Guest jclay Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Hi All, It's starting to heat up out there, or at least it is here in Maryland, and I've been wanting to recharge my AC, which I believe needs to be done. I bought the do it yourself kit that comes with the gauge and canister of refrigerant. The instructions say to set the AC to "max cool" and to attach the gauge to the low pressure port of the AC system. My question is this, should the fan be on while checking the pressure? with the fan completely off, the gauge registers no pressure, with the fan on, it registers a proper amount of refrigerant...which is the correct way to take the reading? Please advise, and thanks in advance for any and all insights! Cheers, Jared Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 You don't list your car year or model, but if it is like my Leggy, if the fan is turned off, the system is turned off. To check A/C pressure, turn on A/C, max cold setting, with fan on high. I also use these same setting when adding a can of 134A refrigerant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOthis Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 if you can get a set of manifold gauges....its not really a good idea to use those kits because you have no way of knowing the high side pressure.....http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92649 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Some things really need to be done by a professional, and this is one of them. You can waste a lot of time trying to chase down things you dont understand, and make things worse. AC is not like radiator fluid, it needs to be diagnosed before you just throw a can of coolant in it. That requires a gauge set at the very least. The gauges on the cans are usless and should never be used. Before those dump gauges the cans would be weighed to know when they are empty. You may have a leak and have lost far more refrigerant then you realize, then your just throwing good money after bad without fixing the leak. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Some things really need to be done by a professional, and this is one of them. You can waste a lot of time trying to chase down things you dont understand, and make things worse. AC is not like radiator fluid, it needs to be diagnosed before you just throw a can of coolant in it. That requires a gauge set at the very least. The gauges on the cans are usless and should never be used. Before those dump gauges the cans would be weighed to know when they are empty. You may have a leak and have lost far more refrigerant then you realize, then your just throwing good money after bad without fixing the leak. nipper I disagree. I purchased a kit with a low side gauge and filled my system to the proper amount of coolant for a price way lower than what a professional would have charged. You just have to follow the instructions on the container - it's not that hard. The gauge tells you how much pressure you have in the system on the low side. Just add enough to get to the right PSI and you're good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I disagree. I purchased a kit with a low side gauge and filled my system to the proper amount of coolant for a price way lower than what a professional would have charged. You just have to follow the instructions on the container - it's not that hard. The gauge tells you how much pressure you have in the system on the low side. Just add enough to get to the right PSI and you're good. But you have mechanical skills, i am assuming that the poster knows nothing of how AC works. i may be wrong... nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 sounds like your system is cycling on and off. it may do this if it's a bit low on refrigerant. i just fixed my friends jeep two days ago like this. it only needed about 5 seconds of charging and that brought it up enough for the system to work...still needed a bit more to be optimum. anyway, point being he was just low enough on charge for the system to cycle on and off like yours is doing. he was happy with $20 in parts for me to fix it verses the $1,300 quote from the shop!?!?!? they said leaking evap core which is odd considering how much pressure the system was under...hard to imagine there was any leak but i guess some of the charge did go somewhere. i would make sure you're refrigerant level is right where it needs to be. if it is and it's still not working then you need a pro to diagnose it from there. or do some extensive reading/studying and buying of equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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