A/C Refrigerant 06 Gen 2 Prius

This is the Freon that I use on my PRIUS- $9.00 AT WALMART

-Also make sure you buy and use a 'brand new' hose FREON installation kit
and use this kit only on your Prius ,

 

Anybody asked the car what it thinks about the A/C yet?

Hold the auto and fresh/recirc buttons on the steering wheel while turning the car on. Post whatever two-digit numbers come up in the corner of the MFD.

 

Just buy that $25 can of it's blue synthetic ice blah blah
. Or the black can marked AC recharge gold lettering again synthetic some sort of 134a or the derivative thereof It works in the Prius I've used both of these when it's time for that try to get the codes as posted above and then go from there and a '06 I would guess It's probably time has it ever been done before Do you remember having this done every two years or so or any of that?

 

Refrigerant Replacement | PriusChat

 

Its like your gas tank is leaking gas so you add more gas then perplexed why it did not fix it.

You clearly have a leak. Your car is 17 years old.

The really bad news is a leak in the evaporator coil under the dash it very common on this car and very expensive to repair. I went through it myself on my bought new 07. Its a $1500 maybe more repair.

Stop adding refrigerant your just wasting money. Spend $100 at a good ac shop they'll inject dye into the system and will find the leak.
It may be just a loose fitting but i doubt it.

A search forum"s result:

https://priuschat.com/search/425654111/?q=ac+leak&t=post&o=relevance

 

Somebody already uploaded this part of the manual to PriusChat in the past:

https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2019/05/167100_AC.pdf

where you can find this on page 38:



As you see there (and I left out before), the first thing you see should be that whole screen blinking four times. After that, it can sequence through two digit codes in the corner of the screen. (Sometimes the only code will be 00, meaning it has no opinion, but at least you asked.)

If things don't happen just like that, well ...

When you just have the car on normally, do both the A/C AUTO and R/F buttons work, and do what they're s'posed to?

If there's some basic problem with those buttons, then it can be hard to get into the check mode.

You'll find other useful stuff in that manual section before and after page 38. In particular, p. 37 diagrams the rest of what you can do in the check mode; it's not limited to just showing you codes.

 

If you don't have a leak where did your freon go?

And stop using the ac till its fixed and charged up properly as running the ac with low charge can damage the compressor also which is very expensive too.

You can see how bad the leak is after you charge it yourself by looking in the sight glass. A low refrigerant or leak it looks like a bad snow storm in the sight glass lots of white stuff flying past the glass. Not good.

 

For about $150 a dealership could do a recharge.

 

I doubt any competent ac shop would do a charge. Once they measure it has no charge at all its on like donkey kong.

There going to want to know why before they waste all that gas and there time. There not throwing gas in a car that's got a leak. Who would? There going to charge you $100 for a full leak look see and rightly so.

Like Lech said the ecoil under the dash is very very common failure. It got me. $$$$.

After that repair the ac was freezing. Had to turn the temp up.
Owner of the shop told me I was very lucky I did not burn up the compressor too. Lots of people do.
New OEM compressor cost is $675. He retails it for $1100. installed. That was pre covid.

The G2 has a great ac system when healthy that's for sure. Toyota's in general have really good ac. Till they don't lol...

 

If you do not have a leak, then you do not need refrigerant.

refrigerant does not wear out

Refrigerant does not get used up

Refrigerant only leaks out


If you THINK ! aka (GUESSING) you have to add refrigerant. You have a leak.

 

well, you know I’m in San Francisco, California. Customer just came back from Honda was told he had a leak for $550.

That did not include finding the leak. They cannot find the lake so they were going to have to charge more money to look for the leak..

That still does not include the part that would need to be replaced plus the labor

That does not include the refrigerant and the second time they have to recharge it to fill it after they replace the Leaking Parts.


In the San Francisco area that’s why every time you go in for a leak in a single part replacement. It’s easily $2000 plus in the dealership every time you bring your car in for a leak..

My shop labor rate is $204 an hour. Use book time 1.4 hours for doing a Recharge. $285.60. That’s just labor. Parts refrigerant UV die if any oil is needed because some came out during recovery. Let’s say 5 mL. ND-8 DENSO. For example, that would be another $82.50.
Total $368.10

I’m a lot cheaper than the dealer

R1234yf $207.66 per pound so if it’s a 1 pound system for the vehicle, that’s easy to calculate

You should see the face on people when they have a large SUV with dual Evaporators and their system is 3 pounds of YF refrigerant $622.98 and that still does not include labor.

 

Refrigerant gas has allowable leaks that are built into the systems as far as I understand it so o-rings on a 134a system and things like that are allowed to leak XXX amount per whatever it is month year etc so over time 10 years it is possible for your system in a mobile environment to be down low enough to where it might not kick on anymore 10 12 13 years I would think. Usually at that point if I'm getting the car like that before I even fool with that I go ahead and replace all the o-rings because I'm already here goofing off a pack of o-rings and $8 or something so we go ahead and replace those lube them up clamp down on them correctly back in the old days I used to be able to just pump air into system and listen. Watch my gauges . If all seems to hold . I at time had no vac pump so purge from lo to hi. Always worked like a charm . Another 10 or so . I don't think I've ever had any car at an AC dedicated shop . Yet!. But as he's new systems get larger and larger I don't see fooling with. Not that much time left..

 

Our ‘10 had good AC performance when we bought it, then gradually it started getting iffy, cooling but not that well. I took it in for an “AC service” about 5 years back, for a bit over $150 CDN, and it’s been icebox-chill since (knock on wood).

In our case it paid off. Maybe just seals were drying out, and the refresh made the difference? Another system, it might not work, but worth a try?

 

So I’m a word, yes, but you can use R134 which is what your prius originally had. R1234yf is what is used in Europe, some new car manufactures use it now to be compatible. You can buy a R134 recharge “kit” at any auto parts store. I’m my view, and I’ve been fixing my own AC for years, the leak/no oral argument is mute unless you are ready to have your system completely rebuilt for a couple of grand, which I would not. If you were in denver I’d have you pop over and we’d pull a vacuum on the system to see what she holds. If she cannot stay around 30 inches for 30 minutes then it’s likely your re-charge will leak out pretty fast. However you also can just charge it up BUT, the Prius uses different oil in the AC system than a non hybrid and as such you must select a R134 that has no oil in it. This is pretty critical. Good luck! Keep cool!

 

Its moot not mute.