[doinoyou79]

Hello all, it's been a long time posting for me, but needed y'alls help!

Long story short, I noticed a hissing noise when I turn on the A/C on my 2019 X5 a couple months ago along with no cold air blowing from it. Now that it's getting warmer, I figured I'd better get it taken care of. So, I took it into the dealer (car is still under CPO warranty) and they quoted me $495 to diagnose the issue (could be a leak, etc.) and recharge the system if necessary. If anything is covered under warranty, it would be fixed for free but if it's a recharge, I would at minimum be responsible for the $495. There were several other maintenance stuff due as well, which obviously are overpriced, so I ended up leaving and taking it to a very reputable local indy European car shop and had those taken care of for a fraction of the price (e.g. cabin filter, spark plugs, oil change). They were also supposed to take a look at the A/C system, but when the car was ready, I was told by the indy shop that because my car takes the 1234YF refrigerant, they don't have the "machine" to recharge that "newest" refrigerant. Does this sound right? If so and I have to go back to the dealer, does $495 estimate sound right from a dealer? Is this something than can be DIY? FWIW, I'm in the Detroit, MI area.

Thanks in advance!

[BlkGS]

$495 sounds absolutely absurd. If you have a CPO warranty on it, your ac isn't working and they should be covering that under CPO warranty. Refridgerant doesn't just get used up like gasoline, it's a sealed system so if you're low on refrigerant, you have a leak that needs addressed, which should be covered under CPO warranty.

Also, how do you need spark plugs and are still under a CPO warranty? Spark plugs are usually like, 100k mile life parts...

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

$495 sounds absolutely absurd. If you have a CPO warranty on it, your ac isn't working and they should be covering that under CPO warranty. Refridgerant doesn't just get used up like gasoline, it's a sealed system so if you're low on refrigerant, you have a leak that needs addressed, which should be covered under CPO warranty.

Also, how do you need spark plugs and are still under a CPO warranty? Spark plugs are usually like, 100k mile life parts...

Refrigerants are not covered but the CPO warranty unless tied to a covered repair. In this case though it would seem to be a warranty issue.

Spark plugs are recommended at the 6th oil change.

[doinoyou79]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

$495 sounds absolutely absurd. If you have a CPO warranty on it, your ac isn't working and they should be covering that under CPO warranty. Refridgerant doesn't just get used up like gasoline, it's a sealed system so if you're low on refrigerant, you have a leak that needs addressed, which should be covered under CPO warranty.

Also, how do you need spark plugs and are still under a CPO warranty? Spark plugs are usually like, 100k mile life parts...

Dealer said it's 50k-60k replacement interval for spark plugs, which aligns with my research.

[jad03060]

Unlike old times, when working on any refrigeration system, the stuff must NOT be just vented, it must be extracted. The stuff doesn’t really wear out, so it gets reused, and while the newer stuff is less potent as an ozone killer, it’s still considered a pollutant and can’t be just dumped. To keep from contaminating the stuff, with maybe a few exceptions, you need to keep the different types separate, so, sounds reasonable that some places may not be able to handle all of the various types out there today.

Most of the a/c system is metal, there are some bits of flexible hoses, and those, along with any seals in various bits, can leak slightly, so over time, you may need to recharge the system. A vehicle repair center is also supposed to verify there are no obvious leaks before they can fully recharge the systemn. This all takes time and in some cases, special equipment. The compressor oil added to the refrigerant is also specific to the type of refrigerant used. That stuff leaks out when purging or during a leak, so needs to be replaced as well.

To keep quality employees, the wages and benefits keep going up to help offset inflation, so labor costs for a repair keep going up. A dealership tends to have a higher overhead than an independent shop because of requirements imposed by the manufacturers.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by doinoyou79

Dealer said it's 50k-60k replacement interval for spark plugs, which aligns with my research.

60k miles was pretty common years ago, but a lot of manufacturers went over to iridium and other higher performance plugs. I suppose 60k miles isn't all that bad.

I dunno, I come from domestics that have been using 100k mile plugs for like 20 years, lol. Well, except the hemis, they use 16 copper plugs every 30k miles because they're super inexpensive and copper plug spark best (when new).

[jad03060]

The type of ignition system and the metal used in the contacts vary, and the newer designs erode slower than those from years ago, which is why they can last a lot longer, plus, you may not need to regap them periodically before they get replaced.