air con system questions
Discussion
Thunderroad said:
The pressure measured on the discharge side cannot be relied upon to tell you how full or empty a system is either. (If the condenser is blocked the discharge pressure could be too high with an undercharged system) The only way to be sure the charge is correct would be either to reclaim the existing gas in the system into a reclaim cylinder and weighing the gas you get out using scales, or to start from a fully vacuumed system and weigh the gas in.
To do all this the diy’er would need to invest quite a bit of money on additional kit. Yes, you can get a cheap gauge set from Amazon (but personally i wouldn't like to be stood around them for too long with 15 to 20 bar of pressure in them).
Personally, if i wasn't in the trade, and have the kit already, this can of gas with the charging hose on it would be exactly the sort of thing i would use.
You can get a lot closer to the correct charge level with a proper gauge set then the color coded low side thing that comes with these cans. It will tell you if there is a blockage before you start throwing money on refrigerant. To do all this the diy’er would need to invest quite a bit of money on additional kit. Yes, you can get a cheap gauge set from Amazon (but personally i wouldn't like to be stood around them for too long with 15 to 20 bar of pressure in them).
Personally, if i wasn't in the trade, and have the kit already, this can of gas with the charging hose on it would be exactly the sort of thing i would use.
Those kits are marketed to people that don't have a clue. They don't just contain refrigerant, but also have extra oil and leak sealer. Too much of both create blockages that you mention and I can't count the number of systems that I've opened up that were full of oil from people using these kits over and again because they didn't know what they were doing.
A regular can of R134a without the snake oil is cheap. Buy a proper gauge set and you'll be able to figure out what you you're dealing with before you start dumping chemicals and avoid anything with leak sealer and extra oil like the plague.
I just took my car to ATS last year when the system needed refilling, it cost a huge £29 and I ended up with an air temp of 4C out of the air vents on a 25c day.
That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bothe spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bothe spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
gruffalo said:
I just took my car to ATS last year when the system needed refilling, it cost a huge £29 and I ended up with an air temp of 4C out of the air vents on a 25c day.
That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bother spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
Because your a/c system has a leak and all they did to address it was to vac and charge the system. Unless they identified the leak and fixed it, that's not what I would consider work that got done properly.That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bother spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
gruffalo said:
I just took my car to ATS last year when the system needed refilling, it cost a huge £29 and I ended up with an air temp of 4C out of the air vents on a 25c day.
That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bothe spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
Just checked ATS website. They charge £49.99 to refill air-con system now. That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bothe spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
alabbasi said:
gruffalo said:
I just took my car to ATS last year when the system needed refilling, it cost a huge £29 and I ended up with an air temp of 4C out of the air vents on a 25c day.
That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bother spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
Because your a/c system has a leak and all they did to address it was to vac and charge the system. Unless they identified the leak and fixed it, that's not what I would consider work that got done properly.That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bother spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
They had a completely automated set up which tested for leaks before filling, had there been a leak it would not have moved forward to the point it added the gas and would instead have reported the error for investigation at which point I would have taken the car to a specialist.
My 97 chim has original AC (which of course didn't work when I bought the car). Like others have said, go to a reputable ac mechanic. Mine pressure tested the system and even gave me a shortlist of faulty parts. It was well worth the $80 (40 quid). I've replaced the receiver/drier and tri switch and am now hunting for the expansion (Tx) valve which I believe hides under the dash. I'll probably have it working by the time the NZ summer comes to an end!
gruffalo said:
I just took my car to ATS last year when the system needed refilling, it cost a huge £29 and I ended up with an air temp of 4C out of the air vents on a 25c day.
That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bothe spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
Just checked ATS website. They charge £49.99 to refill air-con system now. That was for the system to be vacuum checked and then refilled, so why bothe spending £50 when you can get it done properly for a little over half of that.
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