Air conditioning cabin filter

 A Lexus ES 330 came in with a no air from vents complaint. We proceeded to start testing the blower motor and control circuits, we looked at factory bulletins and tested it's power supplies. To our surprise, all tested fine as we noticed the blower motor in the air condition system was working but not moving any air. We then removed the cabin filter to see if there was anything to impeed the air tra
ffic through the air ducts. This is what we found (please see the photo). It took only 8 months for the filter in the picture to get to that point. Mind you, the vehicle was parked every night under a bottle brush tree. Cabin air filters due a great job at providing vehicle passengers with clean breathable air. How long has it been since the one in your car was inspected and or replaced? On most cases, ABC Auto Care in Ventura will do the inspection as a courtesy if you call them to schedule the appiontment. Go to https://www.abcautocare.com/appointment/

    
Interesting thing. Many times I've asked myself how is it we managed to survive without this wonderful (cabin filter) feature. I'd like to thing that today, we are able to manage our drives with far less respiratory issues such as allergies, colds and flues. The filter is an important part of your health. We are lucky, in the Ventura and Oxnard area, we enjoy a tremendously good quality of air. As you get closer to LA county, that changes dramatically the closer you get to densly populated urban areas. Replacing your air condition cabin filter once a year is good enough around Ventura, unless there are other circumstances such as dust, tree leaves, pollen or recent fires in the way. 

 

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata came into the shop for repair, the owner asked us how much it would cost to replace a purge valve solenoid as the vehicle had failed the smog test. We provided a quote but warned the client that it would be best for us to diagnose the issue and make sure that was indeed the problem.

Upon hearing the price to start the diagnosis and testing, the owner declined and decided to do the work as is. No diagnosis.

The job was done quickly, and the vehicle left. Fast forward to three weeks later and we get an email from the client. He was very disappointed that after bringing the vehicle here specifically to repair the vehicle to pass smog, it had failed for the same reason he had brought the vehicle here. The code P0449 was still in the computer memory just as before.

He further stated he wasn’t the type of client to post a bad review on Yelp or Google because he understood “things happen” and was certain we would take care of it at no additional cost.

This is where I came in. I looked at the initial signed work authorization. It was perfect! We wrote down that the replacement of the valve was an owner request and not we did not guarantee it would correct any problems. It was clearly stated and signed. Imagine my surprise when I read the client’s email to us.

The client further said he would be happy if we provided the diagnosis at no cost as he had already spent money on something he didn’t need.

How would you have handled it?