Those cans add to low pressure side
AC Charge
- Thread starter 03cobra#694
- Start date
Ah, tells you what I know about that stuff. What should the pressure be then?
Well, that's were I have it. Thanks.
I think you may have some air in the system, the low side is a little high but you should have cool air coming from the vents. Is the compressor short cycling?
Turning on and off.
If it’s doing it quickly on and off then it’s low on refrigerant and/or has air in the system. Only other cause if this is a failing compressor clutch relay. The contacts could be getting weak and causing the compressor clutch to cycle to fast. But my money is on low charge.
Add more then? I don't want to overcharge it. How would one get rid of the air? This thing sits a ton.
The only way to remove air and moisture is to vacuum it down and refill.
I know you don’t fill it very often but I’d at least rent a set of manifold gauges to get an accurate reading on head pressures. Only reading the low side is not telling you much.
I know you don’t fill it very often but I’d at least rent a set of manifold gauges to get an accurate reading on head pressures. Only reading the low side is not telling you much.
Take it to a AC shop to do a complete evacuation and recharge. Doing that will tell you if you have leak too.
I would evacuate it all and pull a 45 minute vacuum and then install the correct amount of refrigerant. You can buy a set of gauges and a vacuum pump from harbor freight. The other option, if you know a trustworthy shop is to just have them do it for you and then see if they can do a leak check. Usually the valve cores leak, quick and easy repair.
When it’s on high it shouldn’t be cycling on any regular basis.
Could be low (should be able to see the low side pressure gauge that pressure drops down to 30 or lower). Could be a pressure switch, could be the field on the clutch
Could be low (should be able to see the low side pressure gauge that pressure drops down to 30 or lower). Could be a pressure switch, could be the field on the clutch
i rented both the vacuum pump and the set of manifold gauges from auto zone/oreilly when i did my f150. it cost me nothing for the tools, but i did buy the 3 cans of r-134 and 1 bottle of pag oil from them.
i knew nothing about ac before that. but that was two summers ago and it's still blowing cold. i did have a shop recover the old freon though, i dont think you just open it to the atmosphere... or maybe you can?
it was actually the shop i brought it to to have the system recharged. of course they tried to upsell me - telling me i had a leak and needed parts. i was like just suck it down man, i know there's no leak... but they even charged me $65 for that
I didn’t know that the auto store will allow people to use the gauges and vacuum pump. I think it is funny how anyone can go to the store and buy cans of refrigerant but I have to have a license to legally perform A/C work.
You should never just let the refrigerant out, big no no. I would just take it somewhere for them to recover the refrigerant.
If you were low and needed 3 cans of refrigerant, you have a leak. They were just doing there job trying to make some $ and help you find a leak by the sound of it.
The local speed shop doing repairs on my wife's Fusion Sport gave me the break down on repairs. I was floored when I saw $500 for AC refrigerant capture/fill. It cost $7500 to pull the engine, do a complete valve job.....for Pete's sake.
i only added 3 cans when the system was totally empty (after they recovered it) and i had pullled vacuum for a day. it was almost exact the amount that the f150 system needed (full capacity)
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