Hello all

After 8 years of ownership of a 2010 RX450H, I am faced with the first major repair issue: evaporator coil replacement.

Symptoms: No cold air from AC from a couple of weeks, dealership recharged the coolant and added a UV dye as they suspected there was a leak in the coil. In the meantime there has been water discharge pooling on the garage floor, sometimes large amounts, even when the vehicle hasn't been running. It seems to store large amounts of water and then dump it, as if something is clogged up.

The recharge lasted a week. Took it back to the dealership who checked and said the dye shows that the condenser coil needs to be replaced. They said this was an expensive repair as the entire dash would need to come out.

Evaporator coil: $317
Expansion valve: $93
Labor: $990
Total: $1400

I was hoping to get any advice or ideas: if you've had this done, is this a reasonable price? Are there any DIY options or less drastic options I could try myself? I'm quite handy in the garage but removing the entire dash is not something I'm up for.

Any and all comments welcome.

Thank you.

 

You cannot do air conditioner repairs at home. It requires specialized equipment to purge and recharge the system. Plus you have to be trained. Also taking the dash apart is not easily done, especially putting it all back together. There is no easy way around this repair. Sorry to hear about it. You could try to get a second estimate from another shop.

 

If the problem is the evaporator coil leaking there really is nothing you can do besides replacing the thing. There are some stop leak additives but after seeing the mess that they can make, I would never use one.

The estimate from the dealer looks okay. I'm assuming the $990 for labor would also include consumables such as refrigerant.

The water that is getting dumped out of the thing is actually melting ice from the evaporator coil. It's kind of counter intuitive, but as an AC system gets low on refrigerant the evaporator actually gets colder. The condensation on the coil is freezing it into a block of ice because you are low on refrigerant.

 

 

Take it to a certified & reputable 3rd party shop. That labor rate is too much.

 

Generally I would agree with the advice, but here we are dealing with the dash. Dash rattle after it being opened and put back is pretty common. Working with the dealership, we expect that they would have worked out any kinks in their procedure and know what to insulate.

The labor is high as the time is long and yes the price/hr is high at the dealership.

Salim

 

It’s an older thread, but I am faced with this repair now, and my dealership quoted me well over $2000, a third party shop $1600 for my Lexus Rx400h. Is this an acceptable going rate for, say, the heartland of NC?

 

I just got quoted $3000 for replacing it in a 2010 RX350. Bought it used and have put maybe 20000 miles on it...

 

You need to get a couple of more quotes for this work. That appears to be too high a price.

 

Although majority of folks are OK with drive out cost, I prefer the estimates to be broken up in labor, parts, disposal etc. Shops use a table to charge and pay the mechanic by a predetermined number of hours for a service ("book hours"). That number is then multiplied by labor rates [Labor rates vary between shops, dealer and experts have the highest rates].

Pay attention to what is being performed. I expect a substantial difference in "evap coil" vs "expansion valve". [Roughly 6 additional hours in case of expansion valve]

If you drive in with a complaint "AC not working", the shop may estimate the worst case scenario. Price/cost has been increasing rapidly and a while back coffee used to be 25 cents for a cup.

Salim