Anybody know of a decent shop in the Sunnyvale Santa Clara area (or San Jose) to work on A/C?

Answers for the questions I know will come:

Well, it quit blowing cold sometime over the winter , and I just didn't care 'till now, not that it's hot yet, but it's working on it.

Yes, I checked the Freon pressure, it was fine, but I topped it off to the max recommended pressure anyways just in case. The compressor turns on, and even loads the engine, the fan blows air, I hear a hhiissss sound from the AC as usual, but no cold air (yes the heater is off). About 2 yrs ago I dunked the front end under water - whole story there, and after that, the AC didn't work for a couple days, then it did work and all the lines froze up. I let it rest a couple more days, and then it all worked fine. I wonder if I got some electronic valve wet and it won't open??? I understand that the lines freezing up means that the Expansion Valve is plugged up. That'll be my first suggestion to the mechanic. I would try and replace it myself if anyone would be willing to help me. I don't know what to do with all the freon (or R-22?) though.

When I first moved to the area, the wife had problems with her 2002 Lexus. We asked around and got a ton of recommendations for the Chevron repair shop at Leigh Ave and Southwest Expressway. Since then, we've both had work done on our cars (including A/C failure on my 2001 X) and these guys continue to amaze me. Very knowledgeable and can usually guess what's going on right off the bat. An Asian family, I think. They're honest (numerous chances to screw us but didn't) and much much cheaper than the $tealership. We've had everything from the A/C to Lexus sensors to rotors and routine maintenance done there. Never been disappointed with the work or the time it took to get it done.

You can also check out the Shell Service Station on Lafayette

Click for map

I had my t-belt service there and they are very knowledgable and fast service.

Ah no wonder i saw your truck parked right up front the gas station! I just live a block away from that gas station.

Nope, not mine, not yet it'll still be a few weeks before I'll have a chance to bring it in.

Thanks for the suggestions Kevin and Sonny.

Sorry Bob i was pertaining to Sonny's truck. Seems like a good shop, i always see Bimmer's and MB's being repaired in that shop.

I don't know about where you could take it...but if you are going to work on your ac system yourself, I hope you have a refrigeration recovery system...tanks, vacuum pumps, etc. It's a pretty heafty fine from the EPA if somebody catches you (on purpose) releasing refrigerant into the atmosphere.

Any refrigeration shop can recycle your refrigerant. The ones I deal with here at work take them free of charge.

Good luck!

How much did the t-belt run you?? I'm due about 300 miles ago.. I've heard horror stories about the cost..

Originally posted by becky's_xterra:
How much did the t-belt run you?? I'm due about 300 miles ago.. I've heard horror stories about the cost..

Labor was $350. I bought all parts online for around $230-240 shipped; this included t-belt, waterpump, camseal, crankseal, tensioner, ac-belt, ps-belt, alt-belt, thermostat. Accept for the accessories belts which are Gates, the rest are Nissan OEM parts.

I think the Xterra and my pathfinder use the same parts number, if you need the list, let me know.

Bob... Did you ever get your AC fixed? How did it go? What was the problem?

Funny you should ask. I did go and get it fixed last weekend. I went to a small one guy shop on El-Camino. Nice honest guy. He said that the freon was low. I asked him lots of questions about that, because I had bought a gauge and filler set a few months ago and found the freon level to be in the working range. I guess I did something wrong, but everything he told me, was stuff I did: check low pressure side with engine and A/C running for 5 minutes. Anyways, he says when he switched on the A/C the pressure went to zero, so he pumped out the system to vacuum to remove water, filled it up with freon (R22 or whatever it is now) and oil, and dye to look for leaks. He didn't find any leaks, so I paid my $150.00 and I now have A/C. He did assure me that if I have problems anytime, that he'd check for leaks for me.

Anyways, my one and only service to fix something for 80K miles cost a whopping $150.00 !
Nissan RULES!

Got an address and shop name?

Quality Auto Center
(That's what the name is on my bank charge. I found it under another name in the yellow pages though, and I can't remember that name. Something like Japanese Auto, but I can't find it in GOOGLE)

His name is Mohamed.

The location is correct:
Google Map

He's great. I think he only works on Nissan, Toyota, and Honda. I saw his partner working on an old El Camino though.

I find it very interesting that a few of us had to re-charge the AC system about the same time...

Mine is 01, and got it re-charged at about 70,500 miles just last week as well.

I heard that Andy had to re-charge his about a month ago. I don't know how many miles his truck has, though.

And, none of had a leak in the system...but just re-charge...

I think mine probably needs a recharge too. It took a long while to get cold with just 80+ deg heat