What's an Acceptable Vent Temperature on Car A/C?

First, $180.00 for a recharge sounds excessive.

They should have done a before and after temperature check and discovered this before saying it was fixed. It's not rocket science and wouldn't have been as bad as sending you away thinking it was fixed.

If they want you to pay $570.00 on top of the $180.00 you've already paid, find a new shop and file a well documented report with the Better Business Bureau.

Air temperature at the outlet will vary with outside temperature and somewhat with vehicle speed. 40° isn't very cold, but if it's 100° outside it woulld seem OK.

Thanks for the advice, lyn.

I did my best to check the shop out before going there. They've been members of the BBB since 1981. They had no complaints in the last 3 years. In my validation search I learned about yelp. There was one comment there about them. It was 3 out of 5 stars, related to an incident that happened much earlier than the post, and the poster said he felt it was the technician's fault and not the shop, per se. He even said, he'd heard good things about the shop before his own personal experience, and that's why he gave them 3 stars instead of just 1. Kind of twisted logic, I would agree. At any rate, the owner had taken the time to respond to this post and said the person should have taken any issues up with him at the time and he felt something could have been worked out to the poster's satisfaction. I haven't seem many owners of businesses take the time to respond to critical reviews of their business online.

I agree about the recharge price. That's another thing that started giving me cold feet. But my other choice (I got down to 2) was the Honda dealership here. They wanted $90 diagnostic fee to check the A/C, and quoted me, approx. $500 for the expansion valve. So instead of starting over with them, I've elected, to give a shop that seems to have a good reputation another chance. We'll see if it was wise or not.

Since I posted, I contacted Honda USA and they said a dealer's service dept. would have those specs. I called a dealership in Houston and they verified the 40-45 degree range. So I feel satisfied that I know how to gauge whether it is performing as designed.

And it just so happens that as I am typing this reply, the shop called. They say it is definitely fixed. They read a temperature of 47 degrees with the blower on High. It may read a bit cooler on a lower blower setting. I don't know. But I'm probably not going to quibble about a couple of degrees. I will check it myself, though.

Thank you again for your reply.

Well,

I'm happy to see that you did some research before diving in.

If this shop wants your future business, and no bad publicity, they should make you a happy customer.

Let us know how it works out.

I must be the exception !! I have a Mercury Sable, v6, and I always charge my own system about every 4 years. I use the recharge cans that you get at Wal-Mart, or any automotive store. I have a temp. gauge that I keep in my refrigerator, and I take it out and stick it in the vent. It has a long needle like body with the gauge on top. When I recharge mine, it reads 28 degrees, and you can see your breath in my car.We never have ever run it on anything but low. Most people complain my car is too cold on low. The wife often turns the blower off completely. She has a new Ford Focus, and you have to run that thing on high all the time, and I am still warm. My Sable is a 1994 with 190,000 miles. Still runs great, and looks great also. The wifes new Focus has 240,000 miles on it already , and its a 2004. I don`t really know why I say new, unless its cause I hardly ever get in it. Its new to me I should say. It don`t have the room or the luxury of the Sable, so I avoid it like the plague. In case your wondering about the miles, she drives over 100 miles a day back and forth to work at the hospital. I fail to understand why these newer cars are so poor in the A/C . I like the old stuff better, but thats just me. My 79 Ford P/U A/C is 36 degrees at the vent.

I don't think you shouldn't expect the temperature to get lower than the low 50s (F). Generally it's measured in delta Temp from ambient which accounts for variation the outside air temperature. It seems reasonable that the delta temp would be around 40 deg F.

Are you sure those posts weren't referring to the delta temperature?

I found a web site on troubleshooting car a/c problems. You might want to have a look (here). It doesn't directly answer your question, but you might find something useful.

I also found a sight which gives a 40 deg F outlet temperature (not delta), but the sight is for a Honda Civic (here). Unfortunately I haven't found any details on an Accord.

Thank you, JBTardis for your research. I did have a Honda dealership service department confirm the 40-45 degree range.

You're welcome. Best of luck to you.

Coincidentally I just had my Buick Regal 3.8 A/C system recharged this very afternoon, after it failed to cool a few days back. A recharge cost me $67.19. This was in rural Tennessee by a long-time A/C expert, who knows his trade. He grumbled that the price of the latest freon gas has increased 4 times (i.e. 4 occasions) already this year and currently runs at about $100/lb. At a cost like that, the price for a refill should depend very much on the volume required. No doubt many scammers will charge you for a complete refill regardless of the amount required.

That seems like a great price. I was put off by the $180, too. Since I've proceeded with this shop, I can't change things.

My thanks to all of you. My post was so late, I couldn't expect many responses. Many like me attend to CR4 threads at the beginning of their day, and so most posts are likely to be in the a.m.

The car also has a brake system issue, which I told them to check in to. I'm hoping to not need anymore work on this car for while.

Not attending to a brake issue can lead to greater expense

Yes. They couldn't seem to replicate the "occasional" spongy feel to the brake pedal. It happens sometimes when you are stopped at a light. If I'm not really paying attention, my car can start creeping forward. I crept into the car in front of me one time when it happened. So I insisted they drive it for a while before I pick it up (last Friday). They finally said they had it happen. Their diagnosis: the master cylinder. $200 more! Since I'm into this car for repairs for quite a bit, I spent the extra 200 for peace of mind.

I did pick the car up on Friday. The vent temp. was 41 deg. on medium fan speed. The brakes also feel fixed. There is still one nagging problem of the engine revving up and down when you put it into Park. I think there is a problem with the IACV. Another mechanic who recently fixed the blown head gasket said it could be because the car sat for so long. He suggested drive it a while and see if it goes away. Well, I thought it had, but today, with cooler temps. here, it is doing it again.

It's a long story with a very painful memory, but this car sat for over 1½ years from a blown head gasket before I finally got that repaired about 3 weeks ago. Because of a previous repair that caused the blown head gasket I've spend enough money on the car that I have to make it work for a few years more, if possible.

The real story is too long and too painful, because it involves my wife. I just lost her to cancer at the end of January, after 37 years together. As you might imagine, I'm really struggling to care about any of this stuff.

Anywhere from 40 to 50 degrees should be considered good. There are a lot of variables that effect vent temp like humidity, ambient temp, if the recirculation flap is closed or open, and a few others. I don't even measure vent temp anymore, every car is different even if it's the exact same model. I put my hand up close to the vent to see if it feels crisp.

At my shop I would charge about $90.00 to recharge your car if it were completely empty. To replace the expansion valve and evacuate and recharge the system would be about $340.00 total for everything. Rates vary somewhat across the country, just as cost of living does. I'm in the Kansas City area. The rates you were quoted sound kind of high to me. Maybe I need to adjust my price schedules! It seems I often don't charge as much as I should. Good luck!

I don't know if cost of living varies THAT much to make up the difference in your quotes vs. what I'm paying here. It's a AAA rated shop. That might have something to do with their rates (pride?). But like I posted earlier, the Honda dealership quoted ~$500 for the expansion valve.

I'm sure you know the rates well enough in your area. I expect some variation, in prices. But I'd be willing to bet, your lower prices, reflect a little more compassion for customers.(Honesty doesn't always filter down to lower prices!) It amounts to hourly labor charge, since most shops I've ever taken my car to use a standard "service book" which gives an estimate of average time to do a specific repair. And this shop's labor rate is $90/hour!!

I've often wondered if it the cost of running a business, really demands that much of a charge for labor. We all know what attorney fees are like -- and it's hard for an attorney to blame it on the cost of his educational loans... or malpractice insurance.

I calculated the prices using $80.00 per hour, which is the labor rate at my shop. I've often wondered if $80.00 per hour is enough to run this business. The overhead takes all. I work hard at making it right so I don't have comebacks because overhead doesn't leave anything for malpractice insurance, or health, or..............