Thread: A/C needs to be freshened up.

Not really sure where to put this. Since my B14 will no longer be my daily, i'm going to have a daily with a/c a P10. The car is a 95 and its 50/50 as to when it wants to blow cold. What should be cleaned replacd or what ever to let the a/c to kick some ass and freeze people out...

Probably just have someone evacuate what's in the system,vacuum it down and recharge.Should be fine,barring and weird leaks you might have.

has anyone seen those cans at Autozone that are like $30-$40 that are supposed to 'recharge' your A/C? They screw into the service port or something and release their contents, whatever that may be. i wonder if it helps.

This and replace the recevier/dryer with a brand new unit. Make sure the system is vacuumed one evacuated for at least 20 minutes. This will make it brand new, and real cold. My B14 had a new condenser and dryer replaced, evac'd and vacuumed and is super cold a few years later.

Now for my P10, when I got it, the a/c did not work. I recharged it, found a leak, replaced o-ring, and re-charged it. Did it the EZ fix lazy mans way and the A/C is nto as cold as the B14 is. I want to get it done the right way.

Replace receiver/dryer, get the system evacuated, vacuumed for ~20 minutes and then refilled with the proper amount. FSM says 1.5-1.8 pounds of refrigerant.

i just redid the a/c in my b-13, it had r-12 so i did the retro to r-134a.

bought the following..
expansion valve - 16 bucks
ester oil for r134a - 10 bucks
drier - 25 bucks
o-ring kit - 7 bucks
24 oz of r134a - 30 bucks

i went in and replaced every single o-ring and replaced the drier out for the new one. i also removed the evap to clean out all the bugs and leaves and whatever else was in there(good thing i did this because there was a lot of crap in there). i replaced the expansion valve and repeatedly vacuumed the system out (3 times). i pulled a vacuum on my car for about 2.5 hours. the last time this a/c system worked was in 2001 and i have a vacuum so i wanted to make sure that it was vacuumed out properly. my a/c center duct reads 44-46 degrees!!

if you want it done properly stay away from those single hoses single gauge set up. buy the real a/c manifold type so you can see what the high side pressure is doing.

Good info Kyle

Why is it important to replace the receiver/dryer? I know a compressor warranty will be voided if the receiver/dryer isn't replaced but not sure why.

I was in Indy a few weeks ago and it was over 100 degrees. My b15 has 260k and always blew out ice cold air but on that day for the first time my air wasn't that cold even after driving on the hwy. I couldn't take it anymore so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a can of R134 with the oil and sealant and gauge included on the can. I added it to the cold side. The can showed the system should read 45psi on and 80 degree day with is what the cold side was showing. But the can also said it should be 55psi when over 100 degrees. I added about half the can and my car felt like an icebox so I was extremely happy.

I will admit that its takes a while for my ac to get cool on a hot day. Maybe because my car is black. I also noticed after adding the r134 that my car feels much slower than it did before while the ac was on. Maybe since there is more pressure in the system the compressor has to work harder? Not really sure.

The dryer needs to be replaced if you break the seal of the system (disconnect any hose from the compressor). If the dryer is contaminated by moisture in the air, it will cease to function and you'll damage the rest of the A/C system.

Generally when you service a system and need to break the seal, a few hours TOPS depending on humidity in your area will be okay. Make sure to seal the lines by using finger condoms and rubber bands around the orifices of the lines to prevent any contamination.

When reinstalling everything, make sure you run vacuum down to 20inHg or greater for at least 30 minutes before recharging the system.

Don't know if that's covered up there or not, but just throwing it out there.

And for the record:

Don't waste your time with the "recharge kit" from any parts store. You do not know what your blend currently is in the system giving you a low charge. If you just add more R134, you're only getting the blend further from what it should be. ALWAYS evacuate and recharge when in doubt.

R134 is a blend of several different refrigerants. Different refrigerants leak at different rates. If you've lost any refrigerant oil, you need to evac/recharge regardless as well.

Its takes about 30 minutes of hwy driving for my ac to get really cold. Seems a bit long. I think I'm going to have my system checked out.

Just refreshened my ac on my B13 like 4 months ago and continued to use the R-12.. R134a ain't got shit over R-12.. It was 115 degrees today and was happy to cruise around town on a 21 year old car with ice cold a/c