A/C charging problem

[Dezert4Runner]

The air from my A/C for the last month or so hasn't been very cold lately. Yesterday I had it on and the air seemed warm. I went & bought one of those DIY 134a recharge kits with a guage and read up on the procedure and attempted to refill through the low pressure port today.

My PSI before trying to fill it read at "0" (the guage never read over 5 PSI for the 15 mins I attempted to fill it), and I don't remember my compressor turning on during the process. From what I've read, this is commonly caused from being too low on refridgerant because the compressor won't turn on if it's too low. I've also read that you can "jump" the compressor at the connector with the battery to make sure that the compressor is still working.

Experienced input is what I'm after. "Take it to a shop" is the obvious and $$$ solution, but I'm trying to see if there's something I need to be doing at this point to get the compressor to kick in. Seems like that's all that's needed to get it to suck in the 134a. Thanks in advance!

 

[Duhockey]

Hmmm...

When the wire that turns on my compressor was discoed, and my compressor didnt turn on, my pressure read way HIGH...

the only way it could read a 0 is if it did turn on and open the valves and start flowing.

When the compressor doesnt turn on, the valves stay closed and it reads super High on the pressure.

Have someone click the a/c button on and off and see if you can hear it engage.

Maybe a clutch problem??? that would be my guess if the Compressor turns on, but reads 0 and wont fill up.

but Im not an A/C expert. Lets see what others think

 

[Dous]

Yea when my vehicle was off, I hooked up the gauge to the pressure port and it pegged way high.

 

[DC runner]

Or, and I am just going with the simpliest explanation is usually the correct one.

That you needed to add any means you have a leak and in my experience, your leak could very well be too large and you are just dumping more in and it is going straight out....l

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Hmmm...

When the wire that turns on my compressor was discoed, and my compressor didnt turn on, my pressure read way HIGH...

the only way it could read a 0 is if it did turn on and open the valves and start flowing.

When the compressor doesnt turn on, the valves stay closed and it reads super High on the pressure.

Have someone click the a/c button on and off and see if you can hear it engage.

Maybe a clutch problem??? that would be my guess if the Compressor turns on, but reads 0 and wont fill up.

but Im not an A/C expert. Lets see what others think

Sounds like my compressor must have turned on based off of your first few sentences.

Yea when my vehicle was off, I hooked up the gauge to the pressure port and it pegged way high.

This is what happened when I just checked the pressure with the car not running, however, the instructions say to turn on your car and set the A/C to the highest setting and let it run at least 3 mins, then check the PSI with the A/C running. This will indicate how full your Refrigerent is.

Or, and I am just going with the simpliest explanation is usually the correct one.

That you needed to add any means you have a leak and in my experience, your leak could very well be too large and you are just dumping more in and it is going straight out....l

Is your experience from working in a shop or more of a hunch based off of personal experience in the DIY field?

 

[DC runner]

Do it yourself and logic. RIght. I mean, you lost your coolant, so that means you have a leak. That is a known. Otherwise your would't need to refill it.

There are 2 types of leaks. 1. Small and 2. Large.

Those refill kits help with number 1, not with number 2.......

Just throwing that out there.... you could have a huge rupture or disconnect and just dumping money down.

 

[Duhockey]

Or, and I am just going with the simpliest explanation is usually the correct one.

That you needed to add any means you have a leak and in my experience, your leak could very well be too large and you are just dumping more in and it is going straight out....l

Yep... thats possible too, leak in the system!

 

[tbst]

To do it right you need a gauge cluster. Not sure that is what you have. You maybe better off letting the coolant out and then vacuum pumping it and then recharging so you know what is in there.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Well, certainly not the news I was hoping to hear, but thanks for the wisdom. I've seen an example that a small leak would require you to recharge the system once a year whereas no leaks would mean at least a couple of years of trouble free service. I just have a hard time believing it's so bad that it won't take in the refrigerant for even a minute. Just my luck...

So what would a shop do of a system checked out for no leaks and refrigerant was so low the compressor wouldn't kick on? They vacuum the system then what? Is there some way they would force the compressor to run long enough to fill it? Trying to wrap my head around how this stuff works, so bear with me please...

 

[Dezert4Runner]

To do it right you need a gauge cluster. Not sure that is what you have. You maybe better off letting the coolant out and then vacuum pumping it and then recharging so you know what is in there.

The recharge kit consists of a gauge and the bottle of 134a, so I'm using the right stuff...

 

[cj80cruiser]

This may help you some here

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/1996/SIL/techinfo.toyota.com/ileaf/02toyrm/02toypdf/02rmsour/2002/024runne/ac/acsy/ovi.pdf

 

[DC runner]

It won't let you turn on the compressor without r134 to protect the compressor. The 134a has a lubrication oil mixed into the gas. The compressor turns many times a minute and running it, even for just a bit, unlubricated would be bad on it and possibly burn it out.

The compressor is the most expensive bit of the whole thing.. the rest of it is plumbing. You might want to just take it to have it inspected. Most places will do the inspection for free (with the hopes of getting you to pay them to fix it, sure) but you don't have to.

It may be worth it. They check for leaks by vacuuming out whatever refrigerant is left and putting a vacuum on it. The can tell you quickly if you have a leak... and help figure out where to go...

It could be a simple gasket gone dry and cracked or it could be a bit of tubing rusted through that you can't see.. who knows.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Thanks for the link cj80. I didn't even think about checking that sight glass, even though I remember reading up on it a one point. It's irrelevant at this point if it's full or low at this point because my A/C's not working right and I can't add 134a either way.

DC runner- Thanks for the help. I think it's wisest to take it in at this point. Last thing I want to do is cause more damage aka spend more $$$.

 

[techtrack]

Did you ever resolve this issue? If so, what was the problem and solution? This sounds similar to my current issue (high pressure on the Low valve), of which I have yet to find a documented solution.