Toyota Repair: air conditioning, good luck jack, toyota avalon


Question
My air conditioning cuts intermittently. I have a 1998 Toyota Avalon. The car has approx. 70,000. miles on it. I purchased it from a national company called, "CAR MAX". It had 55,000 miles on it at the time of purchase. When it cuts out the gauge on my dash quits showing  outside temp. Then all of a sudden it will come back on. Toyota charged me $75.00 to inform me that it will cost $900.00 to repair the problem. They say it is under the dash and that they have to replace something called an air conditioning amplifier. Do you think the price is fair? How do they know that it is not just a short in the wiring?
  Thank you for your interest.
            Harry

Answer
I really don't care for CarMax. They are the factory of car sales with out any heart.
Your problem is well known fault with the Avalon. The symptoms have not changed, loss of the blower fan and the outside temp gauge going blank.
Toyota came up with a revised amp, just like CarMax told you along with a revised heater door arm assembly. I am not convinced that the arm is needed but Toyota does suggest replacing it. I also don't have the parts prices but I do remember the repair is costly. $900 is too high and if you have the part numbers from your $75.00 estimate you can go to www.partznet.com and ask them what it can cost. They are a Toyota dealer who sells parts for much less than most dealers but only accross the net.
Someone who knows what they are doing can do the repair in about 2 hours. The amp takes about 30 minutes but the arm is a pain.
Good luck
jack