well, heres the deal. I got a 96 and i got this meter because my ac was not as cold as before. when i checked it, it says i was almost low on refrigerant. So I went to pepboys and bought a can of DuPont 134a refrigerant. I hooked everything correctly when filling, to the low side, and filled away. When I was almost done, the car went weird on me. The ac switched to on for about 1 second and switched off and it does this again and again. The motor also seemed to have trouble keeping up and the rpm dropped down to about 300. The gauge says that I did not refill over too. When i took it out for a spin, i can hear the motor clicking and the car losing some power when the ac motor goes on. This is the first time i have done this and i really really appreciate some advice on whats going on.

 

was the ac working before the refill? and the motor suppose to lose SOME power when the compressor clicks on.

 

the a/c was working perfectly, except maybe its not really that cold. i only filled in 1 can of refrigerant and the compressor was on when i did it. the main thing is that the a/c switches ON for about a second and the engine stumbles and then the a/c turns off. it does this over and over so im stuck right now with no a/c. anyone have any ideas?

 

I was talking to a buddy who owns a shop and he was saying that on a/c cars, the motor will turn on and off when the coolant is low and this is an indication that more coolant is needed.

As for 1 can, when I recharged mine, I used two cans and I still think I am going to put at least half a can in it cuz it's cold, but not that cold.

 

if it cycles that much u need more freon...unless you know wut u r doing A/C is one of those things that you should just let a shop do IMO...

 

thanks for the great help. i really really appreciate it. it sounds as if i have no freon in the system. But before i added the can in, the ac was not low but on the verge of "adding a little extra freon". So what can have happened? I dont think i did it wrong, just plug in the can, hook it up to the low side, and fill away. I feel so sad because its something that should have been easy but fell apart and im stuck with more problems.

 

When your system in not cooling as good as it should, that does not mean that it is low on refrigerant. While this is the most common reason, theres many other things to check. For instance.....Many Hondas that come into my shop need the heater cable adjusted as it's not blocking all the hot coolant from going into the evap box. Also common is an expansion valve not functioning properly. Receiver driers can also become restricted causing inefficient cooling. Check for a temp difference in the 2 lines at the drier (they should be same temp).....Anyone of these things can raise your vent temps quite a bit....Hondas use a high/low pressure switch on there a/c systems. If the pressure is too low it cuts the compressor off. If the pressure is too high it also cuts it off. The fact that your motor bogs down when the a/c comes on and then cuts off (a/c) tells me either your fan is not coming on or you are way overcharged. Take it to a pro before you kill your compressor......3gdude

 

is there anyway i can check if the system is overcharged? I heard there is a way from the high side of the port... is it true?

 

Ya, all you have to do is hook up a set of guages to both the high side and the low side. If the a/c was still getting cool, just not very cold you definetely overcharged the system. Your best option is now to take it to a shop and have them evacuate and recharge the system properly.

 

i cant really tell if the ac is cold or not because it doesnt have a chance to compress it. it just turns on for a second and then off. It does this over and over and over...

 

If the a/c system is empty,usually the compressor will not come on at all.
If the system is low, usually the compressor will cycle on and off quickly


also, the engine will stumble slightlywhen the compressor comes on due to more load instantly applied to the engine

 

hhhmm... that really makes sense. do you guys think that the gauge from autozone is correct or way out of wack? i got it for about $20 bucks but expect it to be somewhat accurate. the only thing i can think of is that when i recharged it, i let all the freon out but i dont know how i would have done that

 

can someone tell me some symptoms of a overfilled system?