93 J30 air conditioning problem

[Connie93021]

I am looking at possibly purchasing a '93 J30. The seller is asking $3900. The seller said that every summer she has to get the air conditioner recharged and that this is well known issue with these cars. Once you use the heater, the air conditioner has to be recharged before it can be used again. I want to buy the car for my son who is graduating from high school. He doesn't have any money and needs a car that is reliable and inexpensive to run.Any comments?

[NismoChi]

Once you use the heater, the air conditioner has to be recharged before it can be used again.

I have never heard of such a thing. Thare has to be a leak somewhere in the system, if you don't want to spend $$$ for a shop to find it and more $$$ to fix it, spend $20 to recharge it every summer don't seem to bad. Also, our car is somewhat reliable, but sure are not "inexpensive to run", we only get 20-22 mpg. If yo want something inexpensive to run, get a 4 cyl civic or something.

[DominickJ30]

Agreed completely. The AC system has a leak.

Its not a known problem for any car, just ones that having a leaking AC system.

Your son will love this car, but be prepared to spend some money here and there on routine maintenance.

[driverdriver]

Have an certified air conditioning shop perform a "leak down" test. Some leaks can be plugged others will get worse as time goes on. Pretty soon it will be a waste to recharge the air conditioning system without replacing parts, since the Freon will leak out any way.

Be forewarned, the J30 is NOT an inexpensive car to run. It's of course and Infiniti and prices for replacement parts are high. Examples of J30's which are well maintained can be very, very reliable. However, when something breaks, parts are quite expensive and in most cases only available through the Infiniti dealer.

Also for optimum mileage and due to the design of the fuel injectors, its best to run the car on premium gasoline.

[yodawill2000]

Dont forget a service history , Namely the timing belt .How many miles on it ?

[Connie93021]

98,000 miles.

[yodawill2000]

As the 93 didnt have a Kevlar belt when new I would make DANG sure its been replaced .They were rated to 60 K i believe .94 and up have kevlar timing belts.

[DominickJ30]

Some leaks can be plugged .

No, some leaks can be SLOWED down. But its can't be fixed without replacing the actual part which is leaking.