What ballpark cost am I looking at to fix my A/C?

[Squisher]

1200

That does seem to be the price I get every time the A/C gets worked on.

 

[Zenmervolt]

AC systems always seem to croak on older cars long before the engine/tranny dies, for some reason or other they are not robustly designed ( or it's the hard work the compressor must do). My solution is simple, I use my AC only when I REALLY need it...

Most A/C failures come from lack of use actually. Using the system keeps the seals lubricated and prevents them from drying out. Another problem is that people will "top off" systems that have slow leaks rather than fix the leaks. The problem there is that oil is leaking out with the refrigerant and when they just top off with straight refrigerant, they eventually end up running the system low on oil. My Volvo's 14 years old now and the A/C has been on the entire time I've owned the car (automatic climate control, I just leave the A/C on and the system uses it whenever it wants, which is pretty much all the time).

The other reason that A/C fails before an engine/transmission is that an A/C system really isn't fault tolerant. A car will keep running with a leaky headgasket for a long time. If the rings let go, it'll probably still run for thousands and thousands of miles as long as the owner keeps topping up the oil. It actually takes quite a lot to actually stop an engine from running. Even with a blown rear main seal, an engine can keep going.

With an A/C system, a pinhole in the condenser will kill it because the refrigerant will leak out. If the shaft seal on the compressor goes out the system stops working pretty quickly and it's usually not cost effective to try to repair the compressor. The problem is that at 200+ PSI on the high side, refrigerant leaks out of an A/C system a hell of a lot faster than oil leaks out of the engine even if both only have tiny leaks.

ZV