Saturn Repair: saturn air conditioning, saturn sl2, word hope

Question
Hi Chris

I have a 97 Saturn SL2 that I took in to dealer for an oil change, to check out why when I would come to a stop, the rpm's would go very low and almost cut engine off.  Also, to check out the A/C as it was taking a while to cool and then not as good as usual.  Dealer said $79 to evacuate the system and diagnose.  They said I had a couple of leaking hoses and would cost $451 to fix A/C.  I declined repairs (as I was still getting some cooling). I got my car back, and it was running much better, but the A/C was no longer working, just blew hot air the whole trip home.  I took it back the next day requesting they "put it back the way I left it to them".  They said they'd put freon in, which didn't 'fix' the problem so this time sayed it was expansion valve (why did they not note that the first time?)  My question is did they do more harm in their "diagnostics"?  How can I avoid doing damage to compressor at this point (if they haven't damaged already)?  Thanks I hope I've been clear in stating problem.

Answer
Liza,
 I can't say for certain if they did more harm than good.  I can tell you that Saturn a/c hoses rarely leak (I don't know who makes them, but they are great hoses!).  You could have a leak at any one of a number of o-rings, and I would not be surprised if you have a faulty TXV (expansion valve).  
 Your compressor will not turn on if a specific pressure range of the freon is not met.  If you don't have enough freon in your system, or too much, your compressor will not run.  With that being said, I don't think you will ruin your compressor by declining the repairs.  I would ask the dealer to provide a written estimate of what it would take to fix your a/c.  That way they can't go back on their written word.  Hope this helps.

Chris