The Air Conditoining in our Mazda 3 recently stopper working. We had it recharged at a local service shop and they put die in. It stopped working again and the guy at the shop said that there was die on the back side of the compressor. He thought the compressor needed to be replaced and quoted $900 for it.

The car has 56,000 miles on it and this seems odd to have a compressor go out that soon. Anybody have any similar experience? Anybody have any ideas of other things to do (new seals, o-rings, etc.)? And, if I need to get a new compressor, does anybody know where to get them cheap?

Let me know your ideas!

 

I needed a new pulley/clutch assembly for my compressor, and the dealer had no luck finding a used one at all. Worse, the component I needed only came with stuff I didn't need, making the cost all that much higher. I'd get a second opinion on what's wrong as your mechanic doesn't sound that sure, but you'll probably have to go for the expensive compressor unless you get really lucky.