Fix A/C or Live Without? ;-)

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Though yours sounds better than most.. ...let's page Dr Lech... ... @lech auto air conditionin

 

If you lived further south I'd be more concerned about the situation because the cabin temp inside the car serves an additional function of keeping your hybrid battery cool. As in the air intake for the fan is inside the cabin... So during heat waves you'll need to monitor hybrid battery temps via Dr. Prius app to be sure things don't go bad.

 

That right there is the point where all the remaining refrigerant departs into the atmosphere. I'm not sure what QC's laws are on that. Of course, it has been departing anyway because of the leak, but a deliberate release may be viewed differently. Recovery equipment should be used.

Meanwhile, during the time you are cleaning the fitting and replacing the O ring and so on, air (with moisture) is entering the system where you let the refrigerant escape. If you just put things back together and add refrigerant, you then have a system containing a mix of refrigerant, air, and moisture. The air will not condense in the condenser, and the water will play a few kinds of havoc. You need to evacuate that stuff before putting the refrigerant in.

 

Maybe you got lucky and what you found was the only leaks if you’re just talking about the fittings from the hoses to the top of the compressor one bolt they come off replace O-ring put back on and you’re done.



And when you’re finished recharging your air conditioning your window should look like this or if somebody else recharges it.
Dash air temperature should be nice and cold 38° 36° is on the extreme low side don’t expect to get that. If you get some we’re about 41° to 44° be plenty happy

unless it’s 100+ degrees outside dash duct temperature raises with outdoor ambient temperature and sun load.

for soapy bubbles about a 50-50 mixture of thick car soap detergent that stuff that looks like maple syrup and water with a spray bottle.

Trying to use electronica leak detector for the leak in the evaporator is very difficult unless the leak is extremely big or you have a very expensive extremely sensitive leak detector which is not readily available off any automotive tool trucks like snap on or mac or macro and definitely not your eBay special
Good leak detector start around $500 and easily hit the thousand dollar range.

Entry level acceptable decent leak detectors start around $350 plus

The ones that are good for finding big leaks and easy leaks those are usually the bargain leak detectors off eBay or Amazon somewhere in the hundred dollar range to $250 range

I have seen the eBay special one I think for about $27 or $37 for electronically detector.

You can fill your car up with a little refrigerant like you did before.

Then let your car sit overnight if the leak is in the evaporator. Overnight for several hours the concentration of refrigerant will build up inside your evaporator case. If it’s big enough this is usually enough to even trigger some of the cheaper electronic refrigerant leak detectors.

Then the next morning stick the wind of the leak detector down one of your vents and you might be able to pick up a leak of refrigerant on your detector.

If you do not well you still have your leak detector down the vent up on the dash one in the center to vents.
Quickly turn your blower on the lowest speed and then back off again just enough so you can hear it or feel a little movement of air with your face and I down at the vent.

What this will do is just move the blower blade enough to pull a small amount of air out of the evaporator case with the concentration of refrigerant up the vent towards your leak detector sensor in a concentrated form of air without diluting it down with a high fan speed and rushing it past your tip of your leak detector before picking it up

I have a video of that in some of my archives I believe on my photo albums

 

Here’s one using electronic leak detector finding a leak through the Center vents grills on a Prius

 

Yes, if you open the system to to replace a bad O ring (hope there isn't any corrosion in the fittings) then you do HAVE to evacuate to system before charging. Air in the system will cause all sorts of havoc if you try to just "charge and go".

You might be able to have a local shop do an evavc and charge for you if you do the repair work.

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I think I remember reading somewhere there is an over pressure relief valve on the compressor. So you most likely over charged it with that can.

The compressor is expensive. All your ac guys say it depends when you ask how much because the core issue has not been addressed which is the original leak which the system still has. I think you damaged the compressor.

 

And I can tell you for a “FACT”. I get the majority of all my compressor burnouts from DYI and mechanical shops or body shops who do air conditioning just as a side job to make more money it’s not their core business model.

Mechanical shops who do tuneups brakes transmissions drivability problems in general maintenance are a big contributor to my burned out compressor jobs.

They just learn enough to change parts and make money and the basic diagnosis to change a lot more parts and make more money and when they accidentally burn up the compressor they learn how to write up a very imaginary creative work order to tell the customer that $2000 compressor was bad and that’s why their AC was not working when in fact it was something minor.

Just in my local San Francisco area we had one very large air conditioning in radiator specialty shop and his repeat return work that would overflow to the local surrounding shops and then I would get called in was literally a good percentage of my weekly income just redoing his work but yet he was in business since 1970s go figure. And that was their specialty air conditioning .

 

My daughter has 2008 Toyota Prius very high mileage but mostly the car is great. The A/c must have a leak we have gassed it up several times since she has had it. At first maybe twice a summer. This time it has been more frequent. We put a cab in this last time it seemed to start cooling again but within minutes was blowing warm air again. Any suggestions?

 

Stop doing that?

 

The take-away for me, if you want it done right, don’t want to contaminate the system (and the environment), and don’t want to “brick” the compressor: don’t even think about DIY; take it to the dealership.

Or, like the title says…

 

Or you’ll go blind and grow hair on your palm
Lol

 

You’re one of the lucky ones repeatedly running the compressor low without burning it up. Knock on wood and count your stars.

Since you already did what you did by filling it up several times that definitely indicates there’s a leak I think will all come to the same consensus.

Did you at any point or any of your cans contain UV dye ? to help look for the leak using a UV light

And if you do not see any dark stains gathering dust on your condenser and if there hasn’t been any rain lately to wash off the oil stain.

The second most likely cause of loss of refrigerant on your vehicle other than the condenser at that particular year is the evaporator.

 

True dat.

 

I would listen to Lech. If you want to gamble at least hedge your bets. One unknown is how much refrigerant oil you have lost. The oil keeps the compressor from seizing just like oil in the engine is essential.

You could fix the connection, add gas with one of those cans with a gauge and a valve, note the gauge reading, wait a couple of days and reattach the gauge. If it seems to have held, spend a couple of hundred at an auto ac shop to vacuum test, add their best guess of oil needed and then precisely weigh in the charge.

Lech's videos explain the sight glass is not accurate because you can easily overcharge with no sight glass difference and its possible to clear the glass with an undercharge depending on conditions. Which is why weighing in is the only way to go.

 

In my experience you can get a complete, start-to-finish AC service for that amount. Arguably it might be more, if they definitely have a connection to fix, but…

 

Start to finish does not normally include a repair. Granted slow leaks can last a year or more and people just gas and go.

 

That ordinarily won't tell you much, unless there's a pretty big leak.

The system is normally charged to a point where there is both liquid refrigerant and refrigerant vapor in it. Any time it has been sitting long enough to reach equilibrium, there is a certain 'saturation pressure', which you can find on a chart for R134a if you know what the temperature is, and that's the pressure where liquid and vapor coexist at the given temperature.

The gauge is just going to show you that pressure, no matter how much refrigerant is in the system; in other words, the gauge is nothing but a thermometer then, marked in a weird scale.

The gauge won't drop lower than that unless so much refrigerant has been lost that there's no liquid left at all; then it's just a gas-filled system and the pressure will drop off with volume, the way you expect.

 

(“the gauge is nothing but a thermometer then, marked in a weird scale.”) LMAO I like this sentence

Example some of the videos I did where I hook up my gauges and I see 70 psi pressure on the high side and low side. With the air-conditioning off vehicle just sitting for hours.

But the car is sitting out in the sun in the outside ambient temperature is 90°F

instantly if you understand the pressure temperature relationship of the PT chart and vapor saturation you would know there is no liquid refrigerant in the system it is just vapor.


Put on some of these newer cars that have variable displacement compressor and internal heat exchanger suction line not to mention the vehicles coming out that added to a car plate heat exchanger‘s you get some very funny numbers and the software instruct the compressor to do some compensating that will throw any numbers you have learned inside engineering manual or PT charts or even common sense in 30 or 40 years of experience right into the garbage can.

There’s a new wave of thermal management HVAC that has started hitting the automotive business that’s going to put a whole new generation of air conditioning and radiator shop out of business.