Replaced my AC condenser

Hopefully they didn't screw around with that condenser.

 

I'm really just curious for tracking purposes, do you have an opportunity to count fins per inch on that SCITOO unit?

 

Looks pretty close to me I can't imagine that would be a problem usually just having the condenser whatever kind you should see the crappy condenser's cars used to have was unbelievable big gaping holes in between the fins if you will so don't know but that looks pretty comparable I run a desert cooler radiator and one of my cars that looks almost like this condenser actually it looks more like the radiator in the Prius that you're working on but it's two rows thick. I didn't even see your high side reading but if you're 30 to 36 on the low and the fat tube is cold you're pretty much getting what the compressor is going to give you or if it's getting cold your expansion valve is working for the most part so.

 

I think Lech (resident AC guru) had a video on youtube where he railed against cheap condensers. Not saying this one is, but it could be. Saw that video a long time ago, so I might be getting this wrong, but as I recall the problems were condensers which were contaminated in shipping and had to be pumped down for some insanely long period (like a day) to get them clean and dry enough to install, and condensers which looked superficially like the OEM ones but had less cooling capacity. It was some function of the number of tubes and the density of the fins, but I don't recall what exactly. Also I think the Prius is supposed to be charged by weight, not pressure. Unclear from the notes above which method was used.

Also, the OP implied that the system had already leaked out all the refrigerant. That would allow water vapor in. Water inside is bad. The whole system might need to stay pumped down for a considerable time to get that out.

Isn't there some sort of dessicant like component (drier) which is also supposed to be changed if the system has been open to the air? I don't see that in the parts list.

 

Yeah receiver dryers are good to replace when the system is open how long it's opened also makes a difference but there is that I wouldn't say the Prius is any more susceptible to any of this than any other 134a system My van sat with a broken condenser for longer than I wanted like a month or two I did not replace the receiver dryer even though it was $24 I just didn't have it when I replaced the condenser so I went ahead and gassed up the vehicle been working fine ever since of course it is a sienna van but still very similar to the 134A system in all Toyotas and I don't think any systems generally charged by pressure in the past few decades it's pretty much by weight or volume most of our Toyotas hold like a weird amount 1.3 lb and like he said he can drop that in one load into your system and that's that so can I here pretty much . I have many types of gas here for many types of systems I do a lot of work on mini splits in the like which run 410A.

 

Thank you for sharing this photo (and starting the thread) Good luck & stay cool!

 

Never realized Harbor Freight sells a venturi style vacuum pump for AC systems. What level of vacuum was it able to achieve?

I have a question about your refrigerant charge. The repair manual calls for 450 +- 30 grams for a fresh charge into a vacuumed system.
12 ounces is only 324 grams. Did the oil charge come with a few ounces of refrigerant to push the oil into the system? Would be perfect to find an oil charge that also has 4 ounces of R134a as the pusher. (Although a vacuumed system doesn't need much pushing)

Copy and Paste from repair manual:

2. CHARGE REFRIGERANT (a) Perform vacuum purging using a vacuum pump. (b) Charge refrigerant HFC-134a (R134a). Amount: 450 +-30 g (15.9 +-1.1 oz.)

 

Venturi type vacuum pumps don't pull deep enough to properly boil off air and moisture. You can mitigate that somewhat if you can get (most of) the A/C system crazy hot. Force the ICE in maintenance mode with the heater on full hot - recirc.

So there's some air and moisture left in the system - pressures will be a bit high and there will likely be corrosion forming inside. The OP is apparently fine with that for a "short term" fix.

Ain't perfect and it's not likely to last for years. But it works "good enough" right now.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Zoom in on the picture, the fin count looks about the same, but the new unit has fewer tubes across the same width, so overall has a bit less effective area.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Yep, that's my observation as well.

 

See this thread:

How Prius owners unknowingly kill their electric compressor | PriusChat

and watch the video in the first post. Here are two other of his videos, one about condensers:

and another where he discusses gauges, micron measurements for pressure, purging with dry nitrogen and other things (on a Kia BEV, but the Prius system is more like that than the belt driven ICE sort of system):

Note that he goes down to tens of microns, where 1mmHg is 1000micronsHg, so a much more complete vacuum than the 90% your system achieved.

 

-30 in Hg, I believe.

 

My Pittsburgh compressor brings it all the way to -30 Hg, just fine.

The thing I'm seeing now, is maybe my condenser is bad and not the compressor.

Lost 22.5 oz. of R134a over night yesterday after driving it around all day ice cold with 40-45°F at the vent...

Thought everything was good (after it held vacuum for an hour, before filling) but, no.‍♂️

 

Did you replace the high and low side valves while had it evacuated? If not, it might be a good idea to do that. If they leak, a vacuum test won't pick that up.