How many of you guys have tried this stuff, or anything similar? Is it hard to use? I'm not really a car junky so I don't really get where to discharge the can. I don't think my AC is as cold as it was four years ago when I bought the car, and maybe this stuff will help.

Does it even work?

 

ive heard somewhere that you need to vaccum everything out of your system first and then refill or recharge or whatever,...i dont know,...i took the AC out of both my cars

 

Take it to an AC shop and have them do it. If you still have refrigerant in your system, you run the chance of overcharging it which will cause higher than optimal pressures, and you run the chance of blowing seals. Like I said, have a shop recover all the old refrigerant, and weigh the new charge into it. If your car uses R-134A you're looking at a $100 job TOPS. That stuff you're looking at in the picture would be for a brand new install or a retrofit. It has both the refigerant AND oil. If you have a working system, you don't need more oil. Too much oil is bad. Think of your car's engine. It's meant to run on about 4 quarts. If all of the sudden you dump an additional 4 quarts in, your engine won't be happy.
Well, just my $.02. And I kinda know what I'm talking about. I've been doing the air conditioning field for 7 years.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Frozen Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Take it to an AC shop and have them do it. If you still have refrigerant in your system, you run the chance of overcharging it which will cause higher than optimal pressures, and you run the chance of blowing seals. Like I said, have a shop recover all the old refrigerant, and weigh the new charge into it. If your car uses R-134A you're looking at a $100 job TOPS. That stuff you're looking at in the picture would be for a brand new install or a retrofit. It has both the refigerant AND oil. If you have a working system, you don't need more oil. Too much oil is bad. Think of your car's engine. It's meant to run on about 4 quarts. If all of the sudden you dump an additional 4 quarts in, your engine won't be happy.
Well, just my $.02. And I kinda know what I'm talking about. I've been doing the air conditioning field for 7 years. </TD></TR></TABLE>

What if the AC system was taken apart and then reinstalled? Would that mean the system was drained of all refrigerant and oil? If so, then technically we can use the over-the-counter stuff ... right? That's my predicament (sorry for hijacking the thread).

JLi

 

go ahead and do it.................. its easy as hell.. there is no way that you can over fill it because there is not enough 134 in there to do that. just make sure you hold the can upside down and hold the coupling down hard

 

If the system was open to the air then you need to replace the reciever/dryer at a minimum. I would also recommend replacing all the o-rings. Then you have to have the system purged to vacuum. Both to test the seals and to remove any residual moisture.

Yes, it's a pain in the *** but that's the proceedure. It's not really worth it unless you really know your way around AC systems. Take it to a shop. Trust me. Thats what I had to do and I usually do ALL my own work.

PS. If you try to charge up a R12 system with R134a you HAVE to replace ALL the o-rings and seals and purge out ALL the old oil or you will end up destroying the compresser.

Mike

 

If the AC system was taken appart (as in laying around in pieces in your garage, you can re-install it, but like the guy further up said you should at a minimum replace the receiver drier. That part's purpose it to remove any moisture you might get into the refrigerant system. Moisture in your AC system is bad. Causes corrosion and in extreme caes may cause a restriction in your evaporator if it gets cold enough (if you have a low charge your AC system will to a point actually be COLDER). The other problem with just slapping a system back together and charging it back up is air in your system. Refrigerant can condense back into a liquid (huge part in making the system work). Air does not condense. Air can sit in your condenser all day long and not go anywhere. If you get enough in there it can cause a vapor lock and make your AC do next to nothing. This is why you should take the car to a qualified shop where they can do all this for you. New drier, pull all the air out with a vacuum pump, if you ask them they might even purge it with dry nitrogen just to make sure ALL the moisture is gone. Then, like I said above, have them weigh in the charge for you.

As far as being able to OVERCHARGE. Yes, it's possible. I'm not sure how much refrigerant hondas take. But it's possible. Especially if he has a system that's just low (it still has some in it). The particular picture he posted is of a complete charge kit. Meaning refrigerant AND oil. If you have a leak in your system you MIGHT lose a little bit of oil. If you use that can above, you'll have WAYYY too much oil in there.
Also if you undercharge your system you risk freezing up the evaporator, which is going to keep ANY air from getting through the cooling coil, which once again causes NO AC!!!!
Again, that was another $.02 of mine

 

Why does wal-mart and all the automotive stores sell the refill r134 cans if there are so many critical points to "adding" the r134?

I ask because I disconnected the drier to remove the windshield wiper resevoir tank. The system did discharge with the disconnection and I would like to recharge now. I don't care to spend $100 on this because the car is not my daily driver (weekend cruiser) and will be dropping a K20 in next year.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid93Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why does wal-mart and all the automotive stores sell the refill r134 cans if there are so many critical points to "adding" the r134?

I ask because I disconnected the drier to remove the windshield wiper resevoir tank. The system did discharge with the disconnection and I would like to recharge now. I don't care to spend $100 on this because the car is not my daily driver (weekend cruiser) and will be dropping a K20 in next year.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

What is the point of dropping a k20, when you can't even afford $100 A/C charge?

 

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

What is the point of dropping a k20, when you can't even afford $100 A/C charge?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I never said I "could not afford the $100".

I just rather pi$$ my money way on something else and DImyself.

What's the point in posting if you can't provide any useful info

"Why does wal-mart and all the automotive stores sell the refill r134 cans if there are so many critical points to "adding" the r134?"

 

he's right, there's no sense in a TECH forum when all you guys say is "take it to a shop"

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dickeytk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">he's right, there's no sense in a TECH forum when all you guys say is "take it to a shop"</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Bump! Looking to do this next week

 

Yesterday I found that my power steering pulley ate through one of my hard lines after installing a radiator and adjusting the condenser. I had to use a black-light to find the hole.... my engine bay looks nuts with that dye all over the place. I'm going to have to take it to a shop to vaccum the system out. I'm in Texas, so I have to have it working as good as possible. I've been quoted $120 so far

 

if you lived near granbury texas i could help you. I have all neccessary vacuum tools and stuff. But if you dont pull vacuum on it, it wont get as cold and it builds acid which in the long run will pretty much destroy all your seals and your compressor

 

I don't get it......this is your race car....but you want the added weight and strain on your crank??? Hmmm.....Ask any racer.....any real racer lol had to throw that line in there.....but who cares about ac in a car that is made to go fast....if its not daily driven.

my opinion.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dickeytk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">he's right, there's no sense in a TECH forum when all you guys say is "take it to a shop"</TD></TR></TABLE>
Because theres somethings that cant be done by you weekend warriors. You can do it the hard way and have your components screw up on you or you can take it to a qualified Technician and spend the extra money to have it done right. I understand the concept of DIY but if you dont know how an Air Conditioning system functions and the steps it takes to make it function correctly than why would you bet your chickens on doing it yourself. I bet half of you dont even know the proper way to evacuate and recycle refrigerant.

 

There's a decent sized thread floating around here now that goes into detail on how to fix your own AC.