2011 Silverado

I am taking my truck to dealer tomorrow to get the A/C fixed, getting 60 degree air on a 80 degree day. My question is are they going to fix it or put in sealer and recharge and give it back to me so it can fail again later after warrenty is out?

What should happen is they should either use a sniffer instrument to find a leak or they should recharge the system with a dye and have you return after a few days running it to see where the dye leaks out...presuming there is a leak.

I am taking my truck to dealer tomorrow to get the A/C fixed, getting 60 degree air on a 80 degree day. My question is are they going to fix it or put in sealer and recharge and give it back to me so it can fail again later after warrenty is out?

as mentioned they should spend the time to find the leak. you do have a leak !

as you stated they will not look for leak..they will charge you for the recharging of the system and yes it will fail again ....

finding the leak takes time and with dealerships that is lost income..it is better to charge you for servicing the low refrigerent and therefore get income ...

my vehicles when new always loose charge..after they are checked out by me they go for 4-5 yrs with a small shot of refrigerent..

I have 1996 impala ss that has had no servicing in 5yrs now.still very good cooling.


I have also found these GM vehicles in the past have low oil in the system ..this also leads to refrigerent leaks, as the oil helps seal the system as well as lube it...adding 4oz of the proper oil wil reduce refrigerent loss at the seals....loose fittings are a problem and O rings defective will create leaks..2011 and its not cooling, must be a fairly good sized leak....

have them put the dye in !!!!!!! NEVER USE THESE SEALERS .

OK went to service department today. Mechanic said the A/C is working fine. He said a 20 degree drop in temp is all it can do. He said on a 100 degree day it would be lucky to get 80 degree air out of it. It was 46 degrees out this morning, and the best he could get out was 39 degrees, he said this normal. I'm pissed and will fix myself, warrenty don't mean squat.

OK went to service department today. Mechanic said the A/C is working fine. He said a 20 degree drop in temp is all it can do. He said on a 100 degree day it would be lucky to get 80 degree air out of it. It was 46 degrees out this morning, and the best he could get out was 39 degrees, he said this normal. I'm pissed and will fix myself, warrenty don't mean squat.

sorry to hear how they blew you off...idiots they are...well not really, its all about the money...


just put the dye in ...then when you find the leak you fix or have them fix the leak...

If the compressor is leaking better have this repaired by the warrantee...

when the ac is first turned on a temp drop of 25degrees is to be expected...after the ac has been on for about 30 minutes the temp should be lower...placing guages on the hi / low side on an 80 deg day will quickly show your refrigerent / system condition.

the only time these temps will not be correct is with extremely high humidity...all that water on the evap coil interferes with the cooling..

Dye is already in the system OEM from the factory- has been since 2002 model year on all GM vehicles.

Just a couple questions. You say the dye is already in the system, is it the kind you use the glasses to see? What kind of oil is used in the GM system? How much oil should I use and not overload it? Does anyone know what pressures I should get on the gauges?

Just a couple questions. You say the dye is already in the system, is it the kind you use the glasses to see? What kind of oil is used in the GM system? How much oil should I use and not overload it? Does anyone know what pressures I should get on the gauges?

the dye is revealed with a black light/UV light.

adding refrigerent oil may be necessary. first step is to find leak .

the new vehicles have changed the oil used ..on my older GM it is pag 150. your vehicle may be different like pag 100 or lower. only a small 4oz oil charge would be needed to be sure you have a good amount in the system should you have seals leaking..especially at the compressor.

with the guage set this is on the low side between 25-45 psi with a air temp of 80 deg f..the higher the air temp the higher the pressure. also 1500 RPM engine idle is required...to test this..

on the high side this is tricky because every vehicle is different.

275- 325 psi range should indicate a properly charged system with the above operating conditions. when adding refrigerent , the high side will stay stable in pressure but , when the pressure starts to rise rapidly then you have reached the limit.. I keep the refrigerent amount below the required amount slightly..

never did a 2011 vehicle ..

lets say you have normal pressures but the system does not cool properly this may mean GM never properly removed air from the system prior to charging this ac...

then you would have to dump the refrigerent and place a vacuum pump on it to remove air trapped in the refrigerent oil..thats where it goes..pump will boil off the air/moisture.. then recharge with the correct amount of refrigerent.

Thanks guys for all your help.

OK guys today I put refrig in. The system pressure when shutdown was about 75 lbs. I started the truck and turned the AC on high speed fan and face only. The temp coming out was about 51, this is on a 62 degree day. The pressure was about 190 and 25. I added a little refrig and the pressure went to 210 and 30. I added almost the entire 12 oz can and it went to 225 and 35. The air temp dropped to 37 degrees. It seems to be working great, I will just have to wait for a hot day now. I also could not find out what oil to use so I did not add any.

OK guys today I put refrig in. The system pressure when shutdown was about 75 lbs. I started the truck and turned the AC on high speed fan and face only. The temp coming out was about 51, this is on a 62 degree day. The pressure was about 190 and 25. I added a little refrig and the pressure went to 210 and 30. I added almost the entire 12 oz can and it went to 225 and 35. The air temp dropped to 37 degrees. It seems to be working great, I will just have to wait for a hot day now. I also could not find out what oil to use so I did not add any.


you should have waited for a warmer day..75 deg f min...It would be very easy to over charge your system on a cold day,,, and too much will kill the compressor..remember this compressor can NOT compress liquid...if liquid gets to it it will blow !..recheck the pressures on a warmer day ..If the low side is 25-45 psi and the high side is under 325 psi with the Idle at 1500 rpm that will be good..anything higher bleed off the refrigerent until it is with in these psi readings.


see if you can find the leak. using the uv/black light..

your pressures were a little low but so was the air temp...need to see what its doing when hotter out ..post back ..

OK guys today I put refrig in. The system pressure when shutdown was about 75 lbs. I started the truck and turned the AC on high speed fan and face only. The temp coming out was about 51, this is on a 62 degree day. The pressure was about 190 and 25. I added a little refrig and the pressure went to 210 and 30. I added almost the entire 12 oz can and it went to 225 and 35. The air temp dropped to 37 degrees. It seems to be working great, I will just have to wait for a hot day now. I also could not find out what oil to use so I did not add any.

see if you can find this number under your hood on those labels ,,,,,,,GM # 12378526 which is PAG 46 oil ...I think this is the new GM oil now used...check on that !

see if you can find this number under your hood on those labels ,,,,,,,GM # 12378526 which is PAG 46 oil ...I think this is the new GM oil now used...check on that !


I looked under the hood at the label, it tells how much refrig and PAG oil but not the number or weight.