I have an '03 E EX, bought it certified used last October... and recently I've moved to Tempe, AZ... so it's 115 outside, and my A/C stops blowing cold air all of a sudden. So I take it to the dealer, and they quote me $1900. After I picked my jaw up from the ground, I left without fixing it... and took it to Sears auto to see if they could tell me anything, and they told me it was the compressor and they couldn't fix it....
So I took it to a highly rated place I found on yelp (13 out of 13 5 star ratings). Seems to be the most honest repair shop I've ever been to, and he tells me the rubber around the A/C clutch is all melted and ruined, and that possibly replacing the clutch will work, but he's not 100% positive without taking everything apart. So he quoted me just the clutch job ($840) and then quoted me for the compressor, if it came to that ($1600) and explained how difficult Honda made it to replace the compressor, and the fact that Honda also requires you to replace the dryer when you replace the compressor since they made them 1 unit...
It's only been a week w/ out A/C and I'm tired of sweating my ass off in my black Element in this heat, I did enough of that in Iraq and Afghanistan...
My Question is does anyone know where I can find cheap A/C parts (clutch assembly, and/or compressor assembly) online? And has anyone else had a similar experience? I've read these forums about the damage and the unprotected grill and stuff, but I don't think that's the case, but hey, I'm definitely not a gearhead.
Any help is appreciated!
Prices I was quoted for parts: Clutch Kit - $295, Clutch Coil $190 and Remanufactured AC Compressor Kit $972.
So I took it to a highly rated place I found on yelp (13 out of 13 5 star ratings). Seems to be the most honest repair shop I've ever been to, and he tells me the rubber around the A/C clutch is all melted and ruined, and that possibly replacing the clutch will work, but he's not 100% positive without taking everything apart. So he quoted me just the clutch job ($840) and then quoted me for the compressor, if it came to that ($1600) and explained how difficult Honda made it to replace the compressor, and the fact that Honda also requires you to replace the dryer when you replace the compressor since they made them 1 unit...
It's only been a week w/ out A/C and I'm tired of sweating my ass off in my black Element in this heat, I did enough of that in Iraq and Afghanistan...
My Question is does anyone know where I can find cheap A/C parts (clutch assembly, and/or compressor assembly) online? And has anyone else had a similar experience? I've read these forums about the damage and the unprotected grill and stuff, but I don't think that's the case, but hey, I'm definitely not a gearhead.
Any help is appreciated!
Prices I was quoted for parts: Clutch Kit - $295, Clutch Coil $190 and Remanufactured AC Compressor Kit $972.