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2001 Chevy Cavalier AC service port with Heat shrink on it!?!?!?!?
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slickdaddy96
New User
Sep 1, 2006, 5:53 PM
Post #1 of 2
(2966 views)
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2001 Chevy Cavalier AC service port with Heat shrink on it!?!?!?!?
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Ok so I hate to make this post huge, but I have to give background information surrounding this problem I am having. About 2 years ago my A/C on my 2001 Cavalier quit on me. When it quit it was going into Winter so I didn't worry about fixing it at the time. The next spring I take it somewhere to see if I needed to charge it back up. They did this for me, and the A/C worked for about 24 hours. So I knew I had a leak. I had my brother-in-law charge it and use a sniffer to detect leaks(he is an A/C HVAC repairman). We couldn't find the leak. I took it to a mechanic and told them I needed to find a leak, and that the compressor worked when charged so it wasn't the clutch. They were not succesful in finding the leak either after two times looking and adding dye. They suggested it might be in the evaporator. I authorized them to take apart my dash and look for the leak. They found no leak there either, but then all of a sudden they called me and told me they found a leak around my compressor. So first off, I find this suspect that they had me check something that cost me about $300 in labor to take apart and put back together and then call me and tell me it was the compressor. Anyway they quote me some huge amount to repair it, and I tell them don't worry about it. So I have dealt with no A/C for the last 2 years or so.
This weekend thanks to my father-in-law who was a shop teacher, we put in a new compressor, dryer, and orifice tube. We get this done, and we go to find the service port to pump a vaccum, and low and behold the service port area has what looks to be electrical heat shrink on it. So my father-in-law said he had never seen that before and didn't even know if that was the port since it was so well concealed. So we left it be. We started looking at pictures of cavalier engines online, and discovered that yes that was the port.
So now tomorrow we are going to cut apart the heat shrink, try to pull a vaccum, and charge the system. My question is why would the auto mechanic shop put this "heat shrink" on the port? I have come up with three scenarios.
Either one they messed the port up, and tried to rigg it to stop a leak so they wouldn't have to replace something they broke, or B they were honestly just trying to make sure that there wasn't a slow leak coming from there by temporarly sealing that area to look for the bigger leak since it was leaking out within 24 hours. Then when I told them not to fix it, they just forgot to take the shrink off. Or C the most sinister of them all, they found the leak in the port area, but thought they could get more money from me, so they said it was the compressor marked up the compressor by about 200-300 and wanted to charge me about 400-500 labor so they could get more money from me than just replacing a 50-100 dollar coolant line. If this was the case, they were probably just thinking I would never know if the compressor truly was leaking or not so I wouldn't ask questions.
We are going to find out if there is a leak there tomorrow or not, but my question is if we discover there is one there, being that it was almost 2 years ago since I took it to that shop what recourse would I have against them for doing something so stupid? I have witnesses remembering charging my system before I brought it in to that mechanic, and they were the last ones to touch it.
I am just bewildered about this whole situation, and trying to get some answers of what is going on.
(This post was edited by slickdaddy96 on Sep 1, 2006, 5:54 PM)
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Sep 2, 2006, 3:52 AM
Post #2 of 2
(2960 views)
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Re: 2001 Chevy Cavalier AC service port with Heat shrink on it!?!?!?!?
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Not familiar with the shrink tubing trick?? If that was a test it's kind of stupid because that would be an easy leak to find. The core of the port or the whole thing can be replaced - requires evac and recharge for a couple dollars worth of parts but the equipment is expensive to do this.
I don't think you have recourse after two years. Leak finding can be tough but they should have found it or sent you somewhere that could. Evaps can be diagnosed without taking apart your dash so I really don't know why they wanted to do that but will reserve judgment on their part for now. Perhaps they gave it an honest try and failed. Stuff happens.
Just a note: If a system is down for a real long time the compressor will be in jeopardy. It will last longer if you work it and most cars will kick it on in off season in defrost mode just to keep the oil flowing.
Sounds like you are up and running again and good for you for the attack at that. Hit away or visit us at www.autoACsystems.com if you are in trouble. I'm only one person and others there may have other suggestions, Here too, T
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