1st burnt compressor by body shop, 2nd burnt by gas station, 3 comp I saved

First compressor burnt up by body shop after repair.

Second compressor burnt up by gas station who uses bubbles in the sight glass and temperatures and pressures to fill AC system with refrigerant.

I was called in on the third compressor to see what was wrong after they charged it up it would not turn on.

https://youtu.be/j1sAxQZGKV0

If a Prius ever needs more than one compressor after going to a shop it’s because of the shop.

 

One thing I can tell you for sure in most every shop you have several technicians and everyone has a strong points in a weak point in their technical skill set. Do you have guys who excel at differentials and transmissions gearboxes and heavy duty did dirty stuff. Do you have the guys who are masters at brakes and suspension alignments. Do you have the guys who excel at ScanTools tuneups electrical diagnosis hopefully. But then you have the guys with scan tools and whatever it says as a code they just swap and replace parts.
On the other hand you have shops that have nothing they go for the cheapest technician because the owner himself is not technically inclined he’s for the dollar profit margin and believes the cheaper the tech and the less money he hast to put out the more profit he can make these kind of shops attracts nobody and when they do get somebody good they shortly leave because they cannot stand working in such a shop. It’s like throwing darts at a dartboard and hoping you hit a bull’s-eye no good advice to weed out the good from the bad sometimes the messiest dirtiest smallest Shop could be the good guy other times it could be the cleanest brightest most organize shop.

 

30 years ago when I was younger I thought I had answered. But after being a vendor for over 30 years in a 50 mile Square area 1200 body shops in mechanical repair I still don’t have an answer for that it’s even worse.
I only have 5 shops I trust blindly sending a family member there. Three of those are retiring soon and will be no more.