Thanks for the great write up!

I followed those same same steps with only 2 differences.

1) when pulling vacuum I had both the low and high pressure side gauge valves open.

2) when filling with refrigerant, I didn’t think I could attach the cans I had directly to the yellow hose, but that would have been much better. Instead, I connected the can directly to the low side port on the vehicle with a small connection hose/tap.

 

I made an adapter to allow hooking my gage set up to the small cans of R134 ,,
it works quite well ,, you just can't open the high side to the can.. The cans are not likely to take the
high side pressure.

 

Got a call back saying the gasket was replaced and no more leaks, but still wasn’t cooling.

Tech thought the orofice tube tube might have been installed backwards (it wasn’t). However, the tube I bought from rockauto was an ACDelco “self-adjusting” style and showed as compatible with my vehicle, but wasn’t the exact same part that came out of my car.

They went ahead and replaced it with the identical part from my vehicle and everything is working now. I’m going to give it a few days to make sure there’s no lingering issues with the drier, etc, but should
be good to go now

 

Right on!

 

Well when you pull the vacuum from both the high and low sides the vacuum pressures will not really be different but the idea is to have all moisture and all pull thru the low side where it can build up on the low side receiver drier so when you pull the vacuum all thru the low side you have the best chance to get as much trapped moisture out of the system as possible and that's why some will pull a vacuum for over 12 or 24 hours. Not to try to pull more than. 30 inches but to have that constant vacuum pulling on all the lines and parts and over time any moisture in the system will evaporate and get pulled out of the system because any moisture that mixes with the refrigerant causes issues to the boiling point of the refrigerant, when mixes with oil turns to a sludge goopy mess like a chocolate milk pudding experiment gone horribly wrong & other issues like pitting the inside of the aluminum tubes...rubber hoses dry rot and breakdown over time... rust and aluminum particles...all this crap will get caught in the orifice tube screens and can freeze caught moisture flowing around and your gauge readings will show very high pressure on the high side and very low pressure on the low side.....if you only get the recharge can with the 1 gauge for the low side and it shows low pressure most will assume their system is low in refrigerant and shove 6 to 12 ounces of refrigerant in and now you have too much R134a in the system and an O ring somewhere or a thin spot on a tube will rupture in and around the condenser or orifice tube and blow out all your refrigerant so they just needed a 3 dollar part but without having a way to meter the high and low sides you don't get a complete picture of what your system is doing...
Why it is worth the investment for $55.00 for a full A/C gauge set from Harbor Freight or $933.75 from Snap On or Matco etc.....
Gauge set will work on every car and truck ever produced in the world so it's a worthwhile investment that will last you your entire life and work on every car truck and house a.c. system.....


By filling with just a small fill hose to the low side is okay to do but I hope your little fill tube has a pressure gauge on it so you can at minimum get accurate readings while it is being filled and not over fill it....
And once refrigerant was added you reconnected your gauge set so you can see the pressures on the high and low sides and determine if you have a blockage or what not. these f body cars use the orifice tube design vs the expansion valve design which over long long periods of time aluminum & rubber & plastic & other things inside the a.c. system that start to break down which will start to clog the orifice tube and if the dedicate stuff inside the receiver drier does not absorb all the moisture in the system it will up and clog it...
So that's why pulling the vacuum from only the low side is recommended so you want the moisture to flow to the accumulator or receiver drier and not go backwards and and up getting gunk back into the condenser or compressor or other parts... if gunk is trapped in the orifice tube then buy a new orifice tube for 3 or 4 dollars vs new compressor or other high dollar stuff...

I personally do not believe that pulling a constant vacuum for 12 to 24 hours is going to have any different results than pulling a vacuum for at most 2 hours but more like 1 hour is sufficient and even a small weak vacuum pump should pull 28 to 30 inches of vacuum in about 2 minutes so then you go 58 to 118 minutes of trying to extract any moisture out of the system for good measure is more than sufficient. now if the system can't hold a vacuum then the leak will be the problem you must find and fix or you will never have a working a.c. system period no exceptions.....
Ws6....
I'm glad you enjoyed my long winded write up...I hope it was helpful and informative and provided you with the info you needed to help get your a.c. system functioning properly
Now I have to go pull my compressor off and straighten the 2 pins for the wiring connector to the electromagnetic clutch that will not plug in correctly. 1 of the 2 pins is bent and the connector is sitting at an angle and only the green wire is connected the black ground wire is not connected so i cant tell if my compressor runs or not as of yet
I prefer the autumn...winter and cool early spring times of year...dead middle of summer sucks to me so my A/C is the one thing that I need to survive.... I'll remove my t tops and put on a big fluffy fur coat and fur headband and go clubbing with friends in December...January and February and be just fine and plenty comfortable and warm. July...August...and most of September is death for me hate it ....

Thanks again...

Jenni.....

 

Ahhhh my AC is blowing out at 39 degrees on Max where it recirculates the interior air vs the regular A/C that brings in fresh air from outside (which is harder to cool off because its obviously hotter air.)
But NOW the car is totally usable for the entire summer and those insanely hot humid days and nights, Its so cold like snow is blowing out of the vents. Its WONDERFUL! A small win for sure..........
I had to pull the AC compressor out of its little pocket next to the frame and weasel some tiny needle nose plyers and small screw driver to the connector to straighten the 2 pins out so the connector could connect to the 2 leads and engage the electromagnetic clutch and cycle as needed.
I did not remove the AC lines from the back of the compressor since I did not want to discharge the refrigerant that I already had put in there even though It was only 12 ounces and the system calls for 24 so after I got the pins taken care of and checked the pressures again and added a 2nd can of refrigerant (2nd can was straight refrigerant not any leak fix stuff or oil or conditioning agents, and boom I shoved my fireplace remote that tells you what the temp is in the room and shoved it into the vents and ran it for about 10 minutes and it showed 39 degrees on max and highest fan speed.
I was shocked it got that cold. Maybe some of the leak fix stuff made the hole in the orifice tube even smaller and with the pressures going through that restricted hole makes it a touch cooler. Regardless, after the car was baking in the sun and 92 degrees outside I fired it up, and wtihin about 90 seconds the inside temp of the car was actually cold, the seats made me jump since I was wearing shorts and it can get upwards to 150 - 160-170 ish degrees baking in the sun so for it to be in the probably 55-58 degrees after 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on max, was a totally wonderful shocking amazing and COLD!!! So now the car is usable all summer long thank GOD I dont have a lawn ornament but a usable car now on the hottest days in summer!
Now to continue the TO DO list but this is a big one checked off and thank you all for your help and advice...........

Jennifur