Where to recharge freon on a 96 3.8L Cam.?

[KevinG]

I am changing the freon in my 3.8L V6 1996 Camaro and it says to put it into the Low Pressure valve...

Where is that? I bought a WalMart freon kit but don't know where to fill it!

[philly rs]

kevin if u check back 2morrow ill tell u where that is im sorry i didnt see this post earlier, ill look it up 4 u in the am

[Hypsi87]

take it to a shop that is ASE certified in AC repair.....

scuicide cans are horrible for you AC system and can cause major damage if someone does not know what they are doing.

I will explain why tommrow, it's 3 AM in Illinois and I do not feel like going into detail.

[89IROC&RS]

freon is something that should be done by a certified mechanic. I gotta agree with Hypsi on this one. there are specific tools and peices of equpment used to proporly work on an AC system, i wouldnt take shorcuts.

[philly rs]

oh damn i didnt know he was trying to do it himself i thought he was just wanting to know where it was, ill agree with the guys take it to someone who knows what they are doing u could screw something up (not saying u arent capible but i wouldnt even try it)

[instantkevin]

i dont understand you guys are deterring him from just adding more to it. I could understand if he was dissassembling it, or doing a conversion, but he's just adding more. from my understanding it should be fine as long a he gets the right type and just screws it on and hits the button. what's there to be afraid of?

[Xenostalgia]

If you add just a little too much or a not enough you can seriously kill the AC system completely, thats a whole +1000 you need to put back in your car as opposed to putting 100$ to a mechanic who has all the right tools. PLUS the little 'gauge' in the AC kits are no where close to being accurate enough AND you need about 4 other gauges to make sure you got the ssytem right.

[88camaroproject]

my friend with a ford ranger just did his truck and it works fine. he used one of those kits from walmart and my other friend who works for a home ac repair service just helped him out a little. now he has freezing cold ac

[Hypsi87]

ok, lets do some math. The typical AC system hold anywhere between 7-10 OZ. of oil. when you do a full system recovery by pulling a vacum on that system, the most oil you will ever pull out is MAYBE 2 oz. ( I have been doing AC stuff for 3 years now and I have never seen that much being taken out.) Then you take one of thoes kits from walmart and put in the full ammount of oil which is usually 6 oz. (because everyone thinks that more is better)


ok check it out.

10oz. oil system-2 oz removed from the system+6 oz. = 14 oz of oil.......

overfilled and AC system not working properly.

Also thoes suicide cans lie aobut the ammount of R-134a that is contained in them. You will never pull the ammount of r-134a that it is supposed to be. In my AC class, the most we ever pulled out of a can was 7.5 oz.

Also everytime you recharge your AC system, you are supposed to draw and hold a vacume for at least 15 min to boil the moisture out. 45 min is you have opend the system to the atmosphere.

Also, what do you use to check your line pressures??? The one way to tell if your system is as efficient as possible.

Remember more is not better, and if your old R-134a leaked out. Fix the leak first

[philly rs]

now thats a good picture painted hypsi, damn good

[CamaroRS92]

Refrigeration work on Automotive can be a double edged sword!
Too much refrigerant = high evaporator head pressure . The higher the head pressure the less cooling capicity of the system.
Too much refrigerant oil = an automatic over charge of refrigerant. the oil takes the place of the refrigerant thus giving less cooling capicity + high head pressure in the evaporator.
Too little refrigerant = compressor not running long enough to cool effectively
Too little oil in the system = compressor failure

Most folks think more refrigerant will make an a/c systerm colder. Very few actually know that (in some instances) you can make a system colder by "removing" refrigerant to get the lowest possible evaporator head pressure without the compressor cycling off too soon

Basically - If you dont know what your doing leave it alone and pay a certified tech to do the work
You will be much happier with the outcome

[Savage Messiah]

Originally Posted by Xenostalgia

If you add just a little too much or a not enough you can seriously kill the AC system completely, thats a whole +1000 you need to put back in your car as opposed to putting 100$ to a mechanic who has all the right tools. PLUS the little 'gauge' in the AC kits are no where close to being accurate enough AND you need about 4 other gauges to make sure you got the ssytem right.

Well how much it costs is all in where you look... for example $150

[Xenostalgia]

I'm talking for a new unit + warrentied etc tho. But yes, you can always find deals if you have time and patience. At the time it was (and still is tipping 95) around 110 so I was dying.