ac recharge.

I'd take this one to the dealership. The equipment required, the know-how and specifics, not worth the risk: you can mess it up, end up with an expensive repair bill to restore it.

 

agree^^^ unless you know your prius a/c system. keep in mind, it's not the same as gassers.

 

No car mde past the mid-1990's uses R12.

Do NOT mix the two.

I have worked on AC units in the home and in cars since 1970.

Like Mendel, I would suggest that, unless you know what you are doing, I'd leave it to your Toyota dealer. Any contamination of the ND11 oil required for hybrid AC systems IS BAD,

The tools MUST be dedicate for use with ND11 oil systems only. Other oils MUST NOT be introduced to a Prius AC system.

While my skills are on the level of ac engineering and design, there are few owners who can do the same.

 

I'll pile on and say that if there really is a leak bad enough to make it stop cooling altogether, then you will just be wasting your money.
And that might not be the problem at all.

 

What I gathered from the original post was that this product is something called Red Tek 12a that is one of these newfangled hydrocarbon refrigerants that is supposed to be a "compatible" replacement for either R134a or R12. In general an interesting idea but I would think very long and hard about using it in a Prius. Now you have not only the question of what oils are safe for the high-voltage windings in the compressor, but how all that is or isn't compatible with a different an untested formulation of refrigerant itself.

And the prize goes to ... the most important point of all. The OP started with an A/C that's not blowing cold, and took a standing long jump to "the problem must be refrigerant charge."

How about asking the air conditioner for its diagnostic codes, before jumping to any conclusions? (I know how to ask a Gen 1, with three taps on the A/C button, but I don't know for Gen 2. That would be a quick check in the manual on techinfo.toyota.com.)

-Chap

 

Having 45 years of experience in air conditiong and refrigeration, I NEVER used that "snake oil."

I still have 20 plus pounds of R12 in reserve from the 1980's.

 

and i have a keen supply of incandescent light bulbs.

 

If the system is low on refrigerant, there definitely is a leak. You can add R-134a as a temporary measure but you eventually are going to need to have the leak found and fixed.

I don't know why you would want to add R12 which is bad for the environment and being phased out in most countries. Just buy a can of R-134a as well as a hose that has a pressure gauge. Make sure the R-134a is pure, and contains no oil within.

Do not worry about the refrigerant oil and do not add any, since the Prius system requires ND-11 oil.

Connect the can of R-134a via the hose to the low side of the AC system. Make the Prius READY. Set the AC to MAX COLD, fan speed at high, open all doors. The ambient air temperature is assumed to range from 86 - 95 degrees F, regarding the pressure spec below.

The pressure spec on the low side is 0.2 MPa which is 29 psi. Do not overfill the system with refrigerant.

 

I just wanted to report that my AC was blowing ambient temperature (or just slightly lower) while it was set in maximum cold.
I got a connecting hose with a gauge from amazon and I noticed that the low pressure valve was showing only 8-9 psi (very low) while the compressor was on. I got a can with (pure 134a) showing "good for hybrid vehicles with electric compressors" from amazon.
I filled it up only up to 30-34 psi and now everything is working as it should - all in all everything cost me ~$40 shipped and there was no need to visit my dealer.

 

The one issue I see with that: the pressure was low 'cause you have a leak. Yeah you can keep topping it up, but that stuff is bad (albeit not as bad as the older stuff) for the environment. A responsible shop would collect the old stuff, and troubleshoot the leak.

 

Well, this a model year 2008 car (which could have easily be made in 2007 - need to check on that) and in a few days it would be 2016. So, this AC unit has been with the original 134a for pretty much 8 years. In any car (especially if you don't use the ac) the freon/134a/r12/whatever AC gas used it will get depleted after 8 years. There is nothing in this world that is perfectly sealed. Of course if in 6 months the AC has a problem again, I'm with you that it will need to be addressed differently but at least for now, (since I know the original owner) I know that it took 8 years for the AC pressure to go from 29psi down to 9.

 

Yeah I was thinking that too. Touché.

 

Thanks for the info. Is it still working 3 years later?

 

Is it still working to this day?

 

The red tec R12 a is a mixed blend refrigerant and yes I believe that one has hydrocarbons propane or butane mixed in with it. No Bueno

You would only want to stick R134 only.

most of the burned-out compressors I seen using the substitute mix blend refrigerants that had hydrocarbons in them. I would see a really nasty grayish black powder developed inside the system that would totally coat then tire system making it very difficult to flush out and clean after the addition of a blend refrigerant like the one you were talking about.

A lot of cheap shops would use that snake oil because it was cheap but later on the costs cost to the customer was great.

 

I would like to take my Prius C from 2012 to a dealer shop to see how my A/C refrigerant, i mean by amount, the A/C works fine but i would still like to know, most likely by taking it all out and adding new R134a, but i don't trust these shops since they might not use the correct oil or claim that they have extracted the old refrigerant and added new one when in reality they have not done anything. I would like to do it myself but since this has to be done by weight, how much does a Prius like mine takes?

 

You should find a sticker like this under your hood this is off my 2012 Prius model two.
I recharge my Prius C every 2 to 3 years I usually find it low by about 2 ounces. I have no visual leak indicators no oil spots no dust just a little bit around one of the fittings of my compressor. Nothing I could pick up with the electronica leak detector or with soap bubbles.

Because my Prius is my work vehicle and I’m a mobile business I leave my Prius running from 6:30 AM to 7:30 AM all the way to 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM every day. The day I bought the Prius brand new off the showroom floor I hit the air conditioning button and never turned it off I do that on all my vehicles run my air conditioning 24 seven 365. I spend more time with my Prius than in my house.

 

I see, so it takes in total 470g of R-134a? since it says 420 + (-) 50g (for the Prius C) But i could not find that sticker under the hood in my Prius C. And also is it okay to turn off the vehicle without turning off first the A/C?