Hi everyone. As I'm sure is commonly the case, I made an account because I have run into a snag with my wife's 2009 Camry Hybrid. The heating unit and the AC conked out about a year ago, and as she is wont to do, she waited until just recently to finally get it fixed. It is an old bucket, but she really loves it, so when she was quoted just under $5000 for the fixes, she just signed the line. I have my 2015 Camry Hybrid serviced every three months at the dealership I bought her at, so I haven't had enough problems with it to know how much things cost these days (and my busted old retired self isn't going to be crawling around under anything anytime soon). That all said, what is done is done. But that is where my current issue is.

The day she picked it up from the mechanic, half-way to work, the hybrid indicator light came on. The facility offered to tow it for free, but then charged her $200 to diagnose the problem. Now they keep bugging her to get more repairs, but I'm concerned she is being set up.

My questions, first, is she getting taken for a ride, or is $5k about what it costs to repair a 2009 hybrid AC/heater? Second, is there a relatively likely chance that the install of those units damaged or wiggled loose a wire or otherwise caused the hybrid fan to die? And finally, should she go ahead with the repair or is this something that can be diagnosed and fixed from home by a guy in a wheelchair (or at least a more reliable and reasonable mechanic)?

Sorry, no images to show since it is in the shop and I wouldn't know what to look for anyway. I haven't tinkered with cars since the late 90s, and that was on an '87 Blazer.

 

Without more info don't know about the $5K bill.

Some 2009 AC issues required removing the dashboard which is time consuming, and the dealer has high hourly rates.

An A/C compressor for a hybrid is $1500 at the dealer.

Review the bill to find out what was done. Some $5K should cover a lot of hours and parts!

When the indicator light came on did the car's engine stop working, go into limp home mode or what? If you paid to for diagnosis then you should get a list of what codes came up which should point to the problem area.

Don't know about if a wire was pulled out, etc. when the car was repaired. How soon after the A/C repair did the indicator light come on? The cars computer is constantly running a self-check. If damage or a pulled wire the indicator should have come within a day or two if not on the first drive.