[njsteve]

Actually it's the opposite problem - the ceramic seals go bad from the compressors sitting on store shelves and the lubricant dries out and then from not getting burnished in correctly when finally installed. Since our cars don't get driven like they were when new (consistantly like a regular car) the seals don't ever seat and then leak from then on. Kind of like never running in a new set of piston rings and then the car burns oil forever.