your mechanic friend is somewhat right, it all depends on what car you drive and where the leak is…if your losing refrigerant, than you have a leak for sure. and if you put gas into it again…its going to leak out again, which is a waste of time and 100% ilegal. the best thing to do is take it to a specialist, not the guy down the street with a set of wrenches. he’ll test the system, find the leak and tell you what it will cost to fix it. if its a small leak and the tech cant find it. its not nessesary to charge more than an hour labour and cost of refrigerant. which at my shop comes to about $130. A/C doesnt just deteriorate over time, ive had 1969 chevs come in to my shop working just as well as day 1 off the line.

Depends on the vehicle and kind of refrigerant. A 94 probably had R-12 from the factory. If it has not been converted to R-134, it still has that.

The retail price of R-12 is probably around $50 a pound right now. That price is not installed, it is just the parts. The system is probably not completely empty so it should need the entire capacity. A system is typically 2 1/2 to 5 pounds.

The labor could run from $40 to $100, I would guess. Add up the numbers and you have a lot of money.

$100-200 is pretty much the going rate; i know someone who just had one done for $100