$859 to resurrect the AC system in my '95 Ram ctd. New evaporator New heater core A bunch of seals And a recharge $529 in labor mostly cause the entire dash needed to be removed to get to it all. So you guys with the 2nd gen trucks, cross your fingers and hope you don't have to have any major AC work. But damn it's cold now!! Good cold AC is worth it's weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.
Why would you spend that much money on that truck? I've seen a lot of second gen trucks but none that were worth that much to have the A/C fixed in them....especially not yours. ......Oh wait...not what you wanted to hear? rotfl Funny you bring up this topic. My truck is having a new evaporator being installed in it as we speak, literally. It's at my local DOdge dealership right now. There is a hole in the bottom of the evaporator, which is a common problem with 2nd gen trucks. As far as I'm concerned, you got off cheap for what work you had done. The dealership is charging my warranty $1,000 just to do the evaporator. I have a bad speaker in the passenger door also....since I have upgraded Infinity system it's $281 for ONE speaker, not installed. I told them to leave it alone! I'll get aftermarket speakers. Anyway, yes, the A/C on these trucks are not easy nor are they cheap to work on. I'm glad mine is covered under warranty.
Whatever dude. With that part of your reply, in my mind, you're now on par with Timmy. That statement is so full of ignorance (smilies or not) that I don't even know where to begin, so I won't. Anyways, why take it to the dealer? AC is not something you have to have done at a dealer. Mine went to a local AC repair/service shop. $859 for what I had done vs $1k for what your having done is alittle lopsided. I also have the Infinity system in my truck. No way I would even ask the dealer to replace a speaker. Better stuff can be had cheaper aftermarket.
RJF. You say you've seen alot of second gen trucks but none that were worth that much to have the A/C fixed in them..... What gen do you think your truck is :stir: ? rotfl
I actually wasn't refering to A/C systems at all....it was an inside "poke" at him over a recent incident on a seperate board. It had nothing to do with A/C's, it was between him and I.
I'm sure you know what I meant, with the recent incident on the sister board. I was poking fun with you as a joke trying to mend fences and get a friendly joking reply back. I take it either you have no sense of humor or you just want to be a jerk, which saddens me just a little, I'd like to get along. It was my way of mending fences with you, never mind then. Lets carry on with the subject on hand....no sense taking a dump on this thread like what happened to mine. I'm not footing the bill. When you aren't footing the bill why not take it to the best place possible? The dealership, and my warranty company doesn't complain. If I was footing the bill I would have taken it to a local A/C shop. Of course I didn't have the speaker put in.....I'm going to put all JL Audio speakers in for about the same price as one of the dealer speakers.
I agree, so why did you take it to the dealer? Dealers are usually far from the best place to take your vehicle for work...
Whats better than the dealer? To me it's "one have a dozen or the other." My experience has been that the dealerships were the best but just charge too much.
Well knowing people that works at a few different dealers and hearing the horror stories of what the techs do would change your mind... It's all about getting it done in the least amount of time neccessary which = crappy work. I'd find out which local A/C shop most people have had really good luck with and go there. Always try to find out what people you know have used and which they liked the best.
Spending $1000 on a/c is nothing these days. There are many cars/trucks out there where you'll spend $1000 in labor to replace a $50 heater core. Engineers don't take labor cost on parts replacement into effect as they are only interested in seeing the vehicle make it thru warranty.
"Get through warranty" is a top priority, but IMO, that's not really the cause of current maintenance expense problem. Seems to me it is focus on quick, easy, modular assembly line efficiency with no concern about maintenance problems created. So then you have to take apart half the car to get at something that breaks or wears out, because it was put together before the surrounding modules obscured it. It does bite them a bit when it has to be covered under warranty and they have to pay for 8+ hours of dealer shop time to replace a $5 part that happens to be a wear item. And there is some back lash from customers upset with high repair costs after warranty is out. But the cost is not high enough to offset the cost benefit, and to an MBA bean counter, that's all that matters...
I couldn't agree more. Lower costs after warranty will bring repeat customers to that manufacturers vehicle platform.
Lower cost repeat the customers as well as offer low warranty on the air conditioning units is good because it makes the customer to bring back to to you for more.
