A/C service at dealership

In very general terms, the Gen 2 AC system is one of the easiest to work on. It has a sight glass on the passenger side. If you put the car in ready, open all windows and put the AC in auto with it's lowest temp setting, you can look at the sight glass to get a good idea of the charge.

There should be no bubbles. The sight glass should effectively be crystal clear. If you can see motion, it's normally due to hundreds of small bubbles passing by. Or there may just be one large bubble hanging around in the window. Usually, all that needs to be done is to add a small amount of R134a to the system until the bubbles are gone. That will get you to the bottom range of a satisfactory charge. I think the repair manual says the ideal charge is to add 30-50g (?) more refrigerant after the bubbles are gone, but that's just by memory, so it may not be fully trustworthy!

As always, there are oddball times where bubbles may be present even when the charge is proper, but I've never seen it. There will be plenty of advice about going to a pro to have it done. To each their own. $500 or a $30 DIY kit, where you can attach the can and add refrigerant for just a second or two at a time until the bubbles go away?

 

stealer price is always absurd. For basic maintenance (even AC) this is the wrong place to be, there are shops that can do the same job at a lower price. Most of the mechanics on the stealership are not even that great compared to indy shops, there can be only 1 head mechanic that knows hybrid but the rest are just parts replacer. Great mechanics quit stealerships they do their own business and stealerships has a hard time keeping them that's why they just hire mediocre mechanics instead and some of them even just pay a hybrid technician by the hour instead of keeping full time as employee.

 

The mistake was just getting the dealer involved if you will this is like an old er car You could have just shot someone 34 a.m. until you just start to see the sight glass begin to clean disconnect and go Air conditioning shops legally cannot do this It's against the law for them to do that You at your house can do anything you want whether it's ecologically sound clean and all that is to be determined by the task at hand letting a shot of 134a escaping to the atmosphere is not by any stretch of the imagination going to cause us any serious problems now. So it was just a choice and a process that arrived you at great cost because shops and dealershands are tied by the EPA People's side yards and homes not so much.

 

I got an AC service (evacuate and recharge, in my limited understanding) for around $165 CDN. Phoned them up, got a quote and appointment, got it done. Of course when the service writer started finalizing the bill, she started piling on extra charges, and I had to put my foot down. They try it on with all the customers, bait and switch.

 

This is true at many dealerships. Obviously many can do most jobs, primarily due to repetition. Around here dealer mechanics are paid a small portion of the standard book time you are charged. If they do it faster than book time they still get the same amount and can move on to another car. If they mess it up, they get to redo it for free. So many of the better guys move on.

Be sure the cabin filter is clean and not full of leaves and twigs. Ensure all the vents flow in dash mode.

In reality a leak free AC system will last twenty years or more. If it is low on R134a the "book" will say diagnose the leak location, fix it and recharge. Usually with a new ac dryer to ensure no moisture remains after the work. For a leak repair $500 is not terrible. For a freon top off, $120-$150 is decent given a dealer often will charge an hour of labor.

Diy is possible but the R134a can't have any oil or stop leak in it as they could damage the electric coils in the compressor's motor. It is also easy to overcharge which is not great either so the best "top off" is to actually pull the existing R134a, vacuum and then refill.

Ideally use a knowledgeable independent or auto ac specialist who understands hybrids have electric compressors and special oil. A straight "add a few ounces with a can" will usually work but I would stop the fill early. These systems have a txv metering device which can compensate for small freon fill errors.

 

When a G2 AC system is working perfectly its freezing cold you have to turn the temp up. Excellent system.

Look in the sight glass. You probably will see what looks like a snow blizzard going by real fast. That's low refrigerant and you probably have a leak.

And yeah $500 is about right for an "ac service". He'll check the entire system for leaks before vac/fill. Like he should.

I don't know any ac shops that will just fill you up around me. That's just a waste of time you'll be right back complaining about it warm again.
There going to want to check the system for leaks and rightly so.

Forget the dealer your in California the G2 is a very common car should be many good ac shops around you. MY local Toy dealer is at $250 an hour. Whats yours?

The really bad news is a leaky evap coil under the dash is very common on an elderly G2 Prius. Alot of $$$ labor. Probably $1500 to $2000 now. Or more would not surprise me in good old Ca.

And as a far as servicing the ac system there's some things you can do. One is make sure the condenser in front of the rad is clean. It needs to be hosed off now and then and then use condenser cleaner on it let it soak then rinse it off. Just like you would do to your home ac system. Or not.

And make sure the under carriage plastic fod panel is installed if not that condenser will take a beating from road debris.They can get damaged by constantly hitting the curb. If you can look down past the hood latch at the front of the condenser and see pavement that panel is missing. Not good.

The other thing that can be done is cleaning the evap coil under the dash.
You can buy some cans of Kool It on Amazon its a pressurized foamy cleaner can you attach to the ac drip hose under the car and the pressurized can shoots foamy cleaner up into that evap tank. It cleans the evap and cleans the drip hose and comes back out the hose as liquid. Makes the ac smell nice. If your ac vents smells musty that's why.

Dealer charged $150 for that pre covid. Probably twice that now.

Good Luck.

 

Just be aware that some leaks turn out to be evaporator failures, mine was, and that isn't a cheap repair because it is a lot of labor. It was covered under a warranty at a dealer from when our 2007 was bought used. Good thing it was covered because it took a ridiculous number of visits to get the final diagnosis and repair (and then one more to plug in an actuator they forgot to reattach when the evaporator work was done.)

Are you in the bay area? If so maybe contact user lech auto air conditionin, he is the resident expert on Prius AC issues, and he services them too.

lech auto air conditionin | PriusChat