Just like the title say's. It's hot outside. Thursday has been the hotest day of the yr so far. And in Cali it's so hot your ***** stick to your legs all day! So I'm rollin in my 92 si hatch but the a/c is jacked. I dont know what is wrong with it but would like some help from you that know about a/c.

Questions:
1. How do I go about checking for leaks?
2. If I convert from r12-r134 or whatever it is now, what is the difference? Someone told me all it was was the conector. is the freeon itself any different?
3. Should I just take it to an a/c place, and what would you think would be a reasonable price to pay?

I hate it when I speed up so i can catch a cool breeze on the freeway but the breeze feels like stickin your head into an over! So hopefully you guys can give me hand on this. Thanks Peace!

 

anyone?? bump

 

yeah, I'm in cali too and it is gettin really hot. My recommendation is to take it to your local shop and check around for prices.

Or....

When driving, have a gallon of water with you. Then pour it on yourself while you drive with the windows down. It feels better than ac! I had to do that on my way back from Las Vegas!

sorry for the useless post.

 

^^^ lmao, long beach! it's hot as hellz past few days goodness... what's wrong with ur a/c? does it just blow air or does it not turn on all together.. does the a/c button light up?

 

Same problem here, my AC does blow but very little cold air. Also the air doesn't reach to the back passengers Hopefully it's just low and a re-charge would do the trick.

 

hahaha i like that! smart ***! funny tho! a gallon of water! i might have to bust that!

The ac light turns on, it blows air, its hot air, cuz its so friggin hot! but what im tryin to reach is how would i know if i have a leak in the system. I dunno if the previous owner had it recharges with r134. but im guessin most likely ill drain it and jus start fresh with new r134 with the cans they sell at autozone. for some like 25-30 nucks, but what i dont want is to doo all that work to realize that i have a leak in the system. keep in mind my car has like 270k miles on it and the ac condenser dont look too good visualy. ill try n get a pic if possible. And what would be a reasonable price to pay? would it be cheaper in long beach or compton or southgate, any info would be great! Thanks, Peace!

 

fittings changed on the r134 and some stickers, for r134 should have quick connects. i would recommend going to a/c shop. if you dont know much about it. i wouldnt mess with it.

 

go to a shop and have them recover all the freon, vacuum and recharge with dye..if you do go this route you will have to tell them to convert it to 134a. most shops have kits to convert it that arent that expensive..
i work at a honda stealership *dont flame* and 9 times out of 10 its a hole in the condenser, you just cant help rocks slamming into it while your driving on the highway eventually its gonna put a hole in it good luck not having AC bites the big one

 

I had my a/c recharged last year, and once again this summer, it's only good half the time.


What could be the possible problems?

I'm probably just going to take it to a shop, because i've found myself to be fed up with actually working on cars :-\

 

yea i know about the conector thing for the 134....
what should i expect to pay to get it checked out, im on a lil budget now, bills bills bills. i think i should get a suga mama! that way she can pay for all my stuff in exchange for my manhood! lol, yea ima fool. oh well, back to reality. ive seen somewere i dnt remember were they check it out for 26 bucks or something, but should 40-50bucks sound good? or should i just try draining it and just refillin with the autozone stuff. and someone mentioned something about dye???? is it more comlicated then im thinkin it is?? thanks!

 

they sell the ac conversion kit at walmart

 

DIY kits for people that don't have a clue about AC is how AC shops make their money.
Just judging by the questions you asked in your first question, you shouldn't even LOOK at the DIY cans at Wal mart and Autozone. Just take it to a shop. Seriously. Expect to fork out about $200 in parts and labor.
You'll get hit for a new receiver/dryer, new oil and refrigerant, possibly a fee for disposing of your old refrigerant (even if the system is empty, they'll still charge you a "recovery fee" which I think is BS.
Then they'll pull your system into a vacuum to see if it holds. If it does, they'll chrge it up for you and you'll be on your way.
If the vacuum doesn't hold they'll fill it with nitrogen and a trace charge to find the leak. Time consuming, so it'll cost you $$$ again.
AC work isn't for any idiot off the street. My HVAC school was 18 weeks long for a reason.
Take your car to a reputable shop right away, or do the DIY kit. Either way you'll end up at a shop.

 

personaly....... just take it to a AC shop............
they do all the stuff that you cannt do with that little kit!
and after its all swaped over and vaced out then they fill it with the new stuff and change fittings, and if you need it later on just add a can of the R what ever thru that quick snap adaptor piece, i always just do it till it gets cold... those gauges arent worth crap!

i typicaly gotta add a can every other year or so, just a tiny leak somewhere but its not that bad so i dont worry about it.

just hopefully its not a bad compressor which it could be!
but if you do it yourself just be sure to also add some oil and stop leak to it! it oils the compressor and tries to seal any leaks.
to know if your compressor is bad just give it a click and listen for a clicking noise..... if the compressor kicks in then right back out then its probably just low but thiers still the MAYBE which you dont wanna spend all this money on stuff and then find out thier was another problem!
IN SHORT take it to a pro! spend the extra money and be sure its done right.

 

**Not another useless post**

I bought an Acura TL-P 2000 model about 2 years ago. First thing I tested was the AC. It got cold for about 5 mins then it felt kinda, humid. Weird. Well, I took it to Acura because it was under warranty and they told me that it was "overcharged" with freon that the selling dealership put in. Maybe you can look into this seeing that you recharged your system twice.

Honestly, on my EK I've never recharged it and it's a 1997 that still blows cold air. But ultimately, check around for prices at your local shops!

 

if you end up needing a condensor i have them for cheap

 

hopefully its sumthin small and not like what i've been told. A shop told me it would cost $600-700 to replace just about everythin in the a/c system. and thats with remanufactured parts. i don't know wheather to fix it or use that money for sumthin else

 

^^use my gallon of water method!

 

Thanks for all the replies, as far as 600 bucks to fix, i would get a second opinion on that, or jus use the gallon of water method. Luckily it wasnt too hot on monday nor today..... dam i jus jinzed it! but we'll see how tomorrow turns out. ive got to wait till the weekend to go check this out at a shop. i figure i dont know exactly what im doin so i dont want to induce any damage to the system. but it was all helpful info. thanks guys!

 

r-12 was on older model cars i dont think you need to worry about converting. if your worried about leaks use the r-134a with stop leak. you can also buy a can of the straight stop leak. Its easy enough to put in, i help idiots at my job do it every day. you just connect the hose, run the car, turn the ac on full blast, and let the can drain into your ac system.

 

Ice? lol..

 

I live in cali havent had ac in 3+ years I dont know how I do it. I always get setups that wont allow it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jadugartir &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">r-12 was on older model cars i dont think you need to worry about converting. if your worried about leaks use the r-134a with stop leak. you can also buy a can of the straight stop leak. Its easy enough to put in, i help idiots at my job do it every day. you just connect the hose, run the car, turn the ac on full blast, and let the can drain into your ac system.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That stop leak crap clogs up your metering device. It's shitty stuff that bandages the true problem. Do stuff the right way or don't come complaining later on down the road when your stuff is all fugged up because of a bandage job.

 

Say, my 1994 EX's AC doesn't work either. Where's the condensor?

 

The radiator looking thing next to your radiator.

 

^^^

He's right.

The evaporator is inside your car.