i was told today by an unpleasant mechanic that problems in the cooling system like a bad hose that leaks with a bad thermostat will cause the a/c to not work. i dont crap about a/c systsms? this guy know what he's talkin about?

 

In general, I'd say no. I think he's just trying to ring you up. Now lets get in to the technicalities

1) bad hose leaks all coolant, motor seizes. AC will definitely be effected.
2) You keep the AC "mix" in the middle, coolant is 1 billion degrees due to bad thermo. Cold air won't be as cold.
3) Super hot motor heats the entire AC system, raising the freon pressure tripping the dual pressure switch (which cuts the compressor). This will effectively turn the AC off. Won't be very cold, then.
4) Super hot motor overheats the compressor, and the compressor temp switch cuts out.
5) blah blah something about your AC lines melting.

I know the S13 AC system inside and out after dealing with my brother's SR swap into single cam. These are probably the only situations that would cause your AC to crap out.

 

no, he's swindling you, i mean there's a far out possibility it may affect your ac in someway, but none are common. But you shouldn't have a coolant leak anyways...just fix the coolant leak and put in a new $7 t-stat and you'll be good to go man.