1995 Buick Century

[Paul]

> The A/C evaporator on my 4 cyl Century is clogged with leaves.
>
> The mechanic at the dealership says it's a 6 hour job to remove and
> clean. He recommends changing the old evaporator since there is so
> much labor involved.
>
> 6 hours sounds a little high to me. Has anyone else here had to have
> this done?
>

6 hrs is very reasonable.
I don't see the need to change the evap though, unless it is so dirty that it cannot be
cleaned.

[HLS]

> 6 hrs is very reasonable.
> I don't see the need to change the evap though, unless it is so dirty that
> it cannot be cleaned.

I think that the dealership is trying to say that this is a lot of work to
go inside and
not change the evaporator core, which on a 14 year old car may be getting
near its
normal lifespan. Some cars are worse about this than others (Chrysler
products, f.eks)

[Harry Face]

A friend just bought a 95 Century for his son and now it needs $1400.00
in power steering work done to it.

harryface

[HLS]

"Michael Golden" <mgolden@bkbusa.com> wrote in message
> My son removed the blower motor and the resistor pack. This created
> enough access to completely clean the leaves out of the system with the
> use of a vacuum cleaner hose and a gently applied coat hanger wire.
> Other than having been plugged up with leaves the evaporator appeared
> to be clean. Total time was about an hour.

He saved you a bunch of money. Are you surprised that the dealership
wanted to hump you for several hundred dollars in work that was not
really needed - at this point in time, anyway.

I can say that IF they had had to remove the evaporator core and replace
it, the 6 hours might have been a reasonable time. Dealerships around here
charge $60-65 per hour, but in the larger cities that goes up to about
a hundred.

There was a time that GM evaporators went out very quickly, with holes
caused
by corrosion. They seem to last much longer now.

The compressors are, however, still a problem IMO. And they are no longer
inexpensive to replace.