passenger air cold, driver is hot, freon is good

[dangmoss]

I have a 98 grand prix se. I read on this forum where various folks had cold a/c on the passenger side and the driver side wouldn't get cold the solution to those problems seems to be low freon.

So I went and got a r134a recharge kit and the gauge. The gauge shows good as soon as I put it on, for grins I put some in there just to see if I could raise the level a little and it seemed to go up some but didn't have any effect. One oddity I discovered is that after putting some freon in the gauge goes up but then it always drops down to the same level...



So what do yall think about this?

Is there a damper problem somewhere under the dash? Where is it? how do I get there?

Is my gauge faulty? Does it sound like I did it wrong?

[richtazz]

Does your car have manual or dual climate control A/C? It will make a difference in what your next step should be, please post back.

[dangmoss]

Originally Posted by richtazz

Does your car have manual or dual climate control A/C? It will make a difference in what your next step should be, please post back.

oops... sorry I meant to post that...

it is manual climate control...

[rbsteve]

when i refilled my freon the guage wasnt all that accurate. it tended to jump around alot, and initially showed over the full mark.

nonetheless i waited a cpl of minutes until the can emptied, and the air came out cool as it should. I dont think you can trust the cheap guages that come with fill up kits.

[dtsn280z]

Originally Posted by rbsteve

when i refilled my freon the guage wasnt all that accurate. it tended to jump around alot, and initially showed over the full mark.

nonetheless i waited a cpl of minutes until the can emptied, and the air came out cool as it should. I dont think you can trust the cheap guages that come with fill up kits.

Mine did the same thing. Turned out to be the compressor. When the freon ran low, it was only cold on one side then went hot.

[richtazz]

If your car doesn't have dual climate control, the only thing that can cause uneven temps from side to side is low refrigerant pressure (caused by low freon or a bad compressor) or a clogged/blocked evaporator core.

[dangmoss]

Originally Posted by richtazz

If your car doesn't have dual climate control, the only thing that can cause uneven temps from side to side is low refrigerant pressure (caused by low freon or a bad compressor) or a clogged/blocked evaporator core.

good news... after putting the whole can into the car and ignore the cheap gauge the ac seems to be working better... also I think I didn't use the first can correctly... do you have to hold it upside down?

[richtazz]

A/C isn't my strong suit, so don't take this as advice. Every time I've added refrigerant, the only way I could get it to go in was by holding the can upside down. Most instructions say to add it with the can rightside up, but that has NEVER worked for me, even when I know the system is low and everything else (compressor, accumulator, evap core, etc...) is fine. As long as you don't exceed the recommended system pressure, I don't see a problem with doing what works. Anyone have a rebuttal? If so, let me know, cuz I don't want to screw anything up either.

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by richtazz

A/C isn't my strong suit, so don't take this as advice. Every time I've added refrigerant, the only way I could get it to go in was by holding the can upside down. Most instructions say to add it with the can rightside up, but that has NEVER worked for me, even when I know the system is low and everything else (compressor, accumulator, evap core, etc...) is fine. As long as you don't exceed the recommended system pressure, I don't see a problem with doing what works. Anyone have a rebuttal? If so, let me know, cuz I don't want to screw anything up either.

Same here Rich. Can has to be held upside down and higher than the low side port. Also, I have a second person keep rpms at around 1500 - 2000 rpm while refilling. And those gauges that come with the refrigerant refill kits are too unreliable and cheap.








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[richtazz]

Cool, now I feel better. If you do the same thing, then my proceedure isn't as suspect now, thanks Bob.