A/C Condenser

BIGDOGx · July 24, 2019

On 7/13/2019 at 9:49 AM, Snoringbear said:

I’ve become a believer in extended warranties. Have the 5yr/75K warranty on my current 2015. Bought it in May 2015 and have 49K in it. So, almost one year left. Only major problem I’ve had is the AC Condenser problem and the warranty covered it 100%. It’s zero deductible if taken to the dealership where purchased. Btw, I always buy the extended warranty at the tail end of the negotiation process when buying a new vehicle. Use it as the closer on the deal.

Yup i had the same issues, first the dealer replaced the hose and recharged, lasted a week before blowing hot again. Next of course was the condenser and those two items as listed here with cost from dealer paid for the entire amount and then some for the extended i bought. 0 dollars out of my pocket and gm is on the hook for another 2 plus years for anything that goes wrong with my truck. My problem though is what i'm going to do after it is up, i don't like the long term feeling im getting with how costly even just a single repair can be. Would rather pay my 400-500 a month and have a nice new vehicle that if it breaks is entirely on the manufacture for fixing. I truly want to vomit when forced to spend thousands on a old vehicle, i feel like i'm wasting my money these days with how cheaply and poorly everything is made.

carnau · July 24, 2019

4 hours ago, BIGDOGx said:

Yup i had the same issues, first the dealer replaced the hose and recharged, lasted a week before blowing hot again. Next of course was the condenser and those two items as listed here with cost from dealer paid for the entire amount and then some for the extended i bought. 0 dollars out of my pocket and gm is on the hook for another 2 plus years for anything that goes wrong with my truck. My problem though is what i'm going to do after it is up, i don't like the long term feeling im getting with how costly even just a single repair can be. Would rather pay my 400-500 a month and have a nice new vehicle that if it breaks is entirely on the manufacture for fixing. I truly want to vomit when forced to spend thousands on a old vehicle, i feel like i'm wasting my money these days with how cheaply and poorly everything is made.

You can literally do this job yourself, under an hour for less than $300. I could understand if GM had this huge engine related failure where the truck was a complete loss unless you had extensive Mechanical knowledge. But it's not. You could literally do it with your girls box of tools. Lol. Also, It's the air conditioning. Nothing that's going to prevent the vehicle from running.

$300 and one year of middle school shop class and you can do this job. And $300 is expensive.

$120 condenser - https://amzn.to/2K10zH0

Ac System service to charge system to 1.32lbs - $75 - $100

$100 to buy any tools you don't have.

1 hour of your time.

And watch this video.

BIGDOGx · July 25, 2019

23 hours ago, carnau said:

You can literally do this job yourself, under an hour for less than $300. I could understand if GM had this huge engine related failure where the truck was a complete loss unless you had extensive Mechanical knowledge. But it's not. You could literally do it with your girls box of tools. Lol. Also, It's the air conditioning. Nothing that's going to prevent the vehicle from running.

$300 and one year of middle school shop class and you can do this job. And $300 is expensive.

$120 condenser - https://amzn.to/2K10zH0

Ac System service to charge system to 1.32lbs - $75 - $100

$100 to buy any tools you don't have.

1 hour of your time.

And watch this video.

No thanks, i know my place and under the hood of these newer gen vehicles is not one of them.

TxSLT · July 25, 2019

On 7/24/2019 at 4:06 PM, carnau said:

You can literally do this job yourself, under an hour for less than $300. I could understand if GM had this huge engine related failure where the truck was a complete loss unless you had extensive Mechanical knowledge. But it's not. You could literally do it with your girls box of tools. Lol. Also, It's the air conditioning. Nothing that's going to prevent the vehicle from running.

$300 and one year of middle school shop class and you can do this job. And $300 is expensive.

$120 condenser - https://amzn.to/2K10zH0

Ac System service to charge system to 1.32lbs - $75 - $100

$100 to buy any tools you don't have.

1 hour of your time.

And watch this video.

About to do this Saturday

KARNUT · July 25, 2019

So, instead of being a good negotiator and getting extended warranty. You should happily spend several hundred dollars and do it yourself? I’ll vote with being a good negotiator and use my little girls tool box for fun things of my choice.

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carnau · July 26, 2019

2 hours ago, TxSLT said:

About to do this Saturday

You shouldn't have any issue! It's a simple repair.

carnau · July 26, 2019

1 hour ago, KARNUT said:

So, instead of being a good negotiator and getting extended warranty. You should happily spend several hundred dollars and do it yourself? I’ll vote with being a good negotiator and use my little girls tool box for fun things of my choice.

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Sure. Go ahead and negotiate. They will happily use your one time good will on a ac condenser job. But when you're steering module, your HMI, or something that actually requires a part that costs over $1000 and you call to try to negotiate... When they tell you, "Sorry, we already gave you assistance before..." You can fork out the $2800 it cost to replace the steering gear. Extended warranty is also really nice. You have a Minimum $100 deductible and if you don't have a deductible you paid way more than the cost of the job in the first place.

But to each their own. I'm just pointing out that you can do this yourself and save yourself a lot of hassle. Then again, some people are better negotiators than repair men as well. Just throwing out other options.

KARNUT · July 26, 2019

Sure. Go ahead and negotiate. They will happily use your one time good will on a ac condenser job. But when you're steering module, your HMI, or something that actually requires a part that costs over $1000 and you call to try to negotiate... When they tell you, "Sorry, we already gave you assistance before..." You can fork out the $2800 it cost to replace the steering gear. Extended warranty is also really nice. You have a Minimum $100 deductible and if you don't have a deductible you paid way more than the cost of the job in the first place.

But to each their own. I'm just pointing out that you can do this yourself and save yourself a lot of hassle. Then again, some people are better negotiators than repair men as well. Just throwing out other options.

Well I have gotten multiple repairs done on extended warranty vehicles. I’ve built street rods. I own a repair shop that sells and repairs land clearing equipment up to 1000 horsepower. What I wouldn’t do is waste my time repairing vehicles that I can negotiate a reasonable extended warranty. I rather wrench on my street rods.

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carnau · July 26, 2019

Well I own a GM Dealership. It's a family business and I have worked in the Service department since I was old enough to turn a wench. I have been the Shop foreman for the last 20 years. You may have purchased an extended warranty from an aftermarket company or even a GMPP warranty and had many of repairs done under warranty. But getting GM to give you any warranty repair other than the one time good will... Will never happen. There could be a special coverage (like the one you have on the Tahoe's and Yukon's for the condenser's) But you only get one good will warranty repair. I have many of Street rods myself. Including the one in my profile picture which is my every day driver. Currently building a 1958 corvette and I have a 1918 Buick in the show room that I completely restored. If you would rather wrench on a street rod and spend hours of your time negotiating in the hopes of a repair instead of wrenching on your every day vehicle for an hour... Your time must not be that valuable.

Again, My suggestion is only an option. Not forcing you or anyone else to do anything your uncomfortable doing.

KARNUT · July 26, 2019

Well I own a GM Dealership. It's a family business and I have worked in the Service department since I was old enough to turn a wench. I have been the Shop foreman for the last 20 years. You may have purchased an extended warranty from an aftermarket company or even a GMPP warranty and had many of repairs done under warranty. But getting GM to give you any warranty repair other than the one time good will... Will never happen. There could be a special coverage (like the one you have on the Tahoe's and Yukon's for the condenser's) But you only get one good will warranty repair. I have many of Street rods myself. Including the one in my profile picture which is my every day driver. Currently building a 1958 corvette and I have a 1918 Buick in the show room that I completely restored. If you would rather wrench on a street rod and spend hours of your time negotiating in the hopes of a repair instead of wrenching on your every day vehicle for an hour... Your time must not be that valuable.

Again, My suggestion is only an option. Not forcing you or anyone else to do anything your uncomfortable doing.

Saying you only get one repair per extended warranty is false. All my extended warranty’s were dealer offer and backed. I negotiated online don’t spend hours. If you want to wrench on every day vehicles that’s fine. I reserve my time for fun stuff.

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carnau · July 26, 2019

14 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

Saying you only get one repair per extended warranty is false. All my extended warranty’s were dealer offer and backed. I negotiated online don’t spend hours. If you want to wrench on every day vehicles that’s fine. I reserve my time for fun stuff.

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You're right. I don't deal with it everyday. I don't know why I thought I knew what I was talking about. Well, Enjoy working on your street rods. It really is a lot of fun.

BIGDOGx · July 26, 2019

So about that warranty lol...

Not that i won't eventually get this settled and fixed right but any chance we have any gm techs here on the board that could tell me why when i looked into the front grill at my ac condenser that my dealer stated they replaced, that i see what looks like a large piece of silver tape in the upper right hand corner, the tape like hvac people use to seal around sheet metal ducts? I am really thinking my dealer fixed my condenser with tape, yes i said that correctly tape!

Now if that's the case i have the evidence on my condenser currently and paperwork that states very clearly that the condenser was bad and replaced. To me this now becomes a case of fraud that the dealer is committing towards the manufacture. Im am trying to call other dealers and ac repair shops to get a little more info to see if this is common practice or if gm has a bulletin stating to try and fix it this way, still though as i said the paper work clearly states it was replaced.

I would like a little more info before i call said dealer and unleash a campaign of scorched freaking earth on them!

ksiesel · July 26, 2019

12 minutes ago, BIGDOGx said:

So about that warranty lol...

Not that i won't eventually get this settled and fixed right but any chance we have any gm techs here on the board that could tell me why when i looked into the front grill at my ac condenser that my dealer stated they replaced, that i see what looks like a large piece of silver tape in the upper right hand corner, the tape like hvac people use to seal around sheet metal ducts? I am really thinking my dealer fixed my condenser with tape, yes i said that correctly tape!

Now if that's the case i have the evidence on my condenser currently and paperwork that states very clearly that the condenser was bad and replaced. To me this now becomes a case of fraud that the dealer is committing towards the manufacture. Im am trying to call other dealers and ac repair shops to get a little more info to see if this is common practice or if gm has a bulletin stating to try and fix it this way, still though as i said the paper work clearly states it was replaced.

I would like a little more info before i call said dealer and unleash a campaign of scorched freaking earth on them!

Just breathe!

The newest condenser has a heat shield to help with thermal fatigue. That is the tape you see.

See page 25 and 26 of this thread for pics.

Edited July 26, 2019 by ksiesel

KARNUT · July 26, 2019

You're right. I don't deal with it everyday. I don't know why I thought I knew what I was talking about. Well, Enjoy working on your street rods. It really is a lot of fun.

Almost forgot, love the truck my favorite years.

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BIGDOGx · July 26, 2019

37 minutes ago, ksiesel said:

Just breathe!

The newest condenser has a heat shield to help with thermal fatigue. That is the tape you see.

See page 25 and 26 of this thread for pics.

How could a piece of tape with a size of 2" x 4" only placed in the upper right hand corner that also doesn't look factory and has about a 1/4"-1/2" on the edge of the condenser which looks like it is trying to seal something up be a heat shield. I also talked to two separate dealer parts departments and both stated the condenser does not come with any kind of tape on it. Are you positive this is a heat shield, can anyone else on here please look at your condenser since we have many that have had dealers replace them look to see if yours is the same.

Not saying your wrong but im just not convinced the way this looks that is like this from factory.

edit...

Check that, i just seen your comment to look back, thanks for the info but this looks like one half arsed fix to be honest, literally looks to me like they just slapped a piece of tape on it and said fixed. In any case at least i know that this was not some patch job my dealer did, it is a patch job that gm did unfortunately.

Glad i looked into this before i made an ass out of myself at the service department haha.