Dude you got ****ed.

Eric good luck man. $2300 repair bill sucks, I feel for you. I havent had to replace an A/C unit in about 5 years, and I thought it was around $800 back then with labor and all parts. Probably just jinxed myself now.

For labor and compressor only yeah. But apparently there are metal shavings in his system now. His is for replacing everything. Sucks man, never fun.

What type of compressor failure would send metal shavings into the a/c system? Ford said my compressor was leaking and only replaced compressor. Does that sound right or did they make a mistake by not replacing other parts of the System? Thanks

Your AC compressor more or less has little Pistons inside. They can mechanically fail just like a car engine. The metal innards of the compressor are then circulated thru the rest of the system. This results in parts needing flushed or replaced. This is costly and time consuming... That is likely why he was quoted so much more. You can have a compressor fail (leak) and not require this type of repair though. He just unfortunately drew the short straw...

Picked it up this morning, AC works great, and I am so happy to be out of the 2011 fusion they loaned me. The ultimate performance modification is to drive a 4 cylinder for a day or so. It makes the mustang really fast.

Cool .... what does the tech story say at the bottom of the paperwork below all the parts listed?

Same thing happened to my 2011 at 38,000 miles. I guess I was lucky as my dealer comped the repair. But I sold the car shortly after for my 2013

wow you are lucky. I think I have round 41,000, so it's a little more. ultimately While it was expensive and disappointing, the work Appears to be quality. I'm just happy to have it back. There's nothing like a couple days in a 4 cylinder to make you really miss your big Bad @$$ v8.

Lol...glad the repair was done right and you are satisfied with the repair.

Man I wish I would have saw this thread earlier today...
I JUST started this...
https://themustangsource.com/f804/ai...nt-out-522446/

I had the EXACT same thing happen. Just went out... and had to replace the whole thing! 4k out of warranty.... I have never once used an extended warranty and felt buying one for this car would be a repeat of a waste of money... I was wrong. well... in $300 I'll be wrong. (I was offered extended for $1500)

Luckily I knew a shop that's done good work for me in the past and so they did the job for $1,200.00

I'm glad you were able to save a few with a quality local shop. I didn't have a local option that I felt comfortable with. I wonder if this is going to be a common issue. I would hope not, it's a pricey little experience.

Disclaimer, this is not scientific, just anecdotal stuff that I decided to try because I had the time.

After reading this thread (and a couple others recently) I began to wonder (get nervous) about the A/C in these cars. What really sparked it after reading these is the fact that I've always kind of felt that the A/C in my '11 500 didn't really seem to put out as cool as it should. It was adequate, but not cold.

I decided to try an unscientific comparison. Since I was in a position where I couldn't drive them to measure it, I decided to hold them at a certain rpm for a certain time and see what they would drop down to.

I got my digital probe thermometer and stuck in in the center vents. It was 90 degrees outside, and I tested it against my 14 year old Explorer Limited which has 185K miles on it, bone stock never been touched A/C system.

The Explorer had been outside for a while today, and driven in the hot sun, the 500 had been closed up in a cool garage all day.

I cranked them up and decided to run each of them for 3 minutes at 3K rpms with the A/C on full blast. Recirculate/Max, high fan, basically everything it would put out.

The results were not surprising, considering what I've noticed in the 500.

The 500 dropped down to 46.8 degrees, but was quickly bouncing back up into the high 47 degree range and back down to 46's. Kept doing that.

The Explorer maintained a steady drop, even after being outside for much of the day, it just kept dropping. 48,47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, etc. After the same amount of time it had gone down to 37.8 degrees when I stopped the test. Now remember, this is a 14 year old car with a bone stock A/C system, never been touched, and it was freezing my *** off.

However, my new $60K Shelby, not that cold. Definitely not freezing like the old Explorer where you have to turn up the temp because its chilly.


Something isn't right here, this A/C is not up to par for hot climates. Its just adequate, at best. I've noticed that I have to keep the temp cranked down much lower to be comfortable than I do in the Explorer.

Your Explorer may be a R12 system. No longer used because it is harmful to the environment. Is a better refrigerator than what is used now. Not disagreeing with your findings necessarily but also not exactly comparing apples to apples...

Its 134.

This doesn't make me happy. Do the V8's and V6's use the same A/C compressor? I didn't buy the extended as I have never had a real problem with my Fords to warrant the added expense.

Sucks for you guys that broke the A/C already. I would be pissed too!

Matthew

Eric,
Very ticked off on your behalf... you have the right attitude about the situation though...just sorry you had to deal with this.

So already, we have several people coming forward with this problem... we need to document this!

Rather B. Blown- very interesting results. I have always felt the same about the AC in my 2011 GT but since the windows are down 90% of the time, I never worried about it until now. :p

mrgtx, Thanks for the empathy. I Hope this isn't systemic. It would suck if more of my Mustang Bretheren had to write the big check. My ac has, prior to this, always performed well in an area that has 100 plus temps 3 or 4 months per year. But, this was bothersome. Anyone with similar failure, please post so that others can learn from your experiences.

I thought the same thing too with my 08 when down in the valley. I too had an older car that was converted to the new refrigerant and it seemed colder - constantly colder air out the vents.
Whereas the Bullitt seems to only get so cold and would take longer to get the cabin comfortable on really hot days - esp if I was in and out of a few stores.
So I wonder if there is more of an internal thermostat type control (besides the dash adjustment) that perhaps has to do with mileage numbers?? :dunno:

The new compressors probably don't work as long. I notice when running the air on my 2012 the compressor seems like it turns on and off more than the one on my 1998 does. Might be how they are more efficient since they don't draw on the engine as long. But then don't compress as long. Where's the mechanical engineers when you need them