I give up and am just going to try doing it myself. I'm going to get the 134a refill and add it myself.
short story - I've got a friend who's line of work is in this area, he does his own cars and has offered a few times to do mine, (I never asked), so I've been calling him and he's never around, I know he's real busy, but I'm starting to feel like one of those people who keep calling for something, screw that I'd rather pay the 1700 bucks than be that guy.
Basically I would like to know where to add it, if anyone has any advice however small it would be greatly appreciated. My mechanic did a test on the system last and used the last of the gas to do the test, whatever that means. Basically he said it was so low that he used up what was left. Now the a/c won't turn on at all, the light tries and goes into auto shut off due to the low gas. Can I even add gas under this condition? So any help at all would be real welcome.

(oh yeah, and mechanics can't add gas for me, it's illegal around here, pretty much has to rehaul the whole thing.)

 

Over on the right side by battery box is the low side fitting should have a blue cap on it. hook up the recharge line there. you want about 40 psi on the low side. good luck

 

You can add freon 134A to it. Get a kit and several cans. Turn A/C on max and fans on max, windows down. Look for low pressure fitting, it is on passenger side near your battery. Take off cap and attach fitting. It will take freon. Some kits have a pressure gauge on them to tell you when full or you can just feel air for coolness. Keep can upright so liquid doesn't flow into system, only gas. It will take a while.

Note: If your system is completely empty, it may need to have a vacuum pulled on it. This is beyond a do-it-yourselfer.

 

thanks guys for that, btw if I added the gas and that turns out to be the case with the vacuum, I wouldn't have damaged it right?

 

I don't think you will damage it, but I am not an A/C expert. If it is contaminated with air, the moisture will ruin the reciever/dryer, but this will already have happened. This part is typically replaced on a compromised system. The worse is that it will not cool as well.

 

You can speed the gas fill by putting the bottom of the can in hot water. RPM should be about 1500 rpm to aid fill. Some cars have a low pressure switch on the accumulator (where you are filling) pull off electrical connection and jumper between the terminals which allows the compressor to turn on.

 

Ok, thanks, So then if this is the case, you're saying I won't get anywhere just filling it, I need to jumper it.
I'm sure it has this, this must be what the mechanic was talking about then, the low pressure switch. Before when there was a little bit of gas the a/c would work, indicator light came on and stayed on, just there was no cool air. After he emptied that bit of gas, the a/c won't come on at all, you push the button, it flashes a couple of times and then turns off. He said this was a sensor that won't let it run when there is low or no gas.

 

Can I ask a related question without being booted? Because depending on the answer, this could happen to Corvettes too. I just tried to recharge the company Blazer. 1998. Let's just say it is a corvette for now. I used to do the R-12 in our old cars, but haven't done the R134 since it came out. So it has that pull back connector that snaps on the intake valve, and then the pull back thing pushes back and locks the connector onto the low pressure side, right? But mine wouldn't fit on far enough to snap into the slot. Did they somehow change the connector since 1998 for R134? Thanks.

 

Important info here.... I just got a couple of cans of 134A also. But dont know how to connect them or how to make this work.

(Also have a kit in there to transfer the Honda to 134A, I wonder how I'll do that..)

 

Looks like a lot of people need A/C help here. Ok, driveway A/C 101: Get to your parts store, buy the TALL can of 143a with the gauge already attached inline with your hose and coupler. Make sure it is the re-usable kind that you can move from can to can. Next locate your low pressure intake valve. There are two valves in your A/C lines. They are idiot proof for a good reason. The ONLY valve that the coupler will fit on is the LOW PRESSURE valve. The HIGH side valve is much bigger. Now that you have the low side located, test fit your coupler to get the hang of attaching it to your line. Make sure you get it seated all the way down and that the coupler is locked in with the slide from the coupler. You will hear gas escaping from your line, if there is any in there to start with, so do this fairly quickly. Disconnect your coupler and start the car. Turn your AC on MAX, fan too. Now attach your coupler to the LOW side line and hit the valve. You should feel the can get cold and see/hear the compressor kick on, if the system us taking any freon. If it doesn't turn cold and the compressor doesn't kick on, you will have to close the valve on the can, disconnect the hose, turn car off and take the negative post off your battery for a minute or so. This clears the LOW PRESSURE CODE out of the system, and will allow the compressor to kick on when it gets enough freon in the system. Go do everything all over again, and this time you will feel the can get cold and the compressor will kick on when it gets enough gas in there. It may take more than one can to get enough in there, so don't worry. Once you have gas going in, and the compressor on, watch the gauge on your can, it will go from yellow, to green, and tell you how many pounds are in the system. Once you get to the middle of the green section 35-40 or so, turn the valve off on the can and remove it from the line. Barring anything else wrong with your system, you should be running cool and fine.
P.S. get the freon with the leak detecting agent already in it. It will help you or your mechanic to track down the problem if you have one.
HTH

 

They haven't changed the fittings. Are you sure you had the right pressure fitting? If you try to put it on the HIGH side port, it won't go like that. Either that, or you have something either around, in, on or the fitting or coupler that isn't allowing it to seat all the way.

 

What year honda? Unless its VERY old, it should have 134A in there already. There will be a sticker under the hood telling you what's in it. If that's missing, just try to put your 134a coupler on your low pressure fitting. The old R12 fittings are HUGE, and it won't even come close to fitting. If it goes on, then you know you already have 134a and just re-charge it, nothing to change out.

 

I agree. Did my daughters and her compressor would not come on. Unplugged the quick disconnect and jumped it with a paperclip and it came on. Sucked in the freon with no problem. I don't know if an oil charge is needed or if the freon would be enough. I added a bit of oil to hers and it's been running great for a couple of years. Dont know what the proper pressures are, but she had it checked a couple of weeks back and all seemed ok. Good luck!

 

It slid it on but it wouldn't seat all the way down. There are two that I can see, and they're both the same size. One line snakes up from below, presents the valve, and then snakes back down. The other is part of the circular cylinder..not sure if this is the evaporator or not, but the valves looked to be the same size. You said the high side is MUCH larger, and neither look larger than the other. (Remember, this is a Blazer...still a Chevy!)

Also, didn't R-12 have a screw-type connector? If true, that's a good way to tell which system you have. I used to push that into the A/C all the time on the older beaters I had. Still have half a tank (10-15 lbs) of R-12, but they say it goes bad in 1-2 years. I'm hanging on to it, if anyone wants it.

Thanks for the help.

 

Look for the valve with the BLACK or BLUE cap on it. The other one should be RED, as in warning don't mess with this valve. When you push the connector on the valve, you say it won't go down far enough....but does it go down far enough for the slide to be slid back down the coupler? Push it on, and try to slide the slide back down the coupler. If it seats against the end of its travel, then just tug gently on the hose to make sure it is secure. That's as far as it should go. The connector won't go all the way to the bottom of the valve seat anyway, normally.

 

Both the ones that I described have black caps. Didn't see a red cap in the system, but that's just what's easily visible. The connector goes down onto the valve, but only about halfway; I can even still see the slot that I think it's supposed to click over. The slider slides back down the connector piece, but it really doesn't look seated. Doesn't go far enough to have that center pin in the connector engaging into the deeper hole within the valve. And, when I actuate the gas, it sprays all over the inside of the engine area. Good times. At keast it's not the vette!

Thanks again for your time on this!

 

Sounds like you have the wrong valve to me. Two black caps? hmmm someone has messed with that thing before. When all else fails, try the other valve. It has to fit one or the other. Unless the blazer has the old R12 in it. What year is that thing anyway? There should be the AC sticker under the hood, or on the radiator support that tells you what's in the system. If it baffles you anymore, bring it to hagerstown maryland, I'll fix it for ya.

 

 

Awesome info here, I just gotta go find this stuff now I'm going tonight.

 

.If it has 2 black caps,then it sounds like R12 to me..G.M. was slow to convert to R134a...Chrysler actually was using R134a, early on about 1994 if I remember...