A/C stopped working after recharging

[PeteTheFarmer]

Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone
Originally Posted By: PeteTheFarmer
Not legal. It should say so right on the can

http://www.freeautomechanic.com/airconditioning4.html

So what.

It should be ignored whenever possible.


Kind of like anonymous Internet advice recommending illegal actions.

 

[Vikas]

Here I am banging my head against the wall; it hurts, so should I stop banging my head or not??

It seems pretty straightforward. He added lots of freon and that made things worse. He obviously had no desire to take it to a shop when he started working on it. Why not release little bit and see if it gets better.

Is there anybody who would NOT try this if he had already tried to recharge on his own before????? Raise your hand!!!

- Vikas

 

[Jarlaxle]

I wouldn't. I would either do it RIGHT, or simply disconnect the compressor clutch & deal with it. There is a RIGHT way to do things, and a WRONG way.

 

[mechtech2]

A civilian can dump refrigerant or coolant, but a shop can not.

 

[Dakota1820]

What I do is take screw drive and push the valve onbthe shrader valve and release some freon. Yea it's techincally illegal but so is speeding parking to close to the curb ans growing corn next to wheat. Lol you'll be fine just do it that way and do it till the top AC hose starts getting cold. Then stop and wait. If it gets ice cold check the air. That should fix it.

 

[MarkM66]

To reiterate what mechtech2 staid, It's not illegal to release refrigerant. Only shops are regulated.

 

[Dakota1820]

I thought. It was illegal. Period hmm owell doesn't matter.

 

[antiqueshell]

If nothing else the OP "fixing something that isn't broken" is a great lesson for others here.

Before he screwed with it he should have gotten the technical data to check to see if it was providing the correct temperatures for the ambient temp and humidity. That would have been cake all it takes is a cheap vent thermometer, and he wouldn't be in the situation he is now.

Live and learn.

 

[yonyon]

About these:
-Venting some of the refrigerant may or may not get the AC working again.
-Leaving it alone won't fix it.
-Hooking up a set of gauges might provide useful information.
-Noting whether or not the compressor engages could be a good idea.

Can most of us agree to that?

 

[MarkM66]

Ad to that, the OP doesn't seem to care much at this point anyways...

 

[Dakota1820]

Yonyon you are exactly right. Doing anything without the gauges is just a shot in the dark. Having said that if AC isn't working and you can't afford the gauge I would let some out and see what it does. Since you know there is freon in it. And if the compressor isn't kicking on.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: MarkM66
Ad to that, the OP doesn't seem to care much at this point anyways...


Yet another hit-and-run poster :-(

 

[rcy]

Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone

R134a is perfectly safe to release, it does not contribute to so called ozone depletion nor global warming.


Wrong. It does not contribute to ozone depletion, but it DOES contribute to global warming. Hence, the upcoming government regulation to phase in R1234yf.

 

[Vikas]

I just noticed; we scared OP away :-(

 

[VicVinegar]

Seeing this thread was already going, and the OP is MIA, I'll ask this as a related topic rather than start a new thread. Is low refridgerant ever a "normal" condition? Or is there a leak that needs to be addressed?

My 12 year old Civic started blowing warm air last summer when it was hot (and I was stuck in traffic..at speed it was still cold), and yesterday (as the DC area got into the 80s) revealed itself to be worse than last year (had to keep the revs high to get any cold air). I mentioned the symptoms to the service writer when I was last at a shop and he was fairly certain it was just low and needed a recharge.

RepairPal estimates a recharge in my area to be $210-290. While I would like a/c, I don't want to head down a rabbit hole spending hundreds on a diagnosis and recharge to find I need something else replaced. I know there is value in "doing it right", but this seems awfully pricey for something so many people seem to do with a $25 can and a thermometer. Or at most, a set of $50 gauges to measure high and low side pressure.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: VicVinegar
Seeing this thread was already going, and the OP is MIA, I'll ask this as a related topic rather than start a new thread. Is low refridgerant ever a "normal" condition? Or is there a leak that needs to be addressed?

My 12 year old Civic started blowing warm air last summer when it was hot (and I was stuck in traffic..at speed it was still cold), and yesterday (as the DC area got into the 80s) revealed itself to be worse than last year (had to keep the revs high to get any cold air). I mentioned the symptoms to the service writer when I was last at a shop and he was fairly certain it was just low and needed a recharge.

RepairPal estimates a recharge in my area to be $210-290. While I would like a/c, I don't want to head down a rabbit hole spending hundreds on a diagnosis and recharge to find I need something else replaced. I know there is value in "doing it right", but this seems awfully pricey for something so many people seem to do with a $25 can and a thermometer. Or at most, a set of $50 gauges to measure high and low side pressure.


Contrary to popular belief all automotive AC systems lose refrigerant over time [some a few years, others longer than that] and most be checked and topped off when they show signs of lost cooling power. Some vehicles lose very little, older Fords had lousy ring seals at the connections and lost it faster than GM products for example. Is a low level normal? No but in order for the AC to work properly the right amount of referential needs to be added.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: rcy
Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone

R134a is perfectly safe to release, it does not contribute to so called ozone depletion nor global warming.


Wrong. It does not contribute to ozone depletion, but it DOES contribute to global warming. Hence, the upcoming government regulation to phase in R1234yf.

Its getting political.

 

[mechtech2]

Only in that the Gov't chooses to not look at history, but concentrate on human activities.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: VicVinegar
Seeing this thread was already going, and the OP is MIA, I'll ask this as a related topic rather than start a new thread. Is low refridgerant ever a "normal" condition? Or is there a leak that needs to be addressed?

My 12 year old Civic started blowing warm air last summer when it was hot (and I was stuck in traffic..at speed it was still cold), and yesterday (as the DC area got into the 80s) revealed itself to be worse than last year (had to keep the revs high to get any cold air). I mentioned the symptoms to the service writer when I was last at a shop and he was fairly certain it was just low and needed a recharge.

RepairPal estimates a recharge in my area to be $210-290. While I would like a/c, I don't want to head down a rabbit hole spending hundreds on a diagnosis and recharge to find I need something else replaced. I know there is value in "doing it right", but this seems awfully pricey for something so many people seem to do with a $25 can and a thermometer. Or at most, a set of $50 gauges to measure high and low side pressure.


Contrary to popular belief all automotive AC systems lose refrigerant over time [some a few years, others longer than that] and most be checked and topped off when they show signs of lost cooling power. Some vehicles lose very little, older Fords had lousy ring seals at the connections and lost it faster than GM products for example. Is a low level normal? No but in order for the AC to work properly the right amount of referential needs to be added.


The AC in my girlfriend's 2003 Accord had a similar problem about 6 weeks ago. She drove the car on a Friday, AC was fine. Parked the car in the garage and we did not drive it at all over that weekend. She drove to work on Monday and the AC was no longer cold, it was warm/hot air only. AC was so low on freon the fans would not even run at idle.

I bought the Arctic Freeze kit at AAP that came with 2 cans of freon and a hose with a low side gauge. I paid $45.00 for the kit, regular price was $49.99, I had a coopin for $5.00 off. I charged the AC with the kit and the AC has been blowing ice cubes ever since. The freon has a leak sealer compound in it and so far there are no leaks, kit even comes with UV dye in the cans and a free UV pen-light to look for leaks.

This was a lot cheaper and less trouble than going to the shop and so far the AC works fine.

 

[KrisZ]

I think the secret for minimizing the leakage is using the AC, or defrost in models that activate AC on that setting, during winter. This keeps the o-rings lubricated and they seal better that way.