Hi..

I have a 2005 TL with 56,000 miles and it just came out of warranty 3 months ago. I took it today for a regular oil change at local firestone shop here in Port Jefferson station NY...after the oil change my Air conditioning is not working. Its only blowing hot air...I'm just having a hard time believing that this is coincidence. My car has no problems and I've been using the AC for past few days since weather is getting hot now. I drove into the shop with AC on and working perfectly and half hour later its blowing hot air. The shop says that they dont work anywhere close to any A/C parts during oil change. Is this really a coincidence? Car went from perfectly working A/C to non functional within minutes. when I turn A/C button ON..I can hear subtle click and change in sound so I guess Compressor is coming on. What should I do? Is this gonna cost me an arm and a leg?

 

Yes, they do work close to A/C parts, or at least they do if they do what they claim to do, because they claim to check your coolant level, and the radiator is right next to the condenser. Plus, it's possible a wrench went flying in the underbay and whacked the condenser.

That said, it'd take a pretty big stroke of bad luck to poke a hole in the condenser during an oil change, but I suppose it would be possible that a tech who wasn't paying attention might have plied his wrench to the wrong part and drained your refrigerant for you.

At any rate, you're going to have to either diagnose the problem or get it diagnosed before we can tell you with any authority if it's possible that the oil change place broke it.

 

I guess I'll take it to the dealer tomorrow for diagnostics. He will probably charge me lots of $$$ just to tell me that I needs to spend $$$$$. Damn warranty just ended on Dec 31st shoulda done the oil change myself. FML

 

realistically, just take it to an air conditioner shop. They'll charge you less $$ to tell you you're going to have to spend more $$$

If it's the oil change place that did it, then they somehow cut a line or punched a hole in the condenser. You don't need the stealership to tell you that.

BTW, this is why when you take it to an oil change place, you stand there and watch them work on your car. I've caught several potential problems that way.

 

This is why I do all of my own work.

Yes, they did it. They either let all of the pressure out or knocked something loose.

 

Some of us are unlucky enough to live in apartments that don't allow any car work at all. My building manager yelled at me once for having the hood of my MR2 open until I showed him that the engine wasn't under there So instead I take it to a shop and watch them like a hawk.

 

I live in an apartment again too. It sucks, but luckily I know people that own shops that let me use their lifts even if it costs a little. There's been a problem every time I've let someone else touch my car. I agree that watching everything they do is the next best thing to doing it yourself.

 

If you hear the compressor coming on, it's not low on gas. If the charge were low, the compressor wouldn't engage, or would cycle quickly.

 

you cant "drain" the freon, shits under alot of pressure.
also please point me where the drain bolt is on the ac system.
theres no point in encouraging all this yeah yeah they did this and they did that type of thinking. reason why you take yor car somewhere you trust, not somewhere off the street 10 dollar oil change shop.

 

I didn't take my car to some 10 dollar oil change place off the street. I paid 50 bucks for full synthetic oil change. Place I trust? This is a firestone shop. It's not some private mechanic.

 

Drain was a generic term. I'm sure I don't have to quote a dictionary definition for you. As to where the drain bolt is, in the hands of an inept lubemonkey with a wrench, it's where ever he punches a hole in the AC.

So beyond the random and, frankly, meaningless criticism of my wording, are you suggesting that this problem could *not* have been caused by the oil change shop? Because if you are, then your last sentence about not taking it to an oil change shop doesn't make much sense. And if you're simply suggesting that we don't yet know if the oil change shop broke it, then I suggest you read what I wrote more carefully, and you'll see that I said we can't say for sure until he gets it diagnosed.

 

Okay I stand corrected.
I just feel the odds of this happening is great. Its common for customers to scrutinize work they don't perform or observe while its being done. This happens all the time people bring their cars in and omg this clunk/rattle wasn't here before. I guess I jumped the gun here. I can almost be certain the op had an ac leak prior service. Oh check those shreder valves. They're the most common place of leak.

 

You're absolutely right that a lot of people blame mechanics for stuff that was already wrong with their car.

However, I don't think you're right that we can be almost certain that there was a leak prior to the service. I've had several slow freon leaks in cars over the years, and generally you can tell that it's leaking because the compressor starts cycling more and more frequently, and you eventually can actually feel that as the air blows alternately warm and then cold. This failure seems instead to have come as a surprise - one minute the air was working, and the next, absolutely nothing. That's not a slow leak. That's a sudden complete loss of refrigerant, which points to some sort of damage having happened. Now, was it the mechanic, or did the OP have a really bad day and somehow catch a rock in the condenser 30 seconds after driving out of the shop? Dunno, until we see what the diagnosis says.

 

Gamepoint...Hey I am in Smithtown, NY and my AC in my 05 TL took a dump today, no compressor noise no nothing just hot air. Being that Port Jeff in not to far from here I am wondering if the un-seasonal heat has anything to do with it. My AC was working fine this morning before it got real hot (85). I had a friend check to make sure there was gas in the system, and he verified there was. I later found out that if there is to much gas and if it gets hot out the system will shut down. I am going to disconnect my battery tonight and try it again in the morning, will keep you posted.

 

Any solution to this problem? I think I am having the same issue.

 

85 isnt hot enough to engage something like that. My '04 TL 6spd has handled climate (long term) from both coasts (California AND South Carolina) for more than a year at a time. From 0% humidity to 100% humidity and it being 100+ degrees outside, it still blows ice. Get a second opinion, :-D.