Last year I put refrigerant with leak fix, small bottle, in my car. This year it runs hot. When I went to put more in, the gauge says full. I don’t want to break it or release floracarbons in the air.
Should I add it anyways or is it best to take to a shop?
Leave AC work to the pros. Definitely best to take it to a shop.
Air conditioning is not DIY stuff.
I have adder refrigerant to a car that needed some and had it work, but if the pressure is fine, no sense adding more, now it is time to take it to a pro.
Here’s another vote to take it to a shop. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can blind or otherwise injure yourself.
The unknowns are whether or not the compressor is engaged and what the pressure is; at least on the low side.
As mentioned, DIY A/C work can be a bit hazardous to your health because if a hose or refrigerant can decides to blow up it will happen in a nano-second and can leave you cut, frostbitten, or worst case; blinded for life.
I consider myself proficient with A/C but got a bit careless a decade ago with a home central unit. A 108 outside, sweating like a pig, and let my mind wander for a second. The resulting 1/2 second blast of R-22 instantly numbed the tip of my right forefinger and it’s still numb to this day.
Make sure the clutch is engaging, if it’s not it could be something simple like the relay. Or it could be something expensive like a new a/c compressor, which is definitely not DIY work.
Without a working knowledge of an automobiles AC system and an understanding of the physics of air conditioning it really is virtually impossible to successfully diagnose and repair an AC problem economically for a DIYer.
Using the RED-BLUE segments on one of the DIY chargers is such a terrible waste of time and money.