Thread: Freon+working compressor= no cold air??

So ive had this problem for about a month and haven't looked to deap into it until recently, now that its 106 out. So I just replaced the majority of the a/c components about 6 months ago and everything worked great. I thought maybe I didn't tighten something down enough and I had a leak so I tried refilling it and the system says its full and it did squirt out a little freon when I connected the hose. The a/c clutch also engages and disengages exactly as it should so I don't know what the problem is. I should mention I have a 99 with the digital dual climate control.

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Yes also the a/c line in the engine bay doesn't even get the slightest bit cold

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Originally Posted by rickisrad

I've seen where the pressure switch wiring is corroded where it goes into the harness. Also maybe a bad pressure switch. Do you have gauges to read the pressures?

I will have access to real gauges next tuesday, all I have now is the can refill gauge. That gauge says its full though and there's definitely a good amount of pressure in the system when I push down on the Schrader valve on the low side port.

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Really need to see what both sides of pressure are to figure it out. Might be overcharged.

Well I emptied out the system obviously in a completely legal way. I noticed that it started spraying some freon or oil or something but then the whole rest of the time seemed to be just air so now I'm guessing there is a leak and the system was just pressurizing air making the gauge read full.

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Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

Nerp.

Freon is a gas when it hit's outside air/no pressure, it will just look like compressed air behind shot out. The oil is the pag oil that lubes the pump and seals.

What if the freon you use has dye in it? Wouldn't it come out colored then rather then just like air?

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Ok guys I need help. I hooked some actual gauges up to it. Before hand I evacuated everything in the system. Refilled with freon, hooked up gauges and low side is reading normal but high side isn't anywhere near what its supposed to be its very low. When I turn on the compressor the low side dips a little bit and then returns to the previous reading. The high side pressure never builds. The compressor is only a few months old and was working originally and it does turn on or atleast the clutch engages. Is my compressor some how bad even though it turns on or might I have a bad expansion valve or something?

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No, the dye is usually UV dye and will not change the color of a gas. What you need is some UV glasses and a UV light to check for leaks if that is what you put in the system.

When you drew a vac on the system, how long did you vac it and what did it draw down to? How long did it hold the vac after stopping the process? How much Freon did you put back in?

I'm far from an A/C expert but I've dealt with mine (and others) enough to know some. What pressures were you seeing on the low and high side? What was the ambient temp and humidity?

Its 100* out and we were seeing avoit 45psi on both the low and high side with the compressor on or off. The only thing that happened when we turned the compressor on is the low side pressure would drop to maybe 10psi for a second or 2 and then go back up to 45. The high side never changed. We evacuated the system for 40min I'm not sure what the pressure was at after. I put approximately 18oz of freon

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Despite the compressor being farely new and it looking like its working my dad seems to think there's something wrong with it since the high side isn't building pressure so we are on our way to the store to swap it out under warranty

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You should really hook up the vacuum pump before anything else.

You have to know it can pull a vacuum to 30hg and hold it. You have to do this to make sure you have boiled the moisture from the system.
If it doesn't pull down that far or hold the vacuum you have a leak.

Leave the pump on until it gets to 30

Ok we are re evacing the system now and its almost at 30 so I will keep you updated. Thanks for all your help guys

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I should have said shut the pump off when its on 30 and see if it will hold

Status update got it down to 30hg and over a few minutes the vac leaked out. I then re vacd it down to 30 closed off the valves on both ports and it still lost vac at which point I knew the harbour freight gauges were leaking. Evacd back to ring and filled up with freon. Super cold a/c!! So that compressor was f*ckd

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I hope you let it sit at 30Hg for a while (30-60 min is typical) to see if it held the vac, otherwise you may still have a leak somewhere.

IIRC, the system holds 1.88lbs of Freon, which= 30.08oz, so about 2 1/2 12oz. cans should fill it up just right.

Originally Posted by FordMan77

I hope you let it sit at 30Hg for a while (30-60 min is typical) to see if it held the vac, otherwise you may still have a leak somewhere.

IIRC, the system holds 1.88lbs of Freon, which= 30.08oz, so about 2 1/2 12oz. cans should fill it up just right.

It did not hold pressure at 30hg but the gauges we were using were leaking so there was no for sure way to leak test the system. Considering we just installed a whole brand new system last October, put new seals/orings and it worked for 2 months before randomly not working one day me and my dad are very hopeful it was just the compressor.

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And the charts I saw online all said our cars take 36oz so I put in 3 12oz cans which probably makes it 35oz with the little bit of loss of each can.

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