Air conditioning compressor replacement not needed

Hi Everyone:

I recently had this experience with my 2017 Tacoma that almost cost me a lot of money. Hopefully this info will help y'all avoid paying huge amounts for unnecessary repair.

My AC stopped working and the local dealership, Maguire Toyota of Ithaca, NY said I needed to replace the entire AC compressor for $3,200.00! I have the newer type of refrigerant R-1234yf. There's more info in the attached document.

Long story short, I found that the AC compressor was just fine. An independent shop, Autoworks of Ithaca, diagnosed a faulty "compressor lockout sensor" and they replaced it for a fraction of the cost quoted by the dealership.

The symptoms were that the AC just quit one day. I could turn it on, and it would actually work and blow cool air for about 5 seconds, then automatically shut off. There were no other symptoms - no bad noises or leaking of fluid - just that the AC refused to operate.

The dealer found error code B1422, which indicates that the compressor is locked or in the process of seizing. However, the compressor wasn't bad - just the sensor. The problem is that Toyota doesn't check if the sensor is bad - they just condemn the entire compressor at enormous cost. So you'll need to either be assertive with your dealership and get them to check the sensor, or take it to an independent repair shop.

Best of luck -

Guy

 

Why was this not covered for free under warranty...?

 

75,000 miles on the truck (I travel from NY to the midwest a lot). I had the dealership appeal for help from Toyota - they were denied. I also called Toyota customer assistance and asked directly for help with the cost - likewise denied.

 

Ah I see. Dealerships love to just replace the entire compressor when anything is wrong. Same goes for if the clutch or coil fails.

 

Yeah, that's the easy way out, but huge cost to customer. I tried 2 other dealerships in NY southern tier (Jack Sherman, Gault) but they weren't any help either. The independent shop did an outstanding job of diagnosing the sensor and then finding out that it could, in fact, be replaced independent of the entire compressor.

 

Thanks for sharing this OP. Stuff like this is very helpful.

G.

 

You're welcome - I appreciate the acknowledgement. I'm guessing there have been many unnecessary AC compressor replacements. And more to come as the new R-1234yf systems begin to age. I guess I'm on the bleeding edge because I put a lot of miles on my truck. Hopefully others are forewarned and can hold Toyota accountable and avoid unnecessary expense.

 

Do you know the cost breakdown of parts/labor for the compressor replacement? $3,200 is incredibly expensive for a simple compressor replacement.

Assume the part costs $1000 (on the very high end), $250 for the R1234yf refrigerant, plus maybe 5 hours total labor for diagnosis, replacement, and recharge. Assuming a $150 labor rate that’s $750 for a grand total of $2,000. And that’s being pretty generous... where’s the $1,200 spread?

 

I have price info from a non-Toyota quote (I never did get the breakdown from Toyota). The compressor + associated parts are enormously expensive:

$1,368 compressor
$698 spacer
$750 clutch
$21 snap rings, bolt
------
$2,837 total

add 2 hours labor to change out the compressor, plus some more for evac and recharge, plus tax, and this quote from an independent shop (actually the shop that eventually found out that they could replace the sensor and actually fixed it) comes out to $3,414 - slightly more than the Toyota dealer. While not exactly the same, this shows where the main expense lies. Toyota described that they needed to replace the compressor plus related parts, so I believe this breakdown is pretty close to what they had in mind.

For contrast, the sensor costs $152.

 

That is absurd. I can’t believe a $1,400 compressor doesn’t come complete with spacer and clutch. Wow.

 

Yeah. Moreover, this new-design compressor that (apparently) had failed after 75,000 miles, did not get support from Toyota Inc. They completely turned their backs on me when I appealed for help with this new-technology system that had just started being manufactured with my truck. I was shocked that they would create a new component that costs (literally) 1/8 the price of the new vehicle, then not take responsibility for it when it fails after comparatively few miles.

In fairness, eventually the compressor turned out to be OK - but I hope it never does fail.

 

Same symptoms here on my 2016 SR work truck package with 51134 miles, except I wasn't told the code. Diagnosis cost was $150 and though I've no real idea, the diagnosis probably took 30 seconds.

Same sentiments almost exactly from the local dealer service department on the "bad news" delivery. Price estimate was $2,303.25 inc tax. Pre tax cost is more than 10% the vehicle's cost at purchase. It is also summer in Texas, I am hot.

By chance do you have the p/n on your sensor? Thanks for everything. Best regards, Mick

Ps: I am curious if anyone ever suspected their dealer of vehicle tampering or below par attention to detail during routine maintenance(?). I only ask as things become evident on a more frequent basis after a dealer trip. I have come to find myself not looking forward to going in for any reason, scheduled or not.

 

It swapping out this sensor was "relatively easily" why did it it take them 3.5 hours / $280 in labor only to make this easy swap?

Also R-1234yf first started being used in US market vehicles in 2013 so I'm not sure why you are being told or have come to the conclusion that very few shops can handle this refrigerant.

Your experience is frustrating for sure but the blame (other than a part that should have lasted longer) is with poorly trained and poorly run dealerships. Again not discounting your experience and frustration and the good news is that perhaps another owner with the same issue may see this thread in the future.

 

Glad to know . I'm a 2017 also , but I have almost 135,000 mi.

 

No issues yet .

 

This is why I usually buy the extended warranty, they are much cheaper than $3200 for a Tacoma. I recently got quotes from jtaylor@gowolverinetoyota.com, most expensive Extra Care Platinum $0 deductible 10 year 125K warranty is $1795, 6 year 125K is $1040 (not much more than this repair). Some think the warranty is not a good investment, but with as complex as all the new vehicles are I can’t see not making the investment just in case.

It would be interesting to see if the repair was different for Toyota extended warranty vs customer pay. Warranty might get just the sensor.

 

4 year bump
OP is probably long gone, but seeing if anyone else has experience with this

My symptoms are the same, but I'm having trouble finding the part # that fixed this.
The invoice the OP attached shows part 88346-04020 which when I enter into a parts search looks different than the lockout sensor harness pictured.

I found something on e-bay but requires splicing which I'd like to try and avoid.

like others, looking to avoid replacing the whole compressor assembly to fix a sensor that is part of the assembly.