Now I wait...

Told him everything I knew. I said it may be over or under charged and was told the machine won’t over charge it. They do multiple a day with that machine so it should be properly charged.

Also, I noticed there’s a musty/humid smell when it’s not on full blast.

There was a leak in the condenser by the bracket. I forgot about the slightly too long bolt I installed because the oem one broke during removal. I didn’t realize it was too long until it was all the way in.

Didn’t charge me for today which was nice.

As a consolation the guy the pulled the car up front said sweet ride. Lol

Good to hear your set for cold air now.
If the tech doing the job would have pulled the system to 30" vac, let it sit for 30 min the leak would have shown up.
Shops now days operate like Mc'Ds in n out does'nt matter if right or not...
You got to learn how important it is to replace with same, that's a win in the long run with whatever you work on.

Tell me about it.

I was told no leaks when I left last time...

I asked why it didn’t show up in the vacuum test, twice, and gathered that it’s a one shot deal with the machine. It determines what to add back based on what’s in the system while it’s evacuating. Since there was little to nothing in it, it didn’t detect a leak. Still doesn’t make perfect sense to me... but whatever.

A 16 cent bolt screwed me. Lol

Is there a way to remove the condenser without causing global warming or does it need to be evacuated first. Pretty sure popping a line will result in Freon/oil blowing everywhere, again, without sucking it all out first. Lol

Nope - impossible.

Gotta start all over, remove part, replace, evacuate and re-load freon/oil.

Luck and enjoy that Runner.

Yep, all the refrigerant has to go.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

To me that means the tech doesn’t know much about servicing AC systems and relies on the machine to do everything. You pull a vacuum for 30min to 4 hours and shut off the pump and close the gauges and let it sit a few hours and see if the vacuum dropped. Any drop is bad and you put a low charge in it and look for the leak with a leak detector or fill it with nitrogen at a few 100 psi and listen for the leak.


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What I figured. Oh well.

I knew I screwed up when I saw the bolt sticking out. It was about 1/4” too long. I was hoping it just squished it a little. Lol

That was my impression as well, I thought a vacuum test was done to check for leaks, guess not. It’s not like they didn’t have time to. They had possession for 5 days while I was out of town.

Maybe they’ll cut me a deal to recharge it.

I already ordered the new condenser and the proper bolts. Both should be here by Saturday so I’ll do it all this weekend while I’ve got 4 days off.

`

Just to get the proper terminology here, evacuation is vacuuming the system down after the system is recovered. The machines they use do multiple things. Some are more "complex" then others but the basics are three functions, recovery, evacuation, and recharge. During recovery, the machine uses a compressor to suck the refrigerant out to a certain level of vacuum, usually around 13" Hg. Some more complex units monitor the weight of the refrigerant going into the recovery bottle with a scale and stop sucking when it sees no more weight being added to the bottle. Most units, you just stop recovery manually for the same reason. Now the whole recovery process is not needed if the system is empty, and the tech can go right to the evacuation process in which a deeper, longer vacuum is attained (29.9"Hg with a loss of 1"Hg for every 1000 ft of elevation) It is also at this point that any part replacement would be done and any oil be added (if your adding oil manually.) Some machines have oil injections units built into them that add oil after the evacuation process is done. Or separate oil injection units are used at the same point. If doing it manually your supposed to add a certain amount of oil for each component replaced (ie 1-2 oz for a condenser replacement, 3-4 oz for a compressor, etc.) Some compressors come with oil in them and this is usually stated on the new compressor. One other thing about adding oil manually before the evacuation process is that you could potentially vacuum out some of the oil in the system, so I always recommend putting oil in after the evacuation process.
At some point during the evacuation, the valves need to be closed and vacuum should hold on a leak-free system. If not then as 19963 said you use whatever leak detection method you use.
Now evacuation does several things. Most importantly it boils off any moisture in the system. Moisture is a system killer for many reasons I wont get into but you want NO moisture so the longer the evacuation the better. Now if the system is all new parts and has never had refrigerant in it then the evacuation process can be less. It also provides vacuum which helps suck in the appropriate freon and oil charge.
Lastly is the charge process. Most machines have a way to charge from the recovery bottle or a virgin bottle. I recommend charging with virgin refrigerant. The recovery bottle has your refrigerant and many other customers refrigerant in it. Some could have used a blend or something else (propane) so you could have a witches brew in your recovery bottle. Now some of the "complex" machines have a refrigerant detector built into them that sample the refrigerant before it's recovered. Or you can have a separate unit that does the same thing. A lot of shops do use these so they can reuse the refrigerant they recover and cut expenses.
Charging is simply programming your weight and pressing a button on most units. Some shops may use a separate weight scale and place the bottle on the scale and tare it out then use the valves on a set of gauges to stop flow once the proper amount of weight has come out of the scaled bottle. Now, I like to charge through the hi side to watch the pressure SLOWLY go up on the low side. This tells me the orifice tube/expansion valve is doing it's job. It also wont slug the suction side with liquid refrigerant which could lock your compressor up if you immediately start the vehicle after charging through the low side. Also, if you cant finish a charge (which you should be able to do if you did everything properly) then you can start the vehicle and use the vehicles compressor to pull in the appropriate charge.

Hope this explanation helps someone who would like to know what techs are doing when they service your AC system. I see a lot of questions about AC on here (especially when it 100 degrees outside) and thought it might help someone (maybe even an aspiring tech) know what's going on in an AC service. There's obviously much more on the diagnostic side and learning the basics of what is actually happening in the high and low sides of the AC system helps immensely with this. But it all starts with that first hand held set of manifold gauges.

I repaired my AC system last year, replaced all the stuff on the inside of the vehicle. Expansion valve, evaporator, all the o:rings, and the receiver/dryer. Always change the receiver dryer if the system has been exposed to air. Then chartered it all up. I am not a mechanic ether, just a home gamer...

I bought a cheap set of AC gauges and built a vacuum pump out of an old fridge/window box air compressor. The pump worked great, but you need to be careful how long you let it run. The thing gets HOT because there is no refrigerant to cool the compressor. Check out this video if your interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxvH3EtxN-I&feature=youtu.be



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That’s some great info!

Thanks for sharing the entire process.

Follow the torque spec's for the bolt's !!!, it's aluminum a lot of expansion and contraction going on at different temps and pressures.
The freon is formulated to not harm Ozone, if you decide to blow charge do it at the bottom of condensor, have a wet rag over the fitting before you loosen bolts. Wet rag will catch freon and oil, better than in the face and all over that area. It's best to do it on a at ambient temp system pressures are at their lowest.
lightly lube new O-rings before putting connections together.

@JRZEE2000TR4LTD layed it out spot on, virgin freon is the way to go. I'm familiar with the machines, Tech blew smoke up ya arse with his explanation of why leak wasn't caught, you got McD'd. If he would have done right leak would have been caught job stopped, contacted you for directions of completing job. You might bring that up when you go to get it recharged.

That was my plan. Seemed like the most logical place to ‘relieve’ the system. It was a big surprise the first time I replaced everything. Lol
Luckily the house, wife’s car, and my car weren’t downwind as a giant cloud of refrigerant and oil blew out the wheel well from removing the manifold off the compressor. Haha. (The compressor failed on me prior which is why I replaced everything)

Happen to know those specific bolt torque specs?

Yep. I was told no leaks over the phone and that it was ready when I picked it up the first time from the service advisor. Advisor number 2 gave me that crappy explanation...

R134a has since been classified as a 'high global warming potential' gas. R134 should NEVER be released into the atmosphere. For the sake of the environment and your lungs please get r134 recovered and not vented into the atmosphere. A wet rag isn't going to do anything except capture some of the oil out of the refrigerant as it escapes. @sam.basye


Edit: The amount of incorrect information here astounds me. Before people start getting all defensive here I am ASE certified in HVAC systems. A large portion of my workload during the warmer months is AC work. Please recover all your refrigerant instead of venting to the atmosphere. R12, R134, and R1234YF all have different fittings to help prevent you from hooking up the wrong ac machine. Yes, it is still possible with a set of manifold gauges to charge systems from a different refrigerant source bottle.

7 ft/lb's according to FSM pg AC-61.