An inoperable aux. fan will not be the only cause for lack of cooling...if the system was otherwise working properly, with no aux. fan, you would still have good cooling especially at highway speeds where the aux. fan has no effect. What you would see with an inoperable aux fan, would be less cooling at idle and low speeds where you really need the aux. fan to move air across the condenser.

I have many questions about what was done.....

1) $900 to replace the receiver/drier ?....that is a $50 part and takes about a half hour to replace.

2) you only replaced the front hose? If all others are original, you are trying to make the ac work with 22 year old hoses....but more important, if you converted to 134, you need to have replaced all hoses with 134-compatiblae barrier hose, or else the thing will leak like a seive, not to mention that hoses likely leak anyway.

3) If you havent replaced hoses, than you are also using original o rings (neoprene) which are not compatible with 134. You need to replace with green o rings

4) You didn't mention anything about replacing the compressor....if you are using the original compressor, forget it, its just worn out and wont run the system, plus it probably leaks....

5) Flushing.....when you converted to 134 did they flush old mineral oil lubricant out?...this is absoulutely essential. Plus, you cant really flush an old compressor, so you may have old mineral oil in the system doing nasty things when reacting to 134.

6) Did they replace the expansion valve (located in passenger foot well)? If not, the system wont run properly.....its probably clogged with crud.

It sounds like your AC shop is taking your money without doing what is appropriate.

This AC system is really pretty simple, but there is only one way to rejuvenate a 20+ year old system, and that is to replace hoses, o rings, rec. drier, expansion valve and compressor, and flush all system components, before recharging with oil and refrigerant.

A few other comments: the AC systems in these cars is marginal at best....one of the real limiting factors is the relatively small size of the evaporator. These systems do work well with R-12, but when converting to 134, there are limitations. One thing you can do to improve fun ction is to replace with original condensor with a new universal type parallel flow condenser....this will require a little custom hose work (I put in one of these...18" tall and 22" wide.... and that improves cooling very much).

You cannot expect to fix an old AC system with a piecemeal approach....there are too many components that must function together...you really need to do a complete system rebuild. This does cost real money unless you do it yourself. AC shops are in a tough bind too, because too many customers just want to fix only what is broken, and just make the system work, and then hope all will be well thereafter, and it doesnt really work that way. Too often, when you only fix what is broken, the system will cool for a while until other components fail (hoses leak, compressors leak, exp. valve is clogged, etc. etc.)

Sorry about your trying experience....this is very frustrating..especially after such great expense!

Regards,

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)