mayer@rochester.UUCP (01/16/85)
From: Jim Mayer <mayer> I would like to find out about the differences between factory and dealer installed air conditioning. I am particularly interested in knowing how that difference would effect a small car like a Ford Escort. What I have found out so far is: o On a large car factory installed air conditioning works better. o On the Escort, the dealer replaces the heater with a Ford supplied integrated heater/conditioner box. The dealer admitted that dealer conditioning doesn't work as well in large cars, but claimed that they were practically the same for a car the size of the Escort. Does anyone out there have experience with this kind of thing? -- Jim Mayer Computer Science Department (arpa) mayer@Rochester.ARPA University of Rochester (uucp) rochester!mayer Rochester, New York 14627
mlf@panda.UUCP (Matt L. Fichtenbaum) (01/17/85)
>I would like to find out about the differences between factory and >dealer installed air conditioning. I bought my '83 Dodge Aries (K-car) from dealer stock. The dealer stated that he could install "the very same factory unit" that a factory AC'd car would have had. It was *almost* the very same unit. Actually, it was the same unit as in a 1982 model! This meant it lacked the "bi-level" mode (cold to the dash, warm to the floor) that was new for '83, it didn't have the switch to shut off the compressor when one puts the gas pedal to the floor (to take the load off the engine), and its wiring didn't match the diagrams in my '83 shop manual. I griped about the bi-level feature. Six months later, they retrofitted a few parts and made it right. A colleague had the "factory-installed" rear window defroster added to his off-the-lot 1984 K-car. It's not as effective as the real factory-installed one. Conclusion: My A/C is the right unit for the car, does all that it should, works fine. But I'd rather have bought the car with the factory-installed one. If you're going to have the dealer install some "factory" option, get the promises in writing! -- Matt Fichtenbaum "Our job is to rescue fires, not put out your cat."