Tell your local shop they are out of their mind. There is nothing wrong with the condenser. If the system continues blowing cold but the air flow changes directions, you have a vacuum leak, and you can't see spending over 700.00 for a fifty cent piece of rubber hose. Under the dash, there are vents that direct the air flow. They are vacuum actuated. If there is a leak, exactly what you described will happen. If the condenser was bad, you wouldn't have cold air. Understand, when you put the engine under more of a load, you have to open the throttle plate for it to get more gas. (up hills, accelleration...). As a result, the vacuum in the intake drops. If there is already a leak, at that point you basically have no vacuume to maintain air flow direction.
Check under the dash first and then under the hood if you don't find any. If you are lucky, with the engine running, you may hear a hissing sound from the leak.
Let me know what you find.
Joe
Sep 9, 2010 at 10:39 PM
