How to recharge A/C? Do I have a leak?

Assuming you own a Prius, I suggest that you visit a Toyota dealer for help as your car may have a refrigerant leak that needs to be fixed first. Since the air conditioning system has an electric compressor of unusual design and the lubricating oil used is definitely unusual and expensive, this may be too much for independent air conditioning shops to handle.

Some posters have complained that road debris hit and punctured the air conditioning condenser located in front of the radiator. This seems to be one likely place for a leak to develop.

 

Mine (in Connecticut) quoted $1200. I took a chance and put in some "stop leak" and freon for $75 at the local gas station. That was in 2005 and the AC still works (as of last summer) with no further leaking.

JeffD

 

The cost will depend upon the reason for the leak. As Jeff indicated, the cost could get into four digits.

I am located in south OC and Rancho Santa Margarita Toyota is closest to my home. They've done an excellent job on various warranted repairs and SSCs. I haven't used Tustin Toyota yet but they might be worth trying out.

If you are located further north, I think that Longo in El Monte would be good and have heard that the Marina del Rey dealership also does good work. I don't know north OC Toyota dealers.

 

our air conditioner just did the same thing. the 2008 is still under full warranty. they told us the compressor locked up and they replaced it. i dont know what the cost would have been, but im sure glad its under warranty.

 

The condenser is the weak point, due to its construction and location. There are threads here about condenser damage and the resulting cost

I don't think a can of stop leak will help with an actual hole. See if you can find a salvage condenser first.

I made a protective grille out of that Gutter Guard stuff you can get from a Big Box. It really does help

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/...s Stuff/FrontofPriusaftergutterguardcopy2.jpg

I got the black Gutter Guard. It blends in so well, you really do have to be very close to the car to notice it. Some folks have made fancy guards out of aluminum mesh material, looks very slick

 

I'd primarily be concerned about damaging the air conditioning compressor, which uses a non-traditional design. However, Jeff indicated success with that stop leak method.

If you choose to use the stop leak, the repair will cost more than $10. You'll have to pay labor time for the system to be evacuated and for the cost of HFC-134a refrigerant to be installed. The system might need additional ND-OIL 11 compressor oil to be added as well.

 

or you could put that $10 toward getting the condenser replaced. and then reinforce your lower grille. http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...lle-reinforcement-c-condenser-protection.html

 

$150 is kinda pricey for diagnosis, but it's spent money now, and the replacement price is reasonable. If you went somewhere else I bet the total cost would be greater, but now that you know what needs to be done you might try calling around. Of course they must use only the correct Toyota fluids to avoid damaging the compressor.

 

My dealer charged me $162 in Round Rock to diagnose the problem. The total repair bill was around $1100. I declined to get it fixed. In the Bay Area, you can easily get by w/o air conditioning. Here in Central TX, it's almost a necessity.

The assistant service manager at Round Rock/Classic Toyota tried to make me feel better by saying it's pretty common. Moreover, it happened to another customer's brand new Tundra when the new Tundra's first came on the market. Reading that it's #1) not covered by warranty and #2) fairly common means I will be looking away from Toyota for my next car purchase. (GM couldn't put decent alternators, struts, motor mounts or steering columns into their cars to save their lives. However, they did make rock solid and ice cold air conditioners.)