As I mentioned last night, I went by the mechanic this morning to pick up my car. Mrs. Fetched drove me over, and reminded me to grab my microwave dish full of leftovers on the way out (she’s good about that).
So I jumped in my car, the keys were in it, and I started it up. Reaching over to pull up Album 88 for the drive, I saw the A/C light was on. “Eh, they must have bumped it or something,” I thought, knowing that the A/C hasn’t ever worked in this car. I punched it off, and bumped up the fan because it’s pretty weak on the bottom setting… and some cool air came out. “Naw,” I thought, “it can’t be that. It just hasn’t gotten warm in the vents yet.” I headed on to work, but something just didn’t seem right about the air. It seemed… drier than I’d expect, especially during the Dog Days.
One way to find out, right? Coming home, I turned it on first thing and cranked the fan on high.
Cool air started pouring out.
MY AIR CONDITIONER IS WORKING!!!!
I brought it in for a timing belt & water pump, paid what I was quoted, and got working A/C thrown in! (I wish I’d known, I’d have got the car out earlier and drove that to Michigan.)
Oh, and Mrs. Fetched’s mom got $5 for my jalapeños, and had some left over. Kind of an anti-climax.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
13 comments:
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Maybe when they put things back together after doing the work, they tightened a belt (connected to the AC) that had been loose or off?
ReplyDeleteWell, that certainly is a good story FAR about the a/c!
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
ReplyDeleteHiya FAR.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you got the AC back. It's sort of a necessity down here. In my last car when the AC went out a mechanic quoted me $1200 to fix it. I went without AC for a long time and it was miserable.
Hey everyone.
ReplyDeleteKB, there was a missing line involved (probably a modification by one of the kids who owned this car previously); I'd been quoted $300 just to replace the line to see if the system worked at all. I think when they put things back together, they could have replaced the line (thinking they'd pulled it & lost it) then charged the system. We'll see how long it works....
FM, I've been going on three summers (or more) without working A/C. The nearly mountains keep things here cooler, but not THAT much. It's better on a motorcycle, especially with a vented jacket: you only roast when sitting at a stoplight.
Oh, and: Hoorayyyy! FM's back!
ReplyDeleteSolar:
ReplyDeleteGlad to here the A/C is working, you're probably right, they had to remove the compressor to access the timing belt, and the amount they quoted you included recharging the A/C. The hose that was "missing" was probably there but pushed out of the way. Hopefully there's no leak and you will have A/C for a while.
I have to put a can or two in the Mustang every summer, that car blows ICE cold when fully charged, it's better than my Honda.
Hey Solar. I'll bet that Mustang has a good A/C unit; that 5-liter V8 has the juice to pull it. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a similar unit to the one on our Explorer. There's a noticeable drag on the Civic's motor with the A/C on; it's probably going to whack my gas mileage.
ReplyDeleteOh, and we had to clean out the garage last night so we could make enough room for the Civic, Explorer, and the little motorcycle. I was still so happy about having A/C that I almost forgot about the work part. :-P
Cool, literally. Now I wish the same thing would happen to my SVX.
ReplyDeleteBoran: in upstate NY? Heck, when I lived in Michigan we never had central air in the house! Some of our cars had air, some didn't. It really didn't matter, we'd use it maybe a month or so out of the year.
ReplyDeleteI really need to set up an attic fan here, so we can leave the air off on "just warm not hot" days.
I think the A/C is going out on my car. It overheated on the way home last week and I haven't dared turn it on since. Luckily, it's the first care I've ever had with A/C so driving without it isn't an unexpected experience.
ReplyDeleteStill, I liked it while it lasted.
Katebird, A/C won't make your car overheat, unless there's something wrong with your engines cooling system.
ReplyDeleteYour A/C is a completely seperate unit from your engine.
Far, I'm in the Hudson Valley. It gets pretty warm here and has been since June. Global warming? We've never had central air, just a few window units, and a fleet of fans.
ReplyDeleteAs to the attic fan, unfortunately it hasn't done too much for our house.