Well, if the clutch is engaging and it isn't squaling or tryin to lock up, then your compressor may be alright. If its got back refrigerant lines are cracked, your lookin at a pain in the a** to fix. You got to run a vacuum test on the system and watch the guages to see if the drain. If you got a leak, then its find the pinhole time. That will make you say every dirty word in the book and throw tools across the shop. I've did one system and said enough for me. I take my cars to a certified air condition repair shop now.

The best way to verify any mechanic's diagnosis is to take the car to another shop for a 2nd opinion on what it will take to fix it. Faced with an $800 repair estimate, I'd personally get a 2nd estimate just to see if I there was any money to be saved regardless of whether or not I trusted the 1st diagnosis.

AC can be very expensive to work on. $800 for compressor and hoses is pretty cheap.

sounds fair enough.

Ok the air conditioning never did work in this truck but I wanted to get a bunch of other problems fixed before I tackled the air conditioning, my mechanic crossed the relay over and the a/c clutch works so I'm thinking the relay is bad but he says not, he says the compressor itself is bad and hoses are dry rotted and it will take about $800 to fix it....is he trying to pull my leg and get my truck for next to nothing now that it has a new radiator, head gaskets, freeze plugs, water pump, spark plugs and wires, cap and rotor? (all work that he did personally btw because all of this stuff started going bad part by part on me but I would have died before I would have sold it because it came from a special uncle who has been gone for 11 years and I'm trying to keep his memory alive, anyway let me know what you guys think about my a/c and if you need anymore details I'm on here a lot and I can answer