First I'd like to say to all those I annoyed with my previous multiple posts that I am sorry. I am new to this board and I didn't realize hitting refresh on my browser to see if people had responded would repost the question over and over. Won't happen again.

Now on to my problem.

I told you all that my ac condenser fan was not turning so I tried to pull it out today. Stupid me unhooked the high pressure pipe from the condenser to make space to get my hands down to unscrew the fan motor and the whole thing just spewed out and sprayed me in my face

Anyway now my whole ac system has been purged although not intentionally.

I wasn't able to replace the fan either because even with that pipe out of the way I couldn't get it out.. I'm not sure how and why it wouldn't come out but I was so frustrated that I gave up at that point.

As I said before my ac blew cold when driving but not at idle.

I decided I could just live with this for a while so I bought a can of r134a to refill it on the low pressure side as instructed.

turned the car on, ran the ac on high, and filled it to about 35PSI.

The ac now is warm even when the car is running.

Why would this happen?

One thing to note is I started filling the r134a for about 5 secs while the motor was off with no ac on obviously.. I am not sure if that alone would cause problems but that's the only thing I can think of that may have caused my problems with the recharge.

I know I sound like a complete idiot but please cut me some slack as I'm clueless when it comes to AC systems
Can someone shed some light? I just want my ac to run even if it wont at idle and only at speeds I'm ok with that. <U></U> <U></U>

 

First, draw a vacuum on the AC system, preferably more than 20" of vacuum. Then fill it with refrigerant. If your condenser fan doesn't come on after its filled to the proper level, its either the fan or you might have a problem with the pressure switch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by King V &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First, draw a vacuum on the AC system, preferably more than 20" of vacuum. Then fill it with refrigerant. If your condenser fan doesn't come on after its filled to the proper level, its either the fan or you might have a problem with the pressure switch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is absolutely critical. You have to draw a vacuum to get all the moisture out of the system! Your a/c will never work right without this crucial step being performed properly. A/C pumps are expensive, and not many places rent them. This is why doing a/c work at home is a PITA.

You should replace your drier, and then have a shop put a vacuum on the car for you, and just let them go ahead and recharge as well, because these sorts of things are better left to professionals.

Is your car designed for R134 or did you do a pseudo conversion at the same time?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jonathan_ED3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

This is absolutely critical. You have to draw a vacuum to get all the moisture out of the system! Your a/c will never work right without this crucial step being performed properly. A/C pumps are expensive, and not many places rent them. This is why doing a/c work at home is a PITA.

You should replace your drier, and then have a shop put a vacuum on the car for you, and just let them go ahead and recharge as well, because these sorts of things are better left to professionals.

Is your car designed for R134 or did you do a pseudo conversion at the same time?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The other thing I was noticing after doing the recharge (Without vaccum) was that when the ac is turned on I could hear this slight hissing noise coming from near the glove compartment I guess where the blower fan is located... any idea why it's making this noise?


So there is no way to recharge without first vacuuming correct? That sucks.. guess I'll have to take it to a shop after all.

About how much would I pay for a vacuum and recharge at the shop? Maybe I'll just have them fix my fan while i'm at it.. how much should I pay for something like this?

 

Generally a noticeable hiss from the evaporator is from moisture or air in the system.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stockEJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">About how much would I pay for a vacuum and recharge at the shop? Maybe I'll just have them fix my fan while i'm at it.. how much should I pay for something like this?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's going to vary wildly. Some shops won't do a vacuum/recharge without doing an entire system inspection.

Others don't care and will do literally (and only) what you ask them to do.

I've seen shops charge anywhere from $30-100 for a evac/vacuum/recharge for R134.