flammable 2. environmentally toxic or something else? Couldn't I have had it still in the system until the ac completely stops working. I still don't buy the part where "the law" prohibits the mechanic from allowing the vehicle to leave the shop without draining it first, with or without consent.

EPA takes freon leaking into atmosphere very seriously freon gas deplets the Ozone lay that protects Earth ie. people, animals ect. from very harmful radiation from the sun. You must have hear this over the past 40 yrs.

Thanks for your time again! Excellent information about environmental issues related to the subject. I agree that I simply must do my part to help reduce such harmful effects on this planet! I now have only the problem of really understanding what happened - that I took in my van with a problem of airconditioning in one vent just to have the whole ac in my van removed altogether and paid a good sum of money to have that done, too. It's like sending in your child to the dentist for a cleaning and the good conscientious dentist decides spontaneously, without parental consent, to remove the tooth altogether because he spotted a decay in it. If the good doctor had just come out to talk to the parent and tell her/him that that what's needed to be done for the benefit of the child, wouldn't there have been a reasonable response? At this time, law or no law and environmental issues aside, I can't help but feel manipulated to spend tons more money, which I don't have, getting my ac back. But again, thanks for your quick response. I appreciate it.

So what happened?

thanks for asking! had to pay to get it capped (financially lesser evil of the two not-really-an-option options $300 or 1800 to have the unit replaced altogether) because we have to travel long distance this summer. For me, it became a matter of trust and shoddy professionalism on the part of this service staff.