Freon - does it wear out w/ time?
Thread Starter
TECH Veteran
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,055
Likes: 1
From: Hartsdale, NY
Freon - does it wear out w/ time? I kinda screwed up on a freon fill up. I used to work on A/C systems 30 years ago but I only do it accoasionally now and I forget some basic stuff about the systems now.
Anyway, I threw a set of guages on my BMW and decided to add 1/2 can of 134R which I did to the low side.
A few minutes later the low side reading was off the scale - TOO MUCH pressure!!!
So, lacking any recovery system, I blew off some freon from the low side. Then the pressure was too low.
There was no cold air blowing. I checked the fuses thinking the AC compressor had blown a fuse. - no deal.
So I'm really confused now. I decide to pack up for the night and take a rest. In the morning, I plug the vacume pump in and vacume the system for 1.5 hours. I refill the system with a fresh charge.
Guages reading normal now - 50 low - 225 high
AC is now very cold. Man did I dodge a bad outcome or WhAT?
Does this stuff go bad with time; the new freon charge is way colder than anything I've seen in this car for 5 years. Did the vacume work to remove moister that had seeped in? The system has not been open so I would not have thought there would have been much moister in there anyway.
Anyway, I'm glad I vacumed it and added the new charge - cold as ice now.
Anyway, I threw a set of guages on my BMW and decided to add 1/2 can of 134R which I did to the low side.
A few minutes later the low side reading was off the scale - TOO MUCH pressure!!!
So, lacking any recovery system, I blew off some freon from the low side. Then the pressure was too low.
There was no cold air blowing. I checked the fuses thinking the AC compressor had blown a fuse. - no deal.
So I'm really confused now. I decide to pack up for the night and take a rest. In the morning, I plug the vacume pump in and vacume the system for 1.5 hours. I refill the system with a fresh charge.
Guages reading normal now - 50 low - 225 high
AC is now very cold. Man did I dodge a bad outcome or WhAT?
Does this stuff go bad with time; the new freon charge is way colder than anything I've seen in this car for 5 years. Did the vacume work to remove moister that had seeped in? The system has not been open so I would not have thought there would have been much moister in there anyway.
Anyway, I'm glad I vacumed it and added the new charge - cold as ice now.
