At the end of last summer, while we were driving down south in 100 degree weather the air conditioner began making Darth Vader noises (you know, his heavy wheezing). Then the air conditioner quit on us for a few days. Because of the heat, we tried it one day out of desperation and it miraculously came back on only to get so cold (I guess) that it looked like it was on fire. "Smoke" was coming out of the vents, but it was actually so cold our CD that was in the CD player froze and quit playing. That was it. But with the coming of fall we forgot about it. So yesterday driving 5 hours in 95 degree weather we put the air conditioner on and it was only blowing the air. When we cranked it all the way up we could hear those Darth Vader noises, and maybe just maybe (with some imagination), the air felt the tiniest bit cooler but since the noise was like driving with an escort of fighter jets we turned it off. My daughter has threatened that she will not get in the car again until we fix it. (Could be a good thing.) Unfortunately the dealership has informed me that it will cost $300 just to determine the problem and up to $1,000 or more to fix it. They told me to get a fan and stick it in the car. Is it really that much to determine what's wrong??? My husband says they're idiots, but they've been working on our various cars for 15 years or so. An opinion would be helpful here.
Jun 28, 2008 at 3:11 PM