'98 Sienna a/c problems

[Marc70]

4 years ago the a/c on the Sienna was giving us problems (no cold air), and we had it fixed by Toyota at a cost of +$800C, much to our dismay. It was 2 high pressure lines that leaked.
Now it's acting up again, and they said it could be up to $2800 worst case scenario.
The condenser needs replacing, and it's getting pushed into the rad. There could be 2 other lines that need replacing, and the nature of these lines are that you take one apart, and have to change the next one too (rusted together.)
I'm getting ticked off at the cost to fix this, when my '89 Camry still had good a/c, and now my '95 Camry also has good a/c, yet the Sienna's a/c is so crappy.
Anyone else have the same type of problems?
The girl at the service counter said in 3 years she's encountered only 2 such problems.

[NSSienna]

Hello,
I have a 99 Sienna and just found that the AC no longer blows cold although although
it was working last November.
Have not had it checked yet but guessing it will be expensive to fix though.
Damm.

[alfiedog]

We had to replace the condenser; because it was leaking; on our 2001 Sienna LE at just 50,000 miles and less than 3 years old. It cost $500. The shop said it had a bunch of small holes in it and was guessing it was just a fluke.

Well, the A/C is again not working 50,000 miles later. I haven't take into a shop yet because I'm afraid of bad news and winter is just about here.

Joe

[lsac]

First recharge in 8 years, 98LE is still working well.

[charkinson]

Hi guys,

Why don't you try to buy a recharge kit and a couple of Cans of R134A to refill it?

I bought a 1998 Xle this year and it was blowing warm air until I added two 16 oz cans to recharge it. That fixed the problem.

Just think how many cans of R134A you could buuy with $2K of cash!!!! LOL

Try that first. BTW the A/C works when the defrost is turned on.

Good Luck, Jason.

[ARE]

We bought our 98 Sienna new. It blew two high pressure A/C lines - one at 5000 miles - and then the replacement one failed immediately! Both were replaced free of charge under warranty. I drove the car without any further A/C problems for 128,000 miles until I replaced it with my 2006 Sienna. I always thought that the 98 Sienna had a weak A/C system, and other owners said the same thing. The 2006 A/C is a big improvement.