im guessing its the evaporator that has gone bad, thus requiring to have the whole dashboard disassembled. I would stay away from the dealer unless you have warranty, ESPECIALLY on a job like this one. Find a mechanic. This can be fixed $800-1300. Not $4000.
Every avenue of obtaining a car has positives that can outweigh negatives depending on the purchaser's needs.
My 2002 Ford Expedition is the most reliable car I've owned. I think I may keep driving it for another 8-10 years or buy a Ford or GM truck.
I'd like to hear the case for when leases are a good move? I'm a believer in buying a car for cash and driving it 'till the wheels fall off (or until I have the cash saved and buy another). I think that method will put you ahead of a lease every time.
Well if your buying a brand new car every two years your clearly not concerned about the financial side of things. You're either wealthy enough to be able to afford that and it be a very small percentage of your overall wealth or your just asking to stay broke forever.
I've heard it's worth considering a lease if you drive a lot of miles a year...probably less true than it used to be when cars were less reliable.
Well, not really. If I know, based on 20 years of driving history, that I'm most likely not going to drive my car or 5-6 years (or really even more) and I view a car payment as an acceptable debt, then those are the very circumstances I'm referencing. It's like buying a house v. renting it. There are always positives that will outweigh the negatives for both sides depending on the specific needs of that person. It's silly to say one way is always better than the other way. Pretty much this. And a cheaper payment in our case. We did $15k miles a year.
I have had less problems with Ford than any other car company..... currently have a F-150 Raptor, F-250 Platinum Super Duty and have had zero problems. I have had Ford vehicles for the last 7-8 years and no issues. I have had many foreign cars in the past and have had problems, so I am not so sure Ford in the problem. Concerning fixing the vehicle, the mistake you made was going to the dealership with a 6-7 year old vehicle.
IMO the way I look at it is that every manufacturer has its lemons, that's inevitable. The probability that you'll get a lemon is higher in some manufacturer compared to others. I'd expect to have a higher chance of getting a car that needs regular fixes from Chrysler than I do with Honda. My family and I have had multiple Honda/Toyota vehicles and the majority has had no problems for God knows how long but there's that one or two cars that doesn't live up to the standard. Just my 2 cents
Even in that circumstance, you are better off buying it and trading it in every 2 years unless you don't know how to negotiate. I have a friend that does this with his BMW s. He says it ends up costing about 5K which is 200 dollars a month.
Nope only Ford (in their wisdom) puts the evaporator coil behind the dash. Most non-american cars put it in the trunk and they operate wireless. They also cost 5 bucks to replace. All irrelevant though because they never break.
nope. AC evaporators are placed behind the dash. At least that's their location with Dodge, GM, and Ford. I'm pretty sure other models follow the same design too. I'm talking about models roughly 1999-2010 ish. Not sure about the newer models. And yeah, it's true some models have it in the rear, but those are larger vehicles that have a double AC system, a evaporator core is still found under the instrumental panel in those as well.
Have another shop do this work. I've done this same repair on a Ford Explorer (in high school automotive tech) and it was incredibly easy in spite of having to take apart the dash and other parts of the trim. That said, having experience working on cars, I would not buy an American car. The one American car I had was a Mazda MX-6 (Ford Probe), and that car had issue after issue. American cars are simply worse in design and ease of repair and maintenance. Fords is frustrating in particular because the engine sits back under the windshield, so something simple like changing sparkplugs requires that you have tiny hands, and a special wrench that can get in at an angle. Its just silly. I worked on a Chrysler LeBaron once, and the owner had repeatedly changed the valve cover gaskets because the exhaust manifolds were unshielded and came out of the head not even one inch from the gasket, so they continuously broke down and leaked oil. Plus, the engine was set sideways for FWD, so the rear gasket was such a pain to replace. On the flipside, every Toyota I ever owned, and the Subaru I own now all have space in the engine compartment, are easy to maintain, and don't require any special tools or contortionist abilities to perform simple routine maintenance, so they're cheaper to own and operate, and tend to stay on the road longer. And the resale value is incredible. My brother sold his 2001 Toyota Tundra with 285,000 miles for $6K about three years ago. The truck was beat up. It was a former work truck with a heavily worn interior, body damage all over from carrying loads, suspension out of alignment from popping curbs, the steering wheel off center in a bad way, and the windshield practically destroyed. Even with all of those issues, the engine was strong. It would still burn out the tires with 285K miles on it. That truck had an amazing engine.
