[crespoh69]

So, my sis in law ran the car until there was no oil left and blew her engine on an automatic 06 Escape. She finally got it fixed recently at a cheap shop and I went and took it on a test drive along with her and the mechanic. First thing we notice is the driver side door will no longer open using the alarm controller, you have to use the keyhole, all the other doors work fine though and the driver side door will still lock with the controller.

2nd thing I notice is that the air wont cool. I tell the mechanic this and he says they only touched the engine and that has nothing to do with them.

We go on the test drive with the air on max hoping it will eventually cool with no luck. He suggests I take the freeway to see how it feels at higher speeds and it feels fine. We get off the freeway and about half a mile on the street we hear a loud pop, I pull over and he goes to check everything out, something is leaking but he can't figure out what it is so we head to the shop, all still drives normally.

We arrive and check it out for leaks and in fact there is motor oil leaking but that's all they can find. As for the A/C they use a gauge to check it out and tell me it's just empty and that I can get them to do it for a fee. I decide to go ahead an do it myself since I have some experience with a wrench...they change out a gasket for the oil leak and we take the car and they tell me that the engine has a 90 day warranty if anything come up.

The car sits for about a week due to a dead battery and my sis in law finally get's a new one. First thing I notice after turning it on is that there is a slow drip from the crossmember to the passenger tire which I tell my sis in law about and tell her to take it back to the shop to fix. Along with the battery she bought a can of refrigerant, hose and adapter. Takes me a while but I finally figure out how to inject it into the system and I think all is going well but still the car doesn't cool. I go and buy a guage too and another bottle, larger this time. I test it out on my Miata and that works fine, will even show pressure, hers does not.

I take it to the shop personally explain to them the situation and explain that the A/C was working just fine before turning the car over to them and told them about the leak. The first thing the shop owner tells me is that when I test drove it, his mechanic told him I had accelerated the car too hard off the freeway and that I wasn't allowed to do that, if the engine breaks because of that there is no warranty and that this is the case with automatics but not stick shift. I don't claim to be a master mechanic but I told him that no car that I've driven, automatic or stick has given me problems from driving it hard, much less putting my foot down to make sure there are no problems with the engine, can anyone tell me if I'm wrong or not?

I understand overheating and stress issues but it wasn't like I was planning of driving it like this everywhere, I was only making sure all was good with the engine. They agree to check out my A/C issue and it turns out my condensor (they called it radiator for the A/C? I'm not sure what it's called myself) blew out and that is why it wasn't holding pressure, that must have been what popped the other day.

How hard is it to replace this part? Could they have been at fault for it blowing out?

[oldtimer35]

Do these guys move from one location to another, overnight?

[Flyingjackal456]

They probably drained the A/C system when they did the engine job, I suppose it is possible they overfilled the system when they put everything back together. Air Conditioners don't just randomly explode. The thing is it will be hard to get him to fix it for free, as those slum-mechanics will not want to take the blame. Still try and complain as much as you can, because he most likely did something wrong.

In order to change the condensor, the A/C system has to be completely emptied by a professional due to the pressurized R-134 refrigerant inside, I'd suggest having the condenser changed at a different shop. That shop sounds quite shady...

90 days is not a lot of time to make sure and engine swap is ok.... I have ongoing issues with an engine swap for 6-12 months afterwards the initial swap. Hopefully you will be able to get everything fixed. Let us know how everything goes.

[blueice999uk]

Originally Posted by crespoh69

So, my sis in law ran the car until there was no oil left and blew her engine on an automatic 06 Escape. She finally got it fixed recently at a cheap shop and I went and took it on a test drive along with her and the mechanic. First thing we notice is the driver side door will no longer open using the alarm controller, you have to use the keyhole, all the other doors work fine though and the driver side door will still lock with the controller. 2nd thing I notice is that the air wont cool. I tell the mechanic this and he says they only touched the engine and that has nothing to do with them. We go on the test drive with the air on max hoping it will eventually cool with no luck. He suggests I take the freeway to see how it feels at higher speeds and it feels fine. We get off the freeway and about half a mile on the street we hear a loud pop, I pull over and he goes to check everything out, something is leaking but he can't figure out what it is so we head to the shop, all still drives normally. We arrive and check it out for leaks and in fact there is motor oil leaking but that's all they can find. As for the A/C they use a gauge to check it out and tell me it's just empty and that I can get them to do it for a fee. I decide to go ahead an do it myself since I have some experience with a wrench...they change out a gasket for the oil leak and we take the car and they tell me that the engine has a 90 day warranty if anything come up. The car sits for about a week due to a dead battery and my sis in law finally get's a new one. First thing I notice after turning it on is that there is a slow drip from the crossmember to the passenger tire which I tell my sis in law about and tell her to take it back to the shop to fix. Along with the battery she bought a can of refrigerant, hose and adapter. Takes me a while but I finally figure out how to inject it into the system and I think all is going well but still the car doesn't cool. I go and buy a guage too and another bottle, larger this time. I test it out on my Miata and that works fine, will even show pressure, hers does not. I take it to the shop personally explain to them the situation and explain that the A/C was working just fine before turning the car over to them and told them about the leak. The first thing the shop owner tells me is that when I test drove it, his mechanic told him I had accelerated the car too hard off the freeway and that I wasn't allowed to do that, if the engine breaks because of that there is no warranty and that this is the case with automatics but not stick shift. I don't claim to be a master mechanic but I told him that no car that I've driven, automatic or stick has given me problems from driving it hard, much less putting my foot down to make sure there are no problems with the engine, can anyone tell me if I'm wrong or not? I understand overheating and stress issues but it wasn't like I was planning of driving it like this everywhere, I was only making sure all was good with the engine. They agree to check out my A/C issue and it turns out my condensor (they called it radiator for the A/C? I'm not sure what it's called myself) blew out and that is why it wasn't holding pressure, that must have been what popped the other day. How hard is it to replace this part? Could they have been at fault for it blowing out?

It is unlikely for a condenser to explode unless they damaged it and weaken the integrity of the condenser coil or a fluke flying stone chip went through the grill creating a hole in the condenser. Normally there is a high pressure switch which will protect the system from high pressure damage. You could have a situation where the condenser fan fail or the condenser fins are blocked with dirt not allowing air flow through the condenser and the high pressure switch is by passed.
I recommend taking it to a recommended car ac specialist as there is lot of expensive tools that is needed and Envoirment Air Pollution qualifications and also they will find evidence of the cause.