My fans weren't working on high speed which I now recently discovered and my AC would stop working when the PCM called for the high speed of the fans but worked fine cruising. So I replaced the condenser, accumulator and orifice tube.

I borrowed a vacuum pump that I ran for 15hrs. I turned it off and 3 hrs later the needles didn't move so everything was tight and leak free. Before I did this I poured 4oz of the 150 oil into the accumulator since the service manual says if you replace the condenser you need to add 2oz and another 2oz for the accumulator.

Now I added a 12oz can without the car running then a 3oz can that contained 1oz of oil, 1oz of freon and another 1oz of some special crap I don't remember. I filled this through the low pressure side. I then started the car with the AC to max and on recirc. The low and high sides are the same pressure 30 psi (verified the ac clutch was engaged too). So I dumped another 12oz can which brought the total up to 25oz of freon. So I bought another 12 oz can and dumped maybe half and now the low side with the AC on was around 70 psi as was the high side. The low side isn't cold and the hot side isn't hot and same goes for the condenser being not hot and I had the AC on for about 15 mins. I slowly dumped the freon out so the low side was between 30-35 psi and the low side line never got cold. Even when I was dumping the freon to start with the low side never got cold but the system was under a good vacuum when I began adding the freon.

1.75 lbs is around 28oz of freon right? Sorry for the long read. It says the high side should be between 150-200 but it never got that high.

Is the AC compressor just screwed or did I do something wrong during the filling process?

 

Were high and low side same pressures at all times basically? If so, compressor isn't on (or isn't working at least). Usually as soon as it clicks on when you're adding refrigerant the high side shoots up and low side goes down pretty quick..

How are you sure the compressor is on?

Do the pressures ever move opposite directions? i.e. high goes up and low goes down? or always the same?

 

I stuck a flashlight and seen the clutch was spinning then turned the ac off and the clutch wasn't spinning. I at one point released enough freon to about 20 psi and the ac turned off. Then added some more and it engaged back on. The high side never shoots up, it's seems to stay with the low side pressure at all times. When I turn the AC off the low side shoots up to 70 psi then when I turn the ac back on it goes back down to around 30 psi.

 

I'll also add that I had the condenser removed for about a week with the system open to air and drove the car about 30 miles in that time trying to fix my cooling issues.

 

IF,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The compressor clutch is engaged (center hub spinning) the compressor should be pumping R-134.

You SHOULD see equal pressure on the HIGH & LOW sides when the system is idle and the pressures should go active (high on the high side and around 28-30 psi on the LOW side when the compressor is connected and driving the compressor..
If,,, you have the correct differential pressure between the high and low side and the orface restrictor is spraying R-134,,, you should have cooling, The LOW side should be COLD and the high side should be HOT.

Sounds like you charged it ok.. Did you have the R-134 Can UP-RIGH during the low pressure side FILL. Up-Right injects GAS in the gas side..

Bill

 

I kept the can upright. If the orifice tube for some reason is clogged (I put a new one in) or somehow in wrong would either of the low side or high side read way different then the other side? As it is now during all of this adding freon the low and high side read the same. The low side was never cold during any of the adding of freon by the port. I've added freon to my beater and the low side tubing always gets frigid.

I guess I'll check it out when I wake up in the afternoon and just make sure the ac clutch is engaged the whole time and verify the pressures when it's on and off and report back.

 

The orface tube is the divide line between high and low pressure. If it doesnt seal off the HIGH SIDE from the LOW side, it will never build pressure. The very small hole in the tube allows the high pressure to spray just enough R-134 into the evap to change the spray into a gas from the begining and to the end outlet wher the suction of the pump picks up the gas and pressureizes it sends it through the condensor and then back to a liquid

Bill

 

Oh damn, I think that might be the issue then. I bought some high dollar one compared to the cheap one that's supposed to help in hotter climates. It seemed like it went in a bit crooked. I tried to pull it back out but the old one came out easy and I couldn't pull the new one back out. I guess I'll need to find out how far it should go in. Is the remover and installer tool needed? One more thing. I was worried about this part of the install of it so I blew into the tubing it went in, I blew into it from the front to rear (orifice tube was on the opposite end) and it seemed easy to blow into but blowing in the tube, rear to front (blowing through the orifice tube down the pipe) it was really hard to force air through it. I made sure I put it in the same way the old one came out.

Thanks Bill. Time to go yank it out.

 

Your compressor is basically a pump.Even if no piping is connected to it, the compressor will have a differential pressure. Sounds like the valves in your compressor have failed.

 

So I released the freon in Mexico and it took 10 seconds with the bolt barely loosened even though I put about 28oz in the system. Pressure was about 20 psi. I didn't see anything wrong with the orifice tube. Blowing into it from the opposite end was had and seemed like it was doing what it's supposed too. So now I got it back under a vacuum and will let it hold overnight after the vacuum process is done to verify if in fact it's not loosing the vacuum.


Is 28oz what the system actually holds if it's completely empty and under a high vacuum?

Do you add it on the low side or does it not matter?

Should I start the car and have the AC enabled then add the first can?

 

Pull vacuum. Should only take about 15 minutes, even with a small pump. Connect refrigerant cylinder and start car with a/c on high. Add liquid ( little at a time) refrigerant to low side. Compressor will cycle on low pressure switch until you have enough refrigerant charged to keep compressor on constantly. Add refrigerant until you have correct amount in or , as I do, about 50 degrees air temp out of vent. I get my r134a in 30# cylinders, so I've always used the vent temp.

 

What is to high on the low side when adding the freon? I just crack it open to maintain it around 40 then close it once it starts going above that. Would I know if something else is the problem if the high side doesn't come up once there's enough for the system to turn on? I was surprised how little pressure came out after I added 28oz of freon into the system yesterday. When I first did this with I'm assuming the stock feon how long it took to vacate the pressure from the system.

I just turned it off and it has -30 in it so I'll see if it holds.

 

An hour should tell you if you have a leak or not. A big one anyways. A micron guage is best, but if your manifold guage holds -30 for an hour or so you should be good.
Once you start adding refrigerant you should start building high side pressure and should see a pressure diff between low and high. Around a hundred or so pounds. IF your compressor is running. If it's running and you're gauge pressures are equal. I'd suspect bad compressor valves. Make sure the compressor clutch is engaged for sure.

 

By god I found a leak even though the vacuum didn't move. I was onto my 2nd can and felt the connection at the drier that the low side connects to and bam I had what seemed like the slow amount I was putting in was coming out. I probably didn't size up the oring right on the back of the oring package.

On second thought the orings came with the drier for both connections. I only replaced the 2 oring connections to the condenser and orifice tube. Hmm

 

If the high side pressure doesn't come up as soon as the compressor comes on, something is wrong, period.

It almost sounds like the orifice tube isn't sealed or something and instead of being the "dividing line" between high/low pressure areas, it's just letting everything through

Hard to say without seeing it though. AC systems can be finicky. You should def. see the high side pressure go up quick though once the compressor comes on

 

Truth be told I'm an idiot. I didn't think about closing the high side when I needed to check the low side and closing the low side when I needed to check the high side. I replaced the oring with one that was harder to put on and no leak. Once I figured out the basic operation of the two gauge system I now have 25-30 psi on the low side and around 150 on the high side (if I'm reading the gauge correctly). AC is blowing nice and cold.

 

What are you "closing"? There is a valve at the actual connection to the AC system ports, then there are valves that connect the refrigerant can hose (middle) to either the high or low sides. The ones at the AC system ports should be open (on mine you turn them clockwise to push in the schrader valves)

You can turn both of the ***** on the gauges all the way closed and the gauges will still be connected to their respective hoses. The ***** are a block off between the high/low side hoses and the center "fill" hose (for lack of a better term)

it took me a little while to figure that out.. I always thought you had to open the ***** before the gauges would work but that isn't the case.

If you had both the high and low side ***** wide open on the gauges themselves, then yeah, that would explain a few things, lol

 

LOL, hey I'm not alone. I make things way harder and more expensive than they need to be. It also explained why it wasn't getting cold through the vents since I basically had the hot high side pressing into the low cool side and heating it up. Frack I need to just throw a car cover over it and step away,.

 

LOL... Now you are an AC EXPERT!

Graduate of University of HARD KNOCKS / BLOODY KNUCKLES and EMPTY WALLETS.

 

Exactly!!