kylerohde

So I had my car at the dealer for A/C work and getting the rear diff fluid changed, which I hadn't ever had done before. The invoice did not have any gasket or gasket material on it, and the bolts don't look like they were ever removed. I assumed that they just sucked the fluid out of the fill hole rather than remove the differential cover. However, I've had a bit of bright green fluid on the garage floor the past few days and I finally had a chance to crawl under the car and find the source today, and it's all over the transmission. That makes me think that the dealer mechanic did transmission fluid rather than the differential. But the transmission fluid for this car isn't bright green is it?

Any other theories? The transmission on this car was spotless and I've never seen bright green fluid until now.

2k7gtcs

What was the AC work done?

There only green fluid I know of other than antifreeze is a dye that's put into AC systems to check for leaks. But it should not be enough to drip and it certainly not enough to be on the floor.

I guess a pic of the fluid would help. Is it watery or oily?

5LHO

Ford antifreeze is pink now, so that can't be it. Take it back and let them figure it out, if you had a dealer do it.

Winkawak

Call the service department and ask?

Gabe

If it came out of your car, it has to be A/C refrigerant

ford20

It might be dried antifreeze. The heater hoses that attach to the firewall have antifreeze running through them so you may have a small leak over there.

Gabe

Factory antifreeze is gold or pink though

kylerohde

Recharge of the R134a - 8 oz. total. I think they did do the pressure/leak test but it's bizarre that it would be all over the transmission. Definitely going to the dealer to ask them about this. Thanks!

TheReaper

Have you checked for Aliens?

FromZto5

Kyle keep us posted. But yeah, have them look/take care of it, since it wasn't there before you took it in.

kylerohde

UGH. Pretty much worst case scenario - evaporator core is bad. $2,000 repair. F*ck me. Green fluid was the leak detector fluid they used in the A/C system and clearly there's a leak.

FromZto5

Sorry to hear that Kyle. Since you drive her daily and plan to keep her a while, prolly must fix! How do things like that get a leak? Just wearing out over time?

kylerohde

Yeah, I have no idea why this does or doesn't fail. It's such an expensive fix though because they have to remove basically the entire dash to get to it.

I've been kicking around whether it makes sense to spend that much to fix her, given the 107,000 miles. Figured out I could get into a '15 or '16 GT w/ less than 30K miles for probably another $16-17,000 over what mine would be worth on trade. Just hard to do after I've already spent $2,900 on her this year between an insurance deductible, new tires, new shocks/struts + brakes, and more. None of that was unexpected maintenance so hard to be mad at the car over it, but after this, I'll have put 5k into her this year. That's a lot.

Also kicked around a used Focus ST, which I could get for probably $10-12,000 plus trade. So frustrating. Cars are flippin' money pits man.

Gabe

I'd do it myself, but I have the luxury of a garage, lots of tools, and a spare vehicle to drive (my truck).
I'd just have a local garage evacuate the a/c system before, and recharge it when done.
Yes, the dash has to come out.

FromZto5

Oh man... that's a toughie. The temptation of a different/newer car will be tough to ignore. I think for me, doing the fix myself is out of the question. Ain't no way I'm pulling the dash, etc etc...

But for $2k for a fix on a 107k mile car? Yeah that's tough.

Are they going to devalue your trade further because "well, now your AC system needs to be fixed, so it's worth 2k less"? That's dirtayyyyyy... dirty.

kylerohde

Yep, figured that would drop it at least $1,000-$1,500.

karman

Yeah me too,
20yrs ago I rebuilt an A/C system but I always had the luxuries.
I didn't have to take the dash out but it took me some time, so always having extra vehicles really helps.

14Glassback

Being we are headed for winter is it a repair you can just save up for until spring?

FromZto5

Ooooh good point. There's always the "should I bother fixing it" scenario.

Gabe

Trade it in in the spring to a different dealer, don't mention anything about the A/C.

Trade it in early enough in the spring that if they turn on the A/C when they appraise the car, it will blow cold air