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Field-installed A/C

Question:

We had aftermarket A/C installed in our 1990 Plymouth Voyager at our Chrylser dealer.  It works great, sounds fine and we haven’t had a problem with it yet…2 years old.  If it’s being installed at the dealer, you shouldn’t have any problem at all. Justin —    Pacific, WA – USA

Response:

I have installed a couple back in the seventies. They worked great! I realize it’s quite a stretch to the cars we have now, but I think it might even be easier, because of the standardization of parts. By that I mean some of the holes are already stamped etc. Good Luck Rick

Response:

I had field installed air on my brand new dakota.  I’m just about to post a problem I seem to be having after one year of operation.  BTW is was a CC A/C installed by a third party contracted by the dealership.  - Carmen

Response:

I had a 1985 Laser with after market a/c.  The Manufacturer was ARA.  I had so many poroblems with it they are too numerous to record.  The biggest problem was that the compressor/alternator mount sucked. It was a flimsy casting that couldn’t sustain the stresses.  I had two crack on me.  I never lost freon thogh in 136,000 miles,(6 years)  except when the monkeys who installed it let a hose rub against some metal causing it to split.  You don’t have to worry about ARA any more. They went out of business…I wonder why….

Response:

My parents had a dealer-installed AC system on their Dodge Omni (circa 1980).    It generally worked fine.  The only problem I recall was that it did not have a separate A/C on/off switch, so there was no way for you to bring vented air into the car through the dash vents.  Your only choices were: (1) heat through the floor vents; (2) AC through the dash vents; or (3) vented air through the windshield vents.  I always suspect that this was not the way the car was designed to work, and was a result of adding A/C later.  I guess I would check to make sure that you will be getting the same A/C system that is installed on production cars, and that it will function in exactly the same manner.                                                            Dan

Response:

        Well.  Posted my first post, and got a bunch of responses (Thanks, guys), so here I am again.         Anyone ever had A/C installed after purchase?  My ‘94 Sundance doesn’t have it (and it’s about 400 degrees here), and I’d kinda like to have it.         Naturally, I’m a bit wary of "Field-installed A/C".  The Sundance brochure mentions it several times, but my dealer doesn’t install it.  I don’t want it if it’s going to mess up my cooling system, or anything else, for that matter?         Anybody got any experiences to share? — 1301 Reisterstown Rd.                      (410) 887-1234 Pikesville, MD  21208                  fax (410) 486-2782 "If it’s almost, but not quite food, it’s Squeezie Cheeze"

Response:

        Well.  Posted my first post, and got a bunch of responses (Thanks, guys), so here I am again.         Anyone ever had A/C installed after purchase?  My ‘94 Sundance doesn’t have it (and it’s about 400 degrees here), and I’d kinda like to have it.         Naturally, I’m a bit wary of "Field-installed A/C".  The Sundance brochure mentions it several times, but my dealer doesn’t install it.  I don’t want it if it’s going to mess up my cooling system, or anything else, for that matter?         Anybody got any experiences to share? — 1301 Reisterstown Rd.                      (410) 887-1234 Pikesville, MD  21208                  fax (410) 486-2782 "If it’s almost, but not quite food, it’s Squeezie Cheeze"

Response:

My parents had a dealer-installed AC system on their Dodge Omni (circa 1980).    It generally worked fine.  The only problem I recall was that it did not have a separate A/C on/off switch, so there was no way for you to bring vented air into the car through the dash vents.  Your only choices were: (1) heat through the floor vents; (2) AC through the dash vents; or (3) vented air through the windshield vents.  I always suspect that this was not the way the car was designed to work, and was a result of adding A/C later.  I guess I would check to make sure that you will be getting the same A/C system that is installed on production cars, and that it will function in exactly the same manner.                                                            Dan

Response:

I have installed a couple back in the seventies. They worked great! I realize it’s quite a stretch to the cars we have now, but I think it might even be easier, because of the standardization of parts. By that I mean some of the holes are already stamped etc. Good Luck Rick

Response:

I had field installed air on my brand new dakota.  I’m just about to post a problem I seem to be having after one year of operation.  BTW is was a CC A/C installed by a third party contracted by the dealership.  - Carmen

Response:

I had a 1985 Laser with after market a/c.  The Manufacturer was ARA.  I had so many poroblems with it they are too numerous to record.  The biggest problem was that the compressor/alternator mount sucked. It was a flimsy casting that couldn’t sustain the stresses.  I had two crack on me.  I never lost freon thogh in 136,000 miles,(6 years)  except when the monkeys who installed it let a hose rub against some metal causing it to split.  You don’t have to worry about ARA any more. They went out of business…I wonder why….

Response:

We had aftermarket A/C installed in our 1990 Plymouth Voyager at our Chrylser dealer.  It works great, sounds fine and we haven’t had a problem with it yet…2 years old.  If it’s being installed at the dealer, you shouldn’t have any problem at all. Justin —    Pacific, WA – USA

Response:

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