97 Intrepid - Any Known A/C Problems

[Stuff]

A friend of mine with a 97 Dodge Intrepid said his A/C was gone. Then mentioned that it fails every 3 years. Does anyone of any known issues with this on Intrepids?

[articsteve]

They were a product of the old Chrysler and the components and engineering were junk.  No surprise on the AC.  After ten years most domestic, german, swedish AC systems have failed to some degree.

[Allen]

A friend of mine with a 97 Dodge Intrepid said his A/C was gone. Then mentioned that it fails every 3 years.

Hey its a Chrysler product.. He's lucky the AC dosen't fail every year.. I had a Caravan back a number of yers ago and I had to repair the AC every year at a cost of +/- $350..
when I traded it in on an Odessey it had completely failed. 

[barrie1]

Yes unfortunately they had a problem with the lines leaking every year and causing problems even when new. I have a daughter who drives a year 2000 Intrepid which she and her Husband have had since new. Their air failed a few years Ago but as they live in Portland Oregon now they can live without it most of the year. Yes these systems had problems for sure and and may not last all that long even with some pricey repairs. 

[Car_nut]

I have a 96 Plymouth Voyager since new, the A/C worked well for the first 6 years, then the condenser leak, replaced the condenser, 2 years later the compressor died, replaced the compressor, now the evaporator leak. If I were you, don't spend the money on any repairs other than topping up the feron for <$100 that may carry you through the short summer months.

It is a ten year old car, see if you can live w/o the A/C. Investing in any major repairs probably will run you $500 (condeser) to $1000 (compressor), plus you would not know if something else will break.

BTW, A/C problem is common on older car, not unique to any brand, I had 4 years old Honda Accord with failed compressor. Some of my friends and family have better luck with Nissan (Maxima/Altima), VW (Jetta) and Ford (Taurus) A/C, all are 10- 13 years old car but A/C still working. Just the Maxima need one top up. Now, I believe luck has something to do with it. But if you have to have A/C in the summer, you may have better luck investing in a late model car with a working A/C

[mrthompson]

It is illegal to recharge a cooling system with refrigerant (R134a, freon) without sealing any known leaks.    

[barrie1]

The kindest thing you can do for any air system is to use it during the winter as the oil stays in the top of the compressor and keeps the parts well lubricated. If not used then the oil sits in the bottom of the Compressor and when called to work in the spring it causes the moving parts to operate dry and grind each other until the oil is back up top. It dosen't take long to do serious harm to the system this way and will cost big bucks to repair. The best I have ever done was 14 years on a original system before any problems started. I consider that quite good. 

[maritime_storm]

Nobody builds a reliable A/C system except for the super luxury makes. It has been and will always be an expensive options to keep it working. As mrthompson pointed out in some provinces(such as here in NB) it is in fact illegal to recharge a system without repairing the system leaks first.

[Allen]

Nobody builds a reliable A/C system except for the super luxury makes. It has been and will always be an expensive options to keep it working.

of all the cars I have owned across many manufacturers, the Carvan was the only one I have ever had any AC problems with, they started the 2nd year I owned it and continued every year there after... and lets not even talk about their trannies

[barrie1]

Yes the dam trannies have hurt a lot of owners and its a shame as the rest of the vehicle overall is fairly solid in most areas.  The engines standup and so does most of the vehicle but the trannies were a weak point of them unfortunately and cost way too much to fix as well.