AC repair saga finally over...

[rfernatt]

The AC saga with my car is finally over! For those that haven't seen my various posts on the subject, the problem was a lack of cooling. The driver side vents would blow warm air while the passenger side vents were moderately cool. However, on a semi-warm day, it couldn't keep the cabin cool. Sometimes it was better than others, but pretty abysmal usually. Following is the time line and sequence of events that ultimately led to the fix:

Sep 2008
- Took delivery of the car and noted that AC didn't work properly on the 4 hour drive home.
- AC didn't work the next day either, so called dealer about it and was advised to bring it in for service. Since Columbus is 4 hours away from home and we had a trip to NJ/DE/MD scheduled in the near future, I decided to wait and visit a sc on our trip.
- Bumped deer with driver's side headlight, ordered a replacement since panels and everything else looked fine. Per recommendations from another sc, epoxied a cracked headlight mount (on the radiator support) back into place.

Oct 2008
- Visited sc Annapolis while on business trip re: AC. It had performed really poorly on the drive to NJ, DE, MD. They couldn't find anything wrong, but did add some refrigerant. They opened a TAC on the car, but the problem persisted.

Nov 2008 - Feb 2009
- AC not used during the winter, nothing remarkable happened.

Mar 2009
- Visited sc Devon during business trip for 2.0 upgrade, 10K service, and another look at the AC problem. Devon thought it was the control module and supposedly replaced it with no effect.

May 2009
- Visited sc Easton on the way to Indianapolis event to look at AC again. Easton also diagnosed AC control unit and thought that Devon didn't really replace it or replaced something else. Easton had paperwork from all previous visits.
- Spoke with smartUSA VP Russ Hill during Indy event and he was kind enough to request further info about my AC problem and offered to help resolve it while I was on my trip to Alabama. Alabama is hot...
- Visited sc Louisville to see if they had the control unit suggested by Easton. They did not, but checked out refrigerant level, etc. and decided with smartUSA tech that it must be the compressor. Louisville was given copies of all previous paperwork.
- Spoke with a regional manager, who worked closely with smartUSA parts and sc Birmingham to arrange a compressor to be shipped to Birmingham overnight and waiting for me to arrive. It was a very well coordinated effort for a company to accomplish while an owner was on a road trip.
- Visited sc Birmingham for compressor replacement which ultimately didn't fix the problem and they also tried a control unit with no luck. Tech said that the symptoms and his experience pointed to a 'restriction,' most likely due to a bad expansion valve. This tech seemed to be very familiar with AC issues and disagreed with all previous diagnoses based on the symptoms. I later confirmed his suspicions of the expansion valve with some web research. The specific high side/low side readings and symptoms did agree with a faulty expansion valve. I wish others would have been as thorough and knowledgeable. Birmingham was given copies of all previous paperwork.

June 2009
- Car was picked up by sc Easton for further diagnosis and possible expansion valve replacement per notes from Birmingham.
- Car was returned 3 weeks later after a myriad of parts under the dash, including the expansion valve, were replaced. AC finally works properly. It makes more noise than I remember previously, but I hope that's normal.

Moral of the story: If you have a nagging AC problem that doesn't seem to be corrected by adding refrigerant or replacing/calibrating the control module, there may be something going on with the expansion valve. Per the Birmingham tech, if the 'low side' pressure of the AC system is near zero or in a vacuum state, then there's a restriction in the system, most likely due to a faulty expansion valve.

Parting thoughts: Although the real problem should have been identified sooner, smartUSA did jump through hoops to try and fix it while I was on my road trip, so kudos there. Also, they picked my car up and returned it to me since I am 4 hours away from the nearest dealer and have promised me an extended 1 year warranty since I had to deal with it so many times at multiple dealers and I'm a little worried about everything that was disassembled/reassembled trying to find the problem. Did you know that you have to 'drop the engine' to replace the AC compressor? That may not be as bad as it sounds, but to the uninformed, it doesn't sound good.

The only real unfortunate and negative thing during the process involved the headlight that I replaced after the Sep deer incident. When Easton noticed that I had replaced a headlight and epoxied one of the headlight mounts back into place, there was an immediate witch hunt to blame the AC failure on the deer incident even though the AC problem was noticed and reported before the deer incident. I had not mentioned the deer incident to any dealer because the AC problem was a pre-existing condition and the damaged headlight didn't seem to have anything to do with the AC.

Although I haven't seen what they were talking about, they claim that a cooling fin on an AC component up front was bent as a result of the headlight being pushed backwards. Actually, I don't see any AC looking items behind the driver's headlight, but I understand asking the question and following-up on the possibility even if it's remote. However, I think it could have been handled in a more tactful, less accusatory manner. Ultimately, it was determined that the bent fin didn't have anything to do with the AC problem and the AC was fixed without changing anything "behind the headlight," but it squandered a fair amount of goodwill.

Hopefully, this experience will help others.

[jetfuel]

thanks so much for the update on the A/C fix.(saga)...good to know smart did all it had to be done to keep a customer happy..and cool..

jetfuel

[SubSlr88]

Hey, my Mom had an off and on AC problem on a Toyota over a 12 year period that Toyota could never fix. They threw a bunch of parts at it, mostly at her expense, however, to the tune of about $600 a year. It was finally fixed when my granddaughter took it to a small garage and they found a very tiny freon leak in one of the copper lines and repaired it - finally. Cost her around $100. The big dealer shops just couldn't be bothered to look closely enough. . .a lesson to be learned there~!

[John_H]

I'm glad everything's cool.

[24-42]

rfernatt;

I,for one, really appreciate your 'In depth",yet objective, report.

I read every word and learned from your experience. It should be condensed and put into a "Symptoms and Diagnosis" 'Sticky".

Donald LaFavor

[John_H]

Wait - the condenser now?

[sato7]

I honestly think that the technicians are very poorly trained to work on the smarts cars.. compounded by the very new to the market vehicle... and to make matters worse, the mechanics don't make the same rate working on a smart as they do on a MB... logic would state they rush through our problems and get to the high paying MB car issues.

[jefferios]

Yikes, I am glad to hear a resolution was finally made.

[rwcmick]

My '86 Camaro had an a/c problem. No matter what the techs tried, I couldn't get the car to cool at low speeds. Finally, a tech suggested I manually tap into the electric engine fans and force them to run when I wanted a/c. This 'fixed' the issue, but the switches I used frequently melted and had to be replaced.

I had an a/c problem w/ my Jag. It wouldn't cool properly at low engine rev's. I suggested a compressor problem, but was rudely dismissed by the svc center. They claimed that it was fine, but to 'make me happy' they would recharge the system. This did not fix the issue. Took Jag to another dealer, he was able to feel a temp change on either side of the inline filter. He cut the filter open, lo and behold, metal shavings! Finally, a new compressor was installed and the problem was fixed.

Next, I ordered a new AC unit for my house. On hot days it would go into lockout due to pressure spikes. I suggested that the system had been overcharged, but was told in no uncertain terms that their $2,000 diagnostic took wouldn't allow that to happen. They replaced components in my attic and told me I was good to go. I wasn't. The next hot day it failed. They came out again. More adjustments. More failures. They arrived again. More fiddling, no fixing. Finally I told them, look, fix it or replace it or else! They arrived out at my house and told me that their $2,000 diagnostic tool had failed. They manually weighed the amount of refrigerant in my system and found that it was 6lbs over charged. I can only hope that THIS fixed the issue.

Moral of the story? When I hear someone complain about AC, I start to break into a cold sweat. Glad to hear your system is now working!

[John_H]

Originally Posted by rwcmick

When I hear someone complain about AC, I start to break into a cold sweat.

At least the sweat's cold!