How do you re-charge the a/c? Do the cans of a/c juice (formerly known as freon) come with instructions?

 

you need the ac tool that sucks all the stuff out of the system and puts the new freon back in.

 

There is a kit at Auto Zone/ Oreilly...ect. They will know the one you need. You are probably going to have to pull a vacuum on the system to clean it out first. Actually, you are going to want to. Don't need "black death" creeping through your vents. It is actually a toxin that is created when discharged and recharged without a vacuum being created.

 

Well you need to pull a vacuum with a vacuum pump. The POE oil in the system absorbs moisture easy.
You need to correct where the refrigerant got out, leak check the system, pull a vacuum, weigh in the new charge of refrigerant.
Depending on how long it was opened you might just go ahead and change the drier. If a major component was replaced add the amount of oil that might have been in that component.
Black death will not come out the vents, thats a term made popular by the early 90's ford compressor failures, it turns the oil into a black sludge consisting of worn compressor parts, contaminated oil, and probably other stuff.

 

Black death

 

Sheeesh. I had evacuated when I swapped the motor but I didnt use a vacuum. I did the sock over the release valve method as described in howto. So there arent any leaks but its been in its current state for a few months now.

 

You HAVE TO use a vacuum pump to get the ambient air and any moisture out of the system.
If you don't it's not going to work very well, the output temp won't be as cold as normal.
I could go on with several reasons but the bottom line is, do it right.

Would you change your oil a quart at a time---no. Would you grease one lca bushing? ---no.
Should you just dump refrigerant into a system thats been opened? ---no.

 

You didn't evacuate it, even if you did it as the EPA wants you to do it-removing refrigerant is called refrigerant RECOVERY.
Evacuating a system is pulling a vacuum with a vacuum pump to remove air and non condensible contaminates.

 

Ok, thx for the advice. Thats why I was asking what to do, wasn't sure. I'll call around and see who can do it for me.

 

when you find out how much post it up as I need to do it also.

 

what about a system that has no air in it right now? My system has never had anything in it.. im in the middle of a cam swap right now and it was empty to begin with so i pulled the A/C system for the cam swap...(which helped out a lot)

what would I have to do to recharge my system? do i still need this vacuum? or can i just recharge it and be done?

 

If you pulled it out there is air in it.
If it was out of refrigerant when you got it there might be a leak. In that case put it back together and pressurize it with a little freon and nitrogen, and test for leaks.

Just as an example, when the ozone friendly refrigerants came out and the synthetic oil that goes with them I attended several classes on the proper handling of these. One thing that stuck in my mind was the test they did with a glass jar of POE oil (whats in our cars) and a glass jar of water, sealed and connected to eachother with tubing. In less than 12 hours the oil literally sucked all the water into it.
It does the same thing to the humidity in the air when you open the system up.

When we open a system up with 410a (the ozone friendly version of 134a used in houses) we constantly bleed nitrogen though the lines to keep air out so the oil doesn't get contaminated. And we use a vacuum pump on it after leak checking, etc.

 

no there was no leak.. the wienner before me who had the car, removed the A/C when doing a radiator change.. so i should be good to go by just plugging in the recharge kit and calling it a day right?

 

after running a vacuum pump on it. thats doing it right. if you want 'sort of a/c' just blow some freon in it.

 

any time you crack the system should you change the dryer too?

 

I Am Epa Refig... Certified For Life.

1. You Need To Evac, Recycle, Vacuum, And Rechage. Dont Ever Add Refig To A System That Is Low It Is Impossible To Know How Much Is In There Execpt When You Know Is Completely Empty.
And A Vacuum Helps Boil Off Any Refig... That May Still Be In The System And Aids In Refilling Freon.

Also You Said You Took A/c System Apart, ----must Replace The Dryer----- (anytime You Open A A/c System The Moisture Materail In The Dryer Is Exposed The Atmosphere It Needs To Be Replaced)
Only Use "gm" It Think They Go For $80.00-$100.00 Or So. And While I Would Be In There I Would Also Replace The Orfice Tube About $ 3.00 Bucks.

Then Pull A Vacuum ( A Min... Of 15 Minutes) And Recharge To Exactly 1.5 Lbs ( I Tried Reduceing The Lbs To See It Does Any Better At Cooling (no), And I Also Tried Increasing The Lbs To See If Cools Better(no) 1.5 Lbs Seems To Do Just Fine.


Camcamaro1991

 

Which part is the dryer?

 

That big silver canister that's always in the way lol.

I have gone though about 3 reman compressors since my stocker blew up. I have not replaced the dryer since. I have a free compressor here that I'm going to try, and if it blows, I'm going with all new ACDelco stuff. My family owns a large HVAC/Refrig business, which is the only reason I can still pay for gas after all those compressor swaps.

 

when you find the "low side fitting, the fitting for pulling the freon out, and vacuuming" the little fitting, this is alum... welded to the dryer, replace the whole thing with new. its a alum... canister, passenger side near the shock tower fender area and in between the engine.

 

You'll be better off if you take it to a certified tech. It will save you some money in the long run. Have you ever seen a car AC blow up because somebody thought that more Freons got to mean colder air. Sounded like a stick of dynamite going off.