djseek

Hi, My AC stopped working a while ago. I took it in to be fixed at a local shop. They charged the system, it blew cold air but when I got it home the leak detector was all over my drive way. They charged me $80 dollars and it was still leaking. So I went out and bought a charge kit and leak sealer. Now the system holds a charge (I can only read the low side), but doesn't blow cold air.
T
he clutch is engaging the compressor.

HELP!!!!

Deemeetree

Pinpoint the EXACT leak, then go from there.

$80 for a charge? ****.

kkim

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Deemeetree &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
$80 for a charge?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, not that bad if they had to refill with r12 instead of r134 and evacuated the system while they were in there. What year is the car?

Like he said, find the leak.. if it was all over the driveway, it should be fairly easy to find.

djseek

R134A.... I don;t think its leaking any more. Icharged it my self last weekend and it still holds a charge. What can it be?

1995 Civic EX

kkim

That is a bit expensive, then, for a recharge.

When the compressor is running, is the low side a/c line cold? You know, like when the a/c system was working properly, the low side line used to have condensation on it and feel cold to the touch.

How often is the compressor cycling off/on?

djseek

The low side is warm to the touch. The High Side line is extremly hot. I am not sure how often the compressor kicks on or off. It seems to stay on, I didn;t notice the clutch disengage

kkim

Normally, whenever the compressor enagages, the a/c condensor fan kicks on. If the condensor fan is running, the compressor is engaged.

If the compressor is running, what is the low side pressure reading?

A quick thought is that the expansion valve inside the evaporator is not working, which requires removal of the evaporator to fix.

djseek

Ok, Fan is running, the low side reads 0 (zero). When I turn the AC off the Low side reads 35PSI...

kkim

Best guess is that the expansion valve is blocked. Only way to fix that is to replace, I believe. At thhis point, I'd take it back to the shop that worked on your car to begin with to get a professional opinion. Option is to change out the expansion valve yourself and hope for the best. I bought a complete evaporator, complete with expansion valve and thermostat for $35 on Ebay.

Good luck... post your results.

djseek

can you email me at djseek@yahoo.com. My trial membership is going to expire after 5 posts.

Thanks for the help. BTW I can;t find the removal procedure or location of the expansion valve in any if my Honda service manuals.

kkim

check your email

jo3blo3

80 dollars to recharge an A/C System with R134A is a damn good deal considering the proces of R134 Refrigerant have skyrocketed as of early this year. Average price now is easily over 100 dollars and if its less, those people have not caught on to the price increases.

The first thing you did WRONG was adding a "stop leak" to your system. The purpose of this mess is simply the same concept of that in a leak stop for a tire. "Fix-a-Flat"

The stuff hardens up with air. If you had a good size leak which it was obvious you do due to the amount of time the charge held, then you have now created an even more severe situation then you may have originally had.

The dude up top is on point about having to replace your Expansion Valve but you are now also going to have to replace the Condensor as well if it is a multi-flow Condensor.

Your Low Side pressures if going into a vacuum are a definite sign of a faulty Expansion Device and Extremely high High Side pressures are going to indicate that of a restriction quite possibly a partially plugged Condensor.

The system would then have to be flushed out and you'd have to now start from there.

I don't even know why they sell that ****... Oh wait... we have to!

**** is the worst ever kiddies believe you me!

Best bet in all... take it to a pro and lettem handle it. But you can bet... it's not gonna be cheap!

Weird part that got me out of this all is you said your Compressor did not cycle off?

You may have an electrical problem on your hands as well. The compressor clutch should not engauge under these conditions.

kkim

Yeah, I forgot about the rising price of r134.

he might have a defective high pressure relief switch.

I agree, you need to take it to a professional at this point.

sinister6

Take it to the pros..for A/C, mostly we dont have much tools handy..
I have replace my Expansion Valve, Condensor. also replace the radiator thing.. all new parts, as i know the shop owner, i just simply choose to trust them whatever they quote me, and end up spending 250 bucks, yea its a little expensive, but i have a fooking cold A/C again, ice cold air blows ever more cold then Toyotas (if you guys ever sit in one...)

p.s OMFG!! it cost 80-100 bucks to refill the fooking car in US?? thats ******* RIP OFF, in Taiwan it cost about 30 bucks if you know the shop, still less then 50 if you not..