I recently replaced my condenser and accumulator on my 1996 960 and I saw Pep Boys had a coupon for $59 to evacuate and recharge a system. I didnt notice the fine print that said "refigerant is extra". They called me and said there was no power to the compressor and all the fuses looked good. I tired to explain to him that when the ac switch is lit, the ac is off. He said he was sure the guy checked it both ways,he hadn't. They finally got it charged and I picked it up about 3:00 on Saturday. The bill came to $148, I told him I had a coupon for 59 bucks and he pointed out the little fact about the refigerant,it took 33 oz @ $2.09/oz. It was working OK not great just OK while I dove home in 90 degree heat.
Sunday at 7:00am I went out and the ac was blowing warm air again, less then 18 hours after they stuck me for $148. I brought the car back in Wednesday and told them what was going on. They hung on to it for 3 hours then called to see if I could leave it overnight because they were busy and couln't get to it. I said I need the car but would drop it off after work on Thursday, which I did.
They called Thursday to tell me the seals on the compressor are bad. I said why didnt they catch this on the initial leak test? Said they would replace the seals on the two lines to the compressor for $88, agianst my better judgement I said OK. They call me back about 2 hours later, aroun 8:00pm and ask if I could leave the car overnight because they didnt have the o-rings and would need to order them. I told them to forget it, got my car out of there and got all my money back.
Their mechanic took out 4 o-rings, he said they were from the two hoses connected at the compressor. He said they weren't original, I told him I was the only owner of the car and never had the compressor worked on. He said he never saw two o-rings on a line before.
Im going to do this myself so I need a little help here. I have a package of European AC O-Rings
Is there a differnce between yellow and green o-rings?
Do they have to match up exactly? I have some that are very, very, close. ID is exact but OD is just very slightly larger.
Are there 2 o-rings on the compressor fittings? He pulled out a black one about the size of a quarter and a smaller yellow one.
Is access to the hose fittings on the compressor easy or do I need to remove anything, or tackle this from underneath.

Thanks for any all help
Neil