legacycentral bbs

Hello Everybody,
My A/C is gone and I have a couple of questions.
92 Subaru Legacy Turbo 4wd
1) I know that I have read on this forum that there are 2 seperate kinds of
compressors for my year, but any parts store that I call has no record of
this at all. What is the scoop?
2) How much should I be paying for parts. I've been getting wildly varying
prices. My mechanic got quoted $800 for the compressor and I called part
source and got a quote for $411.25 for the compressor and the clutch. The
retro fit kit is going to run me about $150.00. I'm just getting really
confused about how these prices seem to double from place to place? Is
there anywhere that people would recomend, remembering that I'm in Canada,
so all of these prices are in our pitiful dollar.
Thanks,
Daniel Besner
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Did you find out exactly what went wrong in your AC system? Your
compressor maybe still good. In general, the AC compressor should
last longer than that, did you turn on your AC once in a while to
keep the freon circulating within the system?

I did keep it on every once in a while. I think that my mechanic said that
the compressor was gone. But I know that he was positive about the clutch,
and that peice alone was more than the quote that I got for a new compressor
with a clutch included. But, he sounded pretty firm on the fact that I will
have to do the retrofit. I hope that answers your question.

I would make sure the compressor is gone before you replace it. Chances are
that it's not the compressor.

Do a search on the forum for this and you'll probably run across a post I
made about re-charging the A/C. Check the guage and see if you are just
suffering from a leak first.

-Sambo

I have seen at least six different compressors used in the early
Legacy's and every one of them used a different bracket and caused a
lot of confusion. What is the brand name on the defective compressor?
I have one that I removed from my turbo Legacy engine when I
installed the engine into my '95 Impreza. I used the compressor from
the previous engine and kept the system intact. I would sell the
extra if you would want it. It is in good condition.
AL(CO)