OK, I know alot of you hardcore wheelin guys could care less about A/C. But living in Florida, and never owning a vehicle with A/C- I am tiring of long trips with no A/C. Especially after fishing and camping all weekend in the heat.
My truck had rolled down an incline and smacked a tree from the P.O. All had been fixed in the ordeal except the primary and secondary condensors which of course were crunched a bit. I took it to my mechanic for a diagnosis as I don't know much at all about a/c. He said they charged it up with nitrogen and as suspected- big leaks. He says I need the following items: New primary and secondary condensor (the small radiator type things in front of my main radiator,right?), a dryer(the can thing to the right?), new o-rings and schrader valves, and however many pounds of new coolant. Total cost? $700 and that is if my compressor still works. That's nuts as the truck cost me $1500 from a family member.
I'm not afraid to wrench on this myself, I also have a coolant leak sniffer. Questions: Is it woth it to find the condensors and dryer in a junkyard or is it best to get these items new? What other Yota's perhaps shared the same parts? Surely some o-rings and schrader valves won't be that much. Any advice on doing this stuff myself would be greatly appreciated as well as sourcing the parts. I have the Bentley and the factory manual for my 88 Runner, so I will at least have some good reference material on the procedures I plan to tackle. Thanks in adavnce.

Sounds like a decent deal for someone doing the work for you.
IMO, always get a NEW condensor. The JY ones can leak very easily. Just the hint of rust on one of these and I would turn it away.
The drier and compressor aren't as picky, that I know of.

Thanks for the tips. I just can't justify spending almost half of what I paid for the truck just to fix the a/c, I can't bring myself to do that. I'll see if I can source a new condensor fairly cheap and we'll see where it goes from there.

I can set you up with a condenser for pretty cheap(both). I have them sitting around from my A/C conversion because they would not work for my newer(then the condenser) truck. They are not connected so you would need the bolts as well as the hard pipe that connects them together. I assume your truck is 86-89? If so drop a line and I'll set you up.

Sean

Edit - They have not been tested by me but entire system was working in donor before disassembly and everything else works just fine in my truck.

He says I need the following items: New primary and secondary condensor (the small radiator type things in front of my main radiator,right?), a dryer(the can thing to the right?), new o-rings and schrader valves, and however many pounds of new coolant.

I'm a commercial refrigeration tech, saying that i've never worked on a toy a/c but all refrigeration system work the same basic way.
Basically what he's saying is that u need to replace that condensor, i'm sure u could find 1 easily enough and hook it back up yourself, make sure the connections seal properly. A drier is only a filter, filters the moister out of the system. Since your system has been open to atmospheric moisture and refrigeration oil absorbs moisture, u should replace it. The O rings are probably the ones at the refrigeration lines that connect to your condensor, easy enough to find. The shredder valves are only the inserts where u hook up your refrigeration gauges, lol ther're excatly like the little valve cores in car/ bicycle tires, u know the ones, when u use your key to let air out of your tires, same valve. U could get those at any refrigeration wholesaler in your area, they'll probably just give you 1, or maybe charge u a 1$. The only problem with doing this yourself is properly leak testing and recharging the system, some special equip is needed to clean your system of moisture(needs to be evacuated to 500 micros) and then weighing in your charge. I guess you could repair it all yourself and leak test it with nitrogen and when your confident it has no leaks, take it to any refrigeration guy u see and offer him 100$ <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" /> cash to recharge your system.