It's not so much a "Go Away" price as it is a "Cover my Butt" price for warranty work. You are asking a shop owner to work on a +16 year old system, then provide a warranty for 30 days on material and labor. If he converts the system to R-134a, all of the original components are subject to pressures that they were not originally designed for.

  If it was my shop, I would quote to replace the condensor, evaporator, compressor, receiver/dryer, expansion valve and refrigerant lines and upgrade the electrical wiring in the rear cabinet and let you decide which ones that you wanted to replace; but offer no warranty for the work.

  I have replaced the compressor, receiver/dryer, refrigerant lines and the rear cabinet electrical wiring after converting to R-134a and have acceptable system performance. Its not going to freeze you out of the Van, but will keep you comfortable once you cool the interior off (which can take a while after sitting in the afternoon sun).

  Where I live, I use my A/C 9 months out of the year and would sell my Camper if I couldn't repair the system and keep it functioning at an acceptable level. I have probably spent more money on the A/C system in the last +7 years/100,000 miles of ownership then any other system on the Camper.

  One last thing, when you or your shop is recharging the A/C, make sure they close the engine hatch and rear hatch when checking refrigerant pressures; you want to keep the incoming air to the evaporator as cool as possible like you would in a typical vehicle.

  Good luck,

  Tim

BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET> wrote:
  If you are planning this far in advance then I would spend some time talking
to different shops as to who is willing to work on your van for a fair
price. 90% of the shops out there will quote you a "Go Away" price to
discourage you. Find the other 10% that will take the time to correctly
diagnoses, fix and upgrade your system for a reasonable amount.

Bryan

TJ Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
1981 Bluebird Wanderlodge, FC-33SB
Des Allemands, Louisiana
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FC_wanderlodge

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