Air Conditioner Advice?

[petro]

Hi again

Just wanted to ask your advice, my rolla currently does not have air con and I have been thinking of getting one put in, but am not sure how much it would set me back roughly? i know if i go straight to a air con place and get one new, it may be a fair bit, but is it possible to buy the parts needed or get them from a junkyard and get a techy to install them? if so does anyone know how much it would cost to do it this way? or if anyone have any other advice, please do for it! rolla is a 95 ae102 7a-fe. based in Adelaide.

Cheers

[Z2TT]

Hi,

I'd say get yourself a good compressor, brand new if money isn't a problem rather than from a junkyard.

I really don't know how much it would cost, some techs like to charge a heap of money to make up for problems they might come by when installing it. Ask around.

[petro]

is that all i basically need? what about the interior button and wiring etc..? is that all universal stuff?

[machschnell]

Hi again

Just wanted to ask your advice, my rolla currently does not have air con and I have been thinking of getting one put in, but am not sure how much it would set me back roughly? i know if i go straight to a air con place and get one new, it may be a fair bit, but is it possible to buy the parts needed or get them from a junkyard and get a techy to install them? if so does anyone know how much it would cost to do it this way? or if anyone have any other advice, please do for it! rolla is a 95 ae102 7a-fe. based in Adelaide.

Cheers

if you can get the plumbing in and hooked to rails and so forth it will save you a bit , but most of it has to be done by tech, get a few quotes and ask around to see who will help you keep the price down by installing some stuff yourself like routing of pipes aircompressor and condensor and so forth. I f you cant do anything pre them getting it your up for a big quid mate

[vanman]

For a ballpark figure, my brother had new aftermarket air con fitted to a non-air con SV21 Camry he bought with only 66,000k on the clock. This system cost him $1500 about four years ago, and came professionally fited with all second hand Toyota parts that would have been in an air con model, and an aftermarket generic compressor, all with a 2 year warranty. Only way to tell that the car never had it from factory is the aftermarket compressor under the bonnet.

Around the same time I asked around for wrecker air con parts for my AE71 - wreckers wanted around $600 for all the bits required to make it as if it was factory fitted. The wrecker pieces would have only been guaranteed for 90 days and having been in the yard for who knows how long, may have need resurrecting by the air con tech anyways, which would have added to the cost by up to another couple of hundred, and this is still not including labour to install and re-gas.

I ended up buying a complete car with cold working air con and used those bits as I would have only needed to get the system re-gassed. Never got around to finishing install before the wagon got stolen.

If you've got that little bit of extra coin, I'd go the complete system new any day - all warranteed, all the parts hunting and knuckle scaping done by someone else, and less likely to have problems.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Vanman

[petro]

hey thanks for your replies.

i was thinking of getting one new but money is the problem...was hoping to get it all setup for 500 or so.

been thinking of getting one from a junkyard and getting someone to install it, but now im afraid it may have problems as what the previous poster said about how long its been sitting there etc... can the compressor be from any model of car or does it have to be from the corolla range from my year?

[CrUZida]

You should be able to get all the parts from a wreck for about $250ish.

This includes the evaporator (behind the dash), hard lines (probably 3 or 4 of them), soft lines (2 of them) a compressor/bracket, belt, idler pulley/bracket, condensor (radiator thing) and dryer. You'll have to get the switch or at least rig up a switch somewhere.

It'll be a couple of hours work, especially if the car is not already partly stripped.

Then go get it gassed. They'll replace the dryer and test the system for leaks. This will also cost about $250.

$500 should be easily acheivable if everything goes ok.
If one of the hoses is leaking, you could be up for aboout $66 a hose to get them rebuilt.
Compressor rebuilds cost between $200 and $500 depending on what needs replacing.

$400-$500 would be the lower end of the scale for doing everything yourself (except the gassing).
The upper end is nearly infinite, as it depends what is wrong.
I spent $700 getting the aircon in working again last year. 3 regasses, two new hoses and a semi rebuilt compressor, and she was good to go.
Other cars I've just had the thing gassed and its been no problems.

[wagonist]

I'd recommend getting as much as you can from a wreck.
A new compressor would be good if the budget stretches.
The receiver/dryer will need to be replaced (gas place can do that when they charge the system).
All of the seals will need to be replaced. Once you've got the bits at home, take all of the seals out & go to an A/C place to get replacement ones. should only be around $10-$15 supplied, but a lot more if you want them to fit the seals, as there can be 10-15 of the buggers. Make sure you split open the box that fits under the dash as well. There are usually a pair of seals in there which most people don't know/forget about.

Biggest problem is going to be the wiring. Most cars have the A/C loom integrated into the rest of the loom (whihc means you may get lucky & its already there, just not plugged into anything).

[wa5]

I believe some FWD Corollas have an electronic control box under the dash for the A/C as well.

Most Dismantlers will warrant used A/C compressors against failure, and will cover replacement only IE they will not cover the cost of re gassing.

[petro]

Hey cheers for the reply. I had a good look today at the engine compartment where the air con would sit, and as back in the days when the car was new air con was a optional extra and all the plugs and fuses required seem to all be present which means the wiring to the interior is already there, just need that magic a/c button there as well as all the parts... i hope this shaves off the price a bit overall..

gotta start asking around for parts now...mm anyone know any good places in SA that are well priced and good quality?

[CrUZida]

Probably won't make it any cheaper, but assume it all works it will make it a lot easier.

[wagonist]

Hey cheers for the reply. I had a good look today at the engine compartment where the air con would sit, and as back in the days when the car was new air con was a optional extra and all the plugs and fuses required seem to all be present which means the wiring to the interior is already there, just need that magic a/c button there as well as all the parts... i hope this shaves off the price a bit overall..

gotta start asking around for parts now...mm anyone know any good places in SA that are well priced and good quality?

The only thing that might catch you is that the dashboard loom may be different between cars. So check there is an empty plug behind the A/C blanking plate first.

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[JetspeedCamry]

Would conversion to the new gas be an added cost too? I need to get my gf's car regassed and the place i rang near me suggested it may need to be retrofitted to the new type of gas, and would cost $500+. I laughed, and hung up

[CrUZida]

Converting to R134 is about $50 more expensive than gassing with HR12

[JetspeedCamry]

I sure hope that a re-gas isn't $450!

[Z2TT]

Converting to R134 is about $50 more expensive than gassing with HR12

That makes it around $200 ?

[wagonist]

The gas itself may be only an extra $50, but the seals used in the R12 system won't hold the R134 gas, therefore they all need to be changed.
There are a lot of them, about $15 worth, but there is significant labour in getting them all changed. Gave a look at where the A/C pipes run through the egnine bay. Mostly you can't get at them unless you are a contortionist.
If you can do them yourself, it would save a significant part of that cost.

Maybe next time you get a price, before you hang up, actually find out what its for?

[oldcorollas]

i thought the difference is the oil used?
need to clean it all out and replace oil (and seals maybe) ?

[JetspeedCamry]

Maybe next time you get a price, before you hang up, actually find out what its for?

Oh i did yeah. Figure of speech when i said hang up . The cost was for retrofit of the seals, replacement of the compressor etc. Lots of work involved and far too much for what this car is worth, so if was going to cost that much i simply won't do it. Didn't realise this car (95 model) may not have had the new gas in it.