Volvo Repair: 1993 850 AC Repair, leaky hose, sighns

Question
Hi Regis,

My name is Maggie and I own a '93 Volvo 850 that has been having some air conditioning trouble.  When I run the AC air occasionally comes out cool, but never for more than a few minutes.  Most times when I turn it on it comes out warm from the start.  I recently took the car to the dealer to have the problem looked at and they diagnosed it as an evaporator issue.  $1500 later I replaced the evaporator and recieved a call from the dealer.  He said the evaporator had been successfully replaced but a leak had been discovered in another hose which also needed replacement.  I know that I am about to ask a difficult question given that you have not seen the vehicle, but could the problem have been entirely the leaky hose and not the evaporator?  I'm just trying to figure out if I am being taken for (way) too much money here.  I asked the dealer to hold on to both the hose and the evaporator for me to see.  I won't really know what I am looking at and am wondering if you have any suggestions for my inspection of the equiptment.  How do I tell if the evaporator is really shot?

Many, many thanks for any help you can offer.

Maggie

Answer
it is common on the 850 for the evaporator and high side hose to go bad.so it could have been either or both.if they installed a tracer dye into the system then it will have a yellow stain where the leak is that cane be seen with a specialv UV light and glasses.if not look for sighns of an oily film on the evaporator or or hose.

Rege