I having issue from august 2023 suddenly my Rav4 A/C was not working. Took to repair shop and mechanic told me pressure went down to 27psi that why AC is not working and he fill-up gas and AC was until last year and now year 2024 May I turned on AC & again not working. Took to repair shop again same issue. pressure went and refill gas. He could not find any leak any thing. Now every year i have to spend $150.00 for refill gas. How come we resolve this problem? Thanks
Sorry you are having this issue… Sounds like you are using a quick lube place to do your AC work for you… Bad Idea, they are not qualified mechanics… You need to find a real shop that does major repairs to vehicles to find the leak and do the proper repair for you…
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Yep, you need a shop certified for AC repair.
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A proper AC shop would have injected dye along with the refrigerant recharge to find the leak. They also would have a meter that reads the gas leak. One or the other would have exposed the leak.
Keep in mind the repair could run $500 to more than $3500 to save you the $150 recharge each year.
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No it will go up in price, just like everything else… lol
I’d find a good a/c shop and get the leak fixed. Next time it stops working could be very inconvenient.
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How much the cost goes up is partly a function of which refrigerant is used. We replaced our AC unit rather than get it repaired and recharged because the refrigerant was the greatest part of the $900 cost.
The same way you resolve a leaky tire. If you have a tire that goes low on air once a week, you refill it. If you don’t want to have to refill the tire every week, you have the tire patched.
If you don’t want to refill the A/C system every year, have the leak found and the system repaired. If your shop can’t find the leak, they are probably not competent in A/C repairs.
A note of warning…if you don’t like paying $150 to recharge your A/C, you probably won’t like paying $200+ to find the source of the leak and then hundreds or thousands to repair it.
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$150 per year to keep the car’s AC system working seems like a pretty good bargain. The equipment is pretty similar to your home refrigerator, which you probably never have to refill, and so it is natural you are confused why it is necessary for your car? The answer is that cars are constantly being jostled going over bumps etc, while your home fridge is situated on a solid unmoving floor.
Dumping nasty chemicals into the air on an annual basis is not a good plan. Fix it.
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A home compressor is in sealed container.
A car compressor is not.
A car condenser is exposed to water spray and road debris.
A home condenser is not. Sits in 70deg kitchen for life
A car system has threaded fittings and o-rings
A home system has brazed fittings.
You should have leak found by shop.
I assume you are talking about a home window unit and not a central unit that cools the entire house through duct work??
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I think he was talking about a refrigerator.
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That makes more sense, thanks… lol
I paid $20 for a leak detector, and it works wonders. Moreover, a vacuum pump with manifolds runs about $130. Excellent investment - I fixed/charged quite a few AC systems over the last 30 years without relying on “professionals”. Just filling the system without finding root cause of pressure loss is beyond ridiculous.
You captured the refrigerant each time, right?
No, I do not. First, R134 is not R12. Second, when it needs to be fixed, there is very little refrigerant left. At the very least, I do not just top it off without fixing it first. Unlike “professionals” in question.