recharging your own a/c

i tried to get my a/c recharged professionally, but they fucked then screwed me over, so im just going to do it myself. i know where i can buy the stuff, i just down't know how to do it. do i put the refrigerant in the high or low pressure valve (one is by the compressor, one is by the firewall, don't know which is which). any help is appreciated

you put it in the low pressure side. that is the fitting near the firewall.

i tried to get my a/c recharged professionally, but they fucked then screwed me over, so im just going to do it myself. i know where i can buy the stuff, i just down't know how to do it. do i put the refrigerant in the high or low pressure valve (one is by the compressor, one is by the firewall, don't know which is which). any help is appreciated


If your are going to do it yourself you will need .
http://www.ackits.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AMA&Product_Code=66773
And remember if a R-12 system you will need to be ac certifed to touch it.

If you could tell us what the problem is maybe someone could help.
And here is a good AC forum link.
http://www.autoacforum.com/


And say no to the death kits.

Wal Mart DEATH KITS

You cannot properly and safely recharge an air condition system with them.

The one side stop and go gauge does not tell you what your system is doing or is over charged or undercharged.
A overcharged or malfunction air condition system can reach over 500 lbs of pressure.
Enough to blow up that can or system and freeze you at first and the burn you or blind you and if any propane /butane in there blow and light you up.

The stop leak crap and who knows what kind of oil in the kits there will stop your system for sure.
Just like pouring super glue in it.
And some kits even contain freon with a butane mixer.
Good for a big blast.

If you are going to do it do it right and safe.
Here is what you need to start with.
http://www.ackits.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AMA&Product_Code=66773

In the older days you could just throw in a can and go.
But over the years just adding freon is getting harder to do.
Newer systems have to have the correct amount of freon down to the ounces.
Most will need pumped down and vacuumed down and the right and amount of oil and a set amount freon charge installed to get the air to cool right and the system to last.
If an air condition is low there is usually a leak that needs fixed and also a lose of lubricating oil from system.
Also air and moisture enters a low system
If you are going to try to do it get the proper type air condition gauge set with the low and high side gauges.
Hook up the gauges and get a reading with compressor running at idle and at 2000 rpm on the high and low side.
Post back pressure reading and we can help you.
MT

what MT said, but I'll add, unless you have the full blown A/C machine, you are IMO wasting your time. One, there is no way to add freon without the machine, because you can't remove the air from teh system. Air is non-compressable and will cause a lot of problems.

There is no accurate way of measuring the amount you put in, and how much is already in there, so you will be guessing and you will guess wrong....just about promise you that.

Overcharging is a good way to blow stuff up. If you think the AC service charge is expensive, look into how expensive the compressor is AND AC charging.

In short, find a different shop.

as far as i know, there isn't a problem with the system at all. when i went to go get it recharged, they took care of it no problem. worked great, then the next day it didn't work at all. when i went back they told me there was a leak, even though it had passed a leak test. so i let air pressure build up in the system and let the car sit for two days, twice as long as it took to stop working. after that there was still pressure in the system. so i started thinking they had screwed up somehow. i went back a third time and they agreed to recharge it for free. passed the leak test, blah blah blah. right before the guy went to put the freon in, i saw him messing with a valve on the freon tank. he tried to charge it, only 0.01 to 0.02 pounds when before the machine stopped. he said it wouldn't take a charge, but i think he just closed the valve so he it wouldn't charge. of course, i didn't think of it at the time, and if they can't do a simple job pushing buttons, then i don't want them working on my car anyway.

i will look into getting pressure gauges and let you guys know what i come up with. (there should be no freon in the system, because when they were going to recharge it for free, they evacuated the system and didn't put any back in.)

you're making some rather big assumptions. You are taking what they said and deciding what was false and what was true.

here's the facts, they charged the system and it worked OK for a day. THey could not find any leaks at the time of charging it.

For a system to stop working in a day, you would need a HUGE leak. Either there is something else wrong, that would be rather odd because it worked after charging, or you have a huge leak, and they simply didn't find it.

If you have that big of a leak, then yes, you most definitely have air in the system.

Again....find another shop. One that is good at finding leaks. If its that big, it definitely wont be hard to find!

thats the thing. if i had a leak huge enough to leak 1.88 pounds of freon in less that 24 hours, why didn't the air leak out. and i just wasn't a little air in the system either. there was plenty of pressure. i asked the guy there how it could build up air pressure but he couldn't give me a straight answer. and i let the car sit for two days after building up air pressure in the system. why didn't that leak out if i had that huge of a leak?

i would just go to another shop, but i prefer to work on my car myself. i would have done it myself the first time, but i didn't realize that was a possibility.

forgot to metion, my cars uses R-134a, not R-12

the pressure switches in teh system will shut off the system when it senses it get below a given pressure. This is the systems way of protecting itself from destroying itself. You will still have pressure, but not enough to work well

its possible they simply didn't charge the system correctly....but I'd still say: take it to another shop.

yeah, when i took it back, the guy took out 0.12 or the original 1.88 pounds, so the rest went somewhere