A/C Recharge

Anyone know which one is the low-side port to recharge A/C system? Read my other "Radiator" post to understand why I might need a recharge.

Does our cars take r134?

Has anyone recharged this themselves?

More importantly, you should find out where it's leaking and fix it. My Riv has never been recharged since the original owners and my A/C is so cold I get frozen in the car on a hot day. I don't buy into that "Every car needs it so often", that only happens when it's leaking.

Quote :

Read my other "Radiator" post to understand why I might need a recharge.

Gahh, too lazy to have seen it. Ignore my above comment then

Ridin-Rivi wrote:

Anyone know which one is the low-side port to recharge A/C system? Read my other "Radiator" post to understand why I might need a recharge.

Does our cars take r134?

Has anyone recharged this themselves?

The low pressure port is the one closest to the firewall. The recharge
cannister nozzle will be too small to fit on the high side port.

If it were me I'd let a mechanic do it. An honest one won't charge much more for it than you'll pay for the recharge cans.

actually 134A does get weak the older it gets....its nothing like R12

i did mine on a machine when i worked at Malletts...best way to do it....pull a nice vac on the system..check for leaks...an fillerup...

TType_Riviera wrote:

actually 134A does get weak the older it gets....its nothing like R12

i did mine on a machine when i worked at Malletts...best way to do it....pull a nice vac on the system..check for leaks...an fillerup...

Actually it is a lot weaker from the start, R134A is no where near as efficient as R12 in removing heat from the air. That is actually what an A/C system does. On a 90 plus degree day in traffic R134A will not cool anywhere near as well as R12! It just doesn't compare. A system that was designed to use R12 will not work as well with the 134 because the system wasn’t designed for it either.
I have hoses and gauges for both, and a vacuum pump, but most everything I have has been converted.

Ok, so do our cars use R12 or R134a? I have a leak in my system that after the addition of dye, was determined to be at the compressor. The A/C system just stopped working one day and I thought it just gave out due to age, but a trip to the shop discovered that it had just ran out of fluid and they recharged the system. Works fine now, but I know I'm on barrowed time. I don't have the money to replace the compressor and dryer(wich is what the mechanic wants to do) any time soon and summer is just getting started(GREAT!) So, I was wondering can I just keep rechargeing the system as needed to get through the summer? My mechanic says that normally he would say this is a bad idea due to short-cycling BUT,he believes my car uses a V5 compressor since it is a 99, and has no idea if just rechargeing it will harm the system or not since he admitts he does not know how that type of compressor works. So anyone know? does it indeed use a V5? And finally, IF I can just recharge as needed, How abought leak sealer? I've noticed that alot of the recharge cans that you get from the auto parts stores come fortified with some kind of stop leak in them. The can ofcourse says that it will not harm the system but I'm not sure. Anyone ever use one of these before? I just don't wan't to cause more harm than good. The compressor and dryer are expensive enough and I don't need to rack up a higher bill due to my lack of knowledge so, any advice is much appreaciated.

The air compressor is $190 on Rockauto.com, and the drier is $21, if you go with the cheapest options. I paid $40 for labor to have my compressor changed 3 years ago. If you're in a city though it'll probably be higher.

The refill cans are garbage. What is most likely your problem is a leaking seal on the compressor. You've got to run the compressor weekly or the seal won't stay lubricated and it will fail. Eventually your seal will get to the point where the day after you have the AC system recharged all your freon will be gone.

It sucks but your only option is to get the parts and have the work done. Anything else is a waste of time and money. Sorry, been there myself.

Our systems use R134A and the compressor runs almost continuously by design, it is a V5, continuously variable pressure and volume depending on the needs of the HVAC system.
Not like the older units. Replace the compressor and the Reciever Drier along with the Orifice valve/filter. Your mech will know.
So you need a compressor that doesn't leak, seep or weep for everything to work properly.
If you add too much of any kind of leak sealer you will further clog up the system and than you will need a total system flush before replacing all of the above mentioned parts.
If you want to buy one can of the freon with the leak sealer go ahead and try it, but I would not use anymore than that.
From experience, my compressor failed by leaking at the joint where it is bolted together (sounds like you have the same problem) I just added freon occasionally for a couple of month's and then had everything replaced as necessary with new.
Problems have been gone now for almost 3 years.
Remember our cars use the compressor year round. Not just in the summer time.

Thanks for the info guys. Really good to know the specifics of what I'm dealing with. Espeacially the part abought what you went through with yours Rick. Helps to know That I can just add freon as needed for a little while. Don't worry I won't go crazy with the sealer either, I figure one of the small cans will do, then if I need more freon I will just stick with regular R134a. I'm not planning on adding freon cans forever, I'm just trying to buy a little time till I can afford to get this taken care of properly. Thanks again for the help.