Engineered Income

The condenser fan went out on my '02 Dodge Ram. As you know all too well, this is not the time of year to be without a/c in Texas, so I bought a replacement fan and shroud for $120.

$120 for a 12 volt plastic fan and shroud? That's a pretty darn good profit margin if you ask me, but then I'm not a Dodge engineer.

As I set about removing the fan shroud that was held on with only 2 bolts I discovered it was also the condenser mount. OK, I'll have to unbolt the condenser, but I cant get to the bolts because the refrigerant lines are holding everything in place and they are routed THRU the shroud not around it like any logical human being would do.

This means the lines will have to be taken apart to remove the condenser to change the shroud and replace the fan. That means having to drain the gas, then vacuum & recharge the a/c system. Yet another expense on top of replacing the fan.

What should have been a simple 30 minute backyard job (remember this was a 2 bolt deal when I started) has suddenly become a labor intensive task that can only be done in a well equipped shop by a trained technician with the proper tools and a credit card machine, simply because someone decided to route the a/c  lines an inch to the left when an inch to the right would have worked fine and be much, much simpler and user friendly to repair.