I am thinking of buying a 93 Previa LE AWD. The van seems very nice and well taken care of, but the AC is no longer working. When I was test driving it turning on the AC button causes the green light to come on, but no cold air at all. I also don't notice any change in engine operation. It seems as if the compressor is doing nothing at all, but I really can't tell what is going on. The owner doesn't seem very knowledgable about the problem, but he said the Toyota dealership said the system needed to be recharged and it would cost $700.

Is $700 what it would cost for a dealership to recharge the system or is that the cost for a more serious repair? Should I avoid this van?

Aw Hell no! The Previa you're in the process of buying is going to cost you a lot more than you can expect from what the owners said about the A/C System. First of all my sister's Previa, like yours, takes R-12 refrigerant. THAT's Why, to just charge the A/C System it will cost you $700. The cost of R-12 has gone through the roof. Last time I checked on a pound of R-12, which was back in the late 1990's, it was $85 a pound, but a pound is only 12 ounces. If they re-charge your system, they will not be looking all that hard for leaks. A/C Systems always have a certain amount of leakage per year around the front A/C Compressor Seal. If your system is completely empty, you'll need a new Receiver/Dryer or A/C Filter to remove moisture and "some" dirt through the desiccant bag in it. If there are any other problems with the A/C system such as an Evaporator Leak, then the entire lower right passenger side will have to be torn down as well as the top half of the Engine compartment to the Firewall to facilitate the repair. Just to tune that thing up, you have to completely remove the Passenger Seat and the spark plugs are still difficult to get to but if you're looking to replace the Ignition wires or Spark plug wires, the distributor cap and rotor...Good Luck on the price of those bad boys.

Getting back to the A/C system, the most practical way of getting air conditioning to your Previa would be to convert it to R-134A. This is too costly and your R-12 System doesn't have a larger Condenser nor larger Evaporator to get the cooling down to what it's supposed to be. I converted a Dodge Caravan I once owned to R-134A and the coldest I could get it down to was 58 degrees Fahrenheit. )I changed it back to R-12 when the Compressor locked up and then got the cooling I used to have. R-12 is liquid gold now, but at least I have a 30 pound cylinder of it to use in my 1987 325i BMW Convertible, once I replace everything in it...including all the O-Rings.

My advice to you, is to stay away from that Previa unless the current owner will pay for the A/C repairs with some type of warranty to the work. As mentioned above, it will cost you too much to convert your Van from R-12 to R-134A and you won't get the cooling because of the size of the components that don't get replaced.

Good Luck,

~Stillin~ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grin.gif)

"Still living on the Right Side of Dirt..." (IMG:style_emoticons/default/harhar.gif)