i was trying to recharge my a/c since it's blowing out hot. when i hook the pressure gauge to the low side port it shows it's way past the red zone on the pressure. the compressor kicks on and stays on but when i try to release the r134a it doesn't go in and im not sure what the next step to do is.

 

you need to release pressure until its in the blue zone.

 

Huh?


Release, vacuum then recharge with the correct amount. Then see what it does.

 

You may have a clog in the system. There is more than 1 correct answer as to the next step, but if your pressure is really in the red zone, it won't likely every accept more freon.

 

Release pressure? Which is releasing r134a into the atmosphere which is blatantly illegal. This gentleman is why we there is EPA 608 license.

Your pressure is way too high....you have overcharged the system which is just as bad as low charge when taking into account the a/c system performance. You are eventually going to slug your compressor with liquid refrigerant and ruin it.

Just take the system to a/c service center or someone that has a license and experience in a/c.

Keep in mind that the geniuses that are telling you to just release some of refrigerant are also causing you to release lubricating oil which lubes your compressor. Guess what happens when too much of that is released. (the lubricating oil is mixed in with the refrigerant and travels through your system)

 

well i dont wanna risk doing something without the proper tools so im gonna take it in for an a/c check.

 

Wrong... It's perfectly legal for anyone WITHOUT a 608(non-automotive home or cargo(semi-trailers)hermetically sealed A/C systems, and those on passenger buses... R-22 or HCFC-22) OR 609(the one for automobile passenger/driver compartments) license to release R-134A into the atmosphere.

For those of you not old enough, or too old to remember the changeover from R-12 to R-134A, the reason for doing so was to eliminate the use of "harmful" R-12 with a non-harmful freon, which was R-134a... Non-harmful being the key here. It's completely legal for anyone who owns their car to release this into the atmosphere. I'm still not happy about having to get the silly cert. Kinda like A.S.E... Useless waste of money for the mechanic/technician and the customer alike. I don't even have my card anymore... and I ain't lookin' for it.

Now tell him how easily he can get oil back into the system...

 

You might want to go back and get a refresher class in a/c. It is illegal to release any refrigerant into the atmosphere, especially a HFC (Hydro Flouro Carbon) which is what R134A is. Guess what...EU is banning it in ALL autos. Guess who will be next.

1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane is an inert gas used primarily as a “high-temperature” refrigerant for domestic refrigeration and automobile air conditioners. These devices began using 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane in the early 1990s as a replacement for the more environmentally harmful R-12, and retrofit kits are available to convert units that were originally R-12-equipped. Other uses include plastic foam blowing, as a cleaning solvent and as a propellant for the delivery of pharmaceuticals (e.g. bronchodilators), gas dusters, and in air driers, for removing the moisture from compressed air. 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane has also been used to cool computers in some overclocking attempts. It is also commonly used as a propellant for airsoft airguns.


Tetrafluoroethane, when compressed as inside gas duster cans, is a clear liquid which boils when exposed to room temperature (as seen here) and can be extracted from common canned air canisters by simply inverting them during use.Recently, 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane has been subject to use restrictions due to its contribution to climate change. In the EU, it will be banned as of 2011 in all new cars.[2] The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has proposed 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (HFC-134a) to be best replaced by a new fluorochemical refrigerant HFO-1234yf (CF3CF=CH2) in automobile air-conditioning systems.[3] California may also prohibit the sale of canned 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane to individuals to avoid non-professional recharge of air conditioners.[4] A ban has been in place in Wisconsin since October 1994 under ATCP 136 prohibiting sales of container sizes holding less than 15 lbs of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane, but this restriction applies only when the chemical is intended to be a refrigerant.[5] It appears, for example, that it is legal for a person to purchase gas duster containers with any amount of the chemical because in that instance the chemical is neither intended to be a refrigerant [5] nor is HFC-134a included in the § 7671a listing of class I and class II substances.[6]

As for putting the oil back in....thats easy....let someone that knows what they are doing and has the proper equipment ...do it.

 

The law is what it is and in America, only Wisconsin has ever banned the sale of 134a. Not even CA has gone that far yet, but they're working on it, I'm sure. Said laws are intended for people who repair air conditioners for a living, which explains why 134a is so common across America. Besides that, there's actually been no proof, only guesses, that refrigerants actually damage the ozone or any other part of our atmosphere. The "global warming" myth has destroyed a number of good things about America and I, for one, hope that such mythical nonsense doesn't continue much longer.

Thanks for the Wikipedia lesson, but that doesn't actually represent laws across America. Bottom line with refrigerants in general is, they're not able to enforce many rules outside of the working repair community.

I concede, it's technically "illegal" to purposely allow or cause escape, but I've never heard of that rule being truly enforced, even within shops. I've seen people release R-134a more times than I can remember and never even heard of an arrest for it.

Finally, from the EPA... "3.Is section 608 technician certification required in order to purchase R-410A?
HFC refrigerant substitutes that do not contain an ozone-depleting substance (such as R-410A or R-134a) are not covered under the refrigerant sales restriction. Therefore, section 608 technician certification is not required in order to purchase HFC refrigerant substitutes that do not contain an ozone-depleting substance. It remains illegal to knowingly vent HFC substitutes during the maintenance, service, repair, or disposal of appliances."

Note: Many publications specifically point out 134a as a suitable replacement refrigerant because, according to those publications, it doesn't harm or deplete the ozone. The original information was published by the EPA.

 

doh! MAybe i shoulda read this BEFORE I did something to my A/C

 

Heh... That only depends on whether or not you FIXED the problem!

 

After all this discussion I wonder if the OP was just reading the static pressure and the compressor wasn't really coming on.

 

might have made things worse lol

 

well i took the car in and it was reading high on the low side and low on the high side and was told my compressor is shot. They said the main shaft inside came apart and it's just spinning freely when it kicks on. they want to charge me 1200 for it. im just gonna replace the compressor, orifice tube, but will i need to replace the accumlator also? ill have them evacuate the lines after replacing the items.

 

Anywhere you'll find the parts, except a JY, they'll require you to purchase the accumulator(drier) along with the other parts or they'll probably tell you there's no warranty on the compressor or whatever. Any time the system has been opened, unless it's been a very short time since last replaced, the drier should also be replaced.

 

since the compressor died you need to replace or clean the orifice, and yes replace the accumulator. What doesn't get replaced needs to be flushed out to remove any particles that may have left the compressor and is floating around in the lines waiting to destroy the new compressor. A shop that knows how to do AC work will know to do this. On a new compressor, you will not get warranty coverage from the compressor maker unless a licensed repair shop performs this work stating all these proper procedures were done when installing the new compressor. And since you're stuck having to get a new compressor, just spend the extra $50 or whatever and get a new condensor.
Ideally you'd want to first purge the system with dry nitrogen, and maybe pressurize the system then to check for leaks. I don't know if that's comomon practice for car ac systems, but at minimum they will need to pull a vacuum, make sure it holds, then charge the system with refrigerant with the correct amount measured by weight.

 

thanks guys for the heads up. this is going to be a pain in this hot *** weather.

 

that's exactly what happened to me today. i went to add some R134 and saw the pressure @ 130 or so and was afraid to add some. then i decided to add a bit and the compressor kicked on and showed 25psi.

i then filled it until the pressure was reading 45psi and my AC is working fine again. if you have high pressure with the system at idle that may be normal. i talked to an AC guy and that is a closed reading. if you don't have enough R134 to turn on the compressor you might read that. hopefully i don't have a bad leak and the R134/sealer combo stuff i put in fixes it. i really don't want to have to spend a bunch of money on the AC since i spent $1000 rebuilding the whole system in 2006. It was working fine a few weeks ago and the last time i drove it it seemed like it was intermittant so maybe there is a small leak. i know when i installed the strut tower bar a few months back i might have bumped the lines a bit, maybe that created a small leak that hopefully will seal itself after adding the R134 and sealant.