garciapiano
Veteran Member
My A/C has started to struggle on hot days. Last recharge was 2 years ago after which performance has been remarkably good, but slowly degrading. I believe the system probably needs an entire go-through to renew hoses, o-rings and potentially a new compressor.
As we well know, this entails roughly $1,000 worth of components if we go all-new, and a dash pull to get to the evaporator. And at that point, you may as well do a heater core swap and foam refresh. All of this is going to get expensive, and painfully time-consuming to DIY, to the point of wondering if it’s worth pursuing with a 23-year-old car. I don’t have AC servicing equipment and would prefer not to damage components with my lack of experience. My income is now at a point where operating a vehicle is not a major part of my budget and my commute is short enough not to necessitate a TDI.... but my income is not high enough that having a professional do this would be economically smart by any means. The car runs excellently otherwise, due to the work I’ve put into it, so I’d rather run it into the ground, if anything just to see how far it will go.
Have any of you gotten to this point with your A3/B4? Is it worth putting this kind of effort into a car this old? Should I delete the AC? It has been an excellent daily driver up to this point but it gets HOT here in the summer and I don’t particularly feel like living without it.
As we well know, this entails roughly $1,000 worth of components if we go all-new, and a dash pull to get to the evaporator. And at that point, you may as well do a heater core swap and foam refresh. All of this is going to get expensive, and painfully time-consuming to DIY, to the point of wondering if it’s worth pursuing with a 23-year-old car. I don’t have AC servicing equipment and would prefer not to damage components with my lack of experience. My income is now at a point where operating a vehicle is not a major part of my budget and my commute is short enough not to necessitate a TDI.... but my income is not high enough that having a professional do this would be economically smart by any means. The car runs excellently otherwise, due to the work I’ve put into it, so I’d rather run it into the ground, if anything just to see how far it will go.
Have any of you gotten to this point with your A3/B4? Is it worth putting this kind of effort into a car this old? Should I delete the AC? It has been an excellent daily driver up to this point but it gets HOT here in the summer and I don’t particularly feel like living without it.
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