Please help! I picked my 2001 Dodge Intrepid up from the shop after hours tonight, it is blowing warm air. Previously had NO problems with air, always icy cold. Here is the background:
White smoke was coming out of the left side and front of my car as I was driving. I pulled over opened the hood and also heard a hissing sound. The temperature gauge was normal temp. I put the heat on high and drove about three miles to a chain shop to have it checked out. They said it was not overheating but the bleeder valve housing was leaking and causing the smoking. (Now, I did know that I had this problem as there was a pink crusty material around the area but have been checking coolant levels religously for the past year-no variation). I was also told I had some major oil leaks, bad left wheel bearing and only 10% wear left on front brakes.
Repairs performed:
Replaced bleeder valve housing
Radiator flushed
Transmission fluid flushed (however, I never requested this nor was I advised it was going to be performed)
Replaced left front hub assembly
Replaced oil pan gasket
Replaced oil pressure sending unit
Replaced front brake pads with ceramic pads
Resurfaced front rotors
All to the tune of $1,536.61.
What the heck is wrong with the A/C? It worked FINE when I brought it in. I will be sitting on the step of the auto repair shop first thing in the morning but as I am completely ignorant when it comes to cars I would really appreciate any ideas/help anybody can offer.
Thanks, Barb

 

Well, turns out neither the bleeder valve housing or the oil pan gasket leak was causing the problem in the first place.
After checking the A/C out and finding the it was empty Troy at Precision Tune tells me there is a hole in the condenser. "It is obvious that a rock hit it". This is what was causing the problem to begin with! . With a flashlight he showed me where the rock hit, it is the exact place that I had told him earlier that the smoke was coming from! So now I have to drop another $500 to replace the condensor.

My husband says the shop saw me coming from a mile away, I got took.

Now, I was a little miffed about the whole thing, however all of the repairs that were performed actually needed to be done. I just was "keeping an eye on things" because the car has 150,000 miles on so it wasn't worth it to me to dump a lot of money into it. However, Troy really ticked me off when my husband came to pick me up and asked why the transmission was flushed. He replied that he does a general maintenance check and it is recommended every 30,000 miles and it was dirty. He also indicated that I authorized it-I did no such thing it was never mentioned until I saw the bill after the service had been performed.

I just don't understand how a mechanic could be so way off diagnostically, in hindsight even common sense should have told me, with no mechanic experience whatsoever, that if it was not overheating there must have been another cause for the sudden smoke coming from the front end.

 

Well ,lets see. Bleeder valve housing is very common. There is evidence of it leaking. Steam and a freon leak appear the same. You can have steam and not be overheating. You did not complain of a a/c problem. Adding freon to a car is not part of a routine look over or diagnostics unless you in for a a/c complaint. I would have replaced the same thing and figured the a/c was broke when you came in.

Now the other stuff......well, you were/should have been consulted. Was any of it NOT needed? Of course not, I bet the car is a whole lot safer and better driving. $1500 for maintence in 5 years is not bad, especially with your very high milage.

 

Well, it ran like a dream for three weeks until the car wouldn't shift out of first. It bucked like a wild horse when I went over 30mph. Brought it to the dealer on August 5, they indicated it was the valve body and replaced for $895.00. It did not fix the problem. Almost, two weeks later and they still don't know what is causing this.

 

strkmaster, take it to a 5 star Chrysler dealer or a Chrysler dealer with a high CSI rating from now on.

When a car comes in for a/c not cooling we drain any freon that's in it, vacuum it down, fill it back up with freon and add dye. Then run the a/c for a day or less sometimes 10 minutes. I put a blacklight on every a/c component to see where there is dye leaking. Its best to turn off all the lights in the shop room, close the doors and use the blacklight with yellow glasses. Dye in the freon will show up like a glowing green.