Air Conditioning problem
1998 Jeep Cherokee Four Wheel Drive Automatic 150000 miles
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I have a 98 Jeep Cherokee with about 150,000 miles on it. It's been really great. I've never really had any problems with it until recently. The repairman said it was just because it was getting old. For instance, I had a crack in the radiator hose so it was getting overheated. Things are just showing their wear. Now, there is a grinding sound when I accelerate quickly and the whole car kind of shakes when idling. I thought it might be a wearing belt, so I took it in. They diagnosed it as being in need of a new AC Compressor Hub and receiver dryer. They said that if the compressor isn't working correctly it will wear on the belts and that's what's causing the sounds and shaking. They gave me two options. 1. I can go without Air Conditioning and they will replace the AC Compressor Hub with a new belt that can bypass the AC for about $150. 2. They can replace those two parts so I can have air conditioning, but said that with the parts and labor it would be a little over $1000. That's a huge difference! I'm a college student and I really don't have $1000 to just hand over, but living in Texas and having to drive about 4 hours to get to my university, not having air conditioning would be absolutely miserable. I was wondering if the costs sound average for this problem. Looking at the parts and picking the most expensive ones, the total is not quite $400 with the compressor at about $310 and the dryer at about $90. Are they overcharging me for labor? Am I not looking at the correct parts? Is it even worth it to fix or should I just bypass the air conditioning and sell it? Thanks!