2006 Toyota Corolla CE 1.8L, roughly 80k miles

So my wife calls me this AM and says "the car started smoking this morning when I was pulling into the parking lot, and the AC stopped blowing cold". FML, I say. The car didn't overheat at any point, she said.

After work I meet her at the parking lot, smell the coolant in the engine bay and since the car was reasonably safe to drive we head to the house. In the garage I see refrigerant residue on the condenser fins and on the other stuff between the condenser and front grille (including the inside of the front of the car). There is no pressure on the lines, so it puked all of the refrigerant out.

I see a lot of stuff online about rocks puncturing people's condensers, to the point that toyota issued a TSB on it for a plastic grille that is supposed to protect the fins from damage (of course her car, bought used in '09, doesn't have this), but I don't actually see a hole in the condenser. Of course I could just be missing it in a shadow or something.
http://www.toyotapart.com/2005-2006_05-06_LOWER_GRILLE_MESH_PROTECTION_COVER_%5BREVISED%5D_T-AC002-06.pdf

Thoughts on the cause, other than just a rock? Difficulty of the repair? Anyone know a fair AC mechanic in Asheville?

Thanks in advance. This had to happen right before the two hottest days of the year up here...

7/11/2011 9:48:27 PM

There will also be a popoff valve somewhere in the system that vents the refrigerant if the pressure gets too high- can be caused by a non operational condenser fan.

7/12/2011 7:48:14 AM

I looked for that, but didn't locate it. I don't know exactly what it would look like but I didn't see anything obvious on the high pressure line last night. It's also weird (to me anyway) that the freon on the condenser was on the opposite side of the car from the refrigerant lines. Maybe some kind of ricochet, like the magic loogie in that episode of Seinfeld?

7/12/2011 8:21:20 AM