yes, I’m also confused about the added oil…
Need more details.
If you still wish to bypass:
Does this diagram match your belt configuration? If yes, you do not even have to remove the a/c pulley, but simply bypass it as shown in the diagram with a new belt. 5 minutes of work. The belt you need would be a Dayco 5060380 (5PK0965) or something comparable. Note, the new belt will be very close to the tensioner but not touch it.
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I bought the car in December. When I turned the AC on this summer, it blew out warm air. I put a pressure gauge on it and it had no pressure. I figured it could have a leak, but for less than $30 it was worth trying to charge it (I wish I never touched it) I got a can with sealer in it and a couple small ones. When I put it in, the compressor wouldn’t go on. So I was just filling the line with a ton of pressure. The next day my brother was checking the wires to see if it was getting juice, he explained to me it has to engage in order for the refrigerant to take. I forgot how, but he got the clutch to engage and had me fill it while we had it going, because the system supposedly shuts down when low on refrigerant. I ended up putting too much in, so I let some out. Everything seemed ok. AC was working, but my brother said the clutch was kinda stopping and limping along, didn’t spin like he thought it should. I’m not sure it worked perfect at that point, but it definitely wasn’t making noise. I think the AC light would blink after it was on for a while (20 min or so) not sure why, but I heard something about oil and assumed I might need some because I only filled it with refrigerant. As far as the oil its called " A/C PRO R-134A PAG 100 OIL CHARGE WITH ICE 32 (3 OZ.) " http://www.autobarn.net/interdynamics-pc-2.html?site=google_base&gclid=CLP3_PyEl88CFYFkhgodaH0H4g
Right after I added it got very noisy. Seemed to get quiet briefly when I turned AC on, but it wouldn’t stay quiet for long. I checked the pressure and I believe it was just under 45psi. My other brother said “why did you add oil, the refrigerant has everything it needs” A few days ago, I had the AC on for a 30min drive and the AC went off and the light started blinking. The light indicates one of a few things o think. Could be low on pressure or it senses another problem so it turns itself off. That’s about it. I hope I remembered everything correctly.
if the clutch is limping along, I think you may have one of two problems.
- the coil that pulls the clutch in when the a/c is on has gone bad or is about to die. Next time this happens you could give the clutch a little push with a stick to help it get going. If it does start to spin and the a/c work you likely have a bad coil. Not hard to replace and not expensive. I would replace the coil and clutch as a kit.
2.The a/c compressor is going or has gone bad. Bearing, cylinders, leak…who knows. It could explain why you were low on refrigerant. Not much choice but to get a new one (or bypass and live without a/c).
Of course, you could still be low or high on refrigerants. Here is a chart that should cover your car as well.
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I feel like such an idiot… I put a gauge on it today to check the pressure and it read 65psi (too high) the I put it on my brothers car to see what his read, it didn’t even register pressure. Got another guage hooked it to his car, it read 55psi. Hooked it to mine it read over 100psi… I released the pressure down to 45psi and the noise went away. So it seems that was the problem. Which is great news, because I don’t have the time or money to deal with repair right now. I appreciate all the help, sorry I wasted everyone’s time.
Glad you got that annoying noise to stop OP. B/c newer AC systems in cars use so little refrigerant compared to the older versions, most AC specialist shops won’t guess on how much to add. Instead they completely empty the system first by pumping all the refrigerant out into a holding tank, then carefully measure the amount they pump back in, by weight. Overfilling is a common cause of compressor damage in newer system designs, some hold as little as 12 ounces max, and if the overfill is severe enough it can not only damage the compressor, but the rest of the system gets plugged up with bits of metal shards from the resulting compressor failure. Hopefully you caught it in time. Best of luck.
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I’ve maintained/serviced stationary/mobile AC systems for over thirty years.
And everything you just stated is wrong.
Tester
Everything is wrong? Really?
Maybe you are correct. But then explain the following statement by one car repair shop owner with over 40 years of experience fixing cars and car AC systems.
“A very common mistake is simply to add refrigerant to a system that does not cool. … Adding additional refrigerant to such a system, results in an overcharge. Over charging will raise the pressure even further and destroy the system.”
George.
You do you realize that when recharging a mobile AC system that the engine has to be at certain RPM, with a high flow fan blowing at the condenser, and making a correction for ambient temperature, and monitoring vent temps?
If you don’t know what you’re doing when it comes to AC systems, let the pro’s take care of it.
Tester
@kurtwm2010, You do realize that the belt needs to touch the tensioner to keep the belt tight? Right?
Letting the pro’s take care of a car’s AC system is excellent advice. But I don’t recall making any statements in this thread about what rpm the engine should be, or what the fan blowing on the condenser should be doing, or what the ambient temperature correction needs to be, or saying anything about monitoring the temperature at the vents. So it’s hard to understand why you can claim that everything I said was wrong? B/c for one thing, I didn’t say anything about any of those. It’s true that I did say that overcharging can damage the system. For that claim, since you questioned the accuracy of it, I posted a link to supporting evidence above. Do you disagree with the content of that link? Or am I misunderstanding your point, and you were you referring to somebody else’s post?
"Instead they completely empty the system first by pumping all the refrigerant into a holding tank.
George?
Are you certified in refrigerant reclaiming/recharging?
Tester
No. In fact I’ve never even owned a car which has AC and never tried to repair one.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t read. Are you claiming AC specialist shops never empty the system first, before recharging? If so, how do you explain the following statement? Or is this shop owner simply wrong what he says?:
“To properly charge a modern vehicle air conditioner we must fully evacuate the system and then add the proper volume.”
Obviously yes, I was pointing out the part of the belt above the pulley. The schematic is not to scale and the belt appears much closer in reality.
you don’t have to guess, you measure the pressure. There is absolutely no need to empty the system and dispose of perfectly good refrigerant, unless certain parts of the cooling system have been damaged and replaced.
It sounds like it is just a difference of opinion among pro-AC specialists then, not that one is wrong about everything, and the other is right about everything.
Umm . . .
Where did anybody say that the mechanic is going to “dispose of perfectly good refrigerant” . . . ?!
No offense, but I get the idea you’ve never used one of those automotive ac service machines
They terminology is recover, evacuate and recharge
The refrigerant is removed . . . that’s the “recover” part . . . from the car, weighed and filtered, inside the whole assembly
Then you pull a vacuum for the appropriate amount of time . . . that’s the “evacuate” part
Then you recharge
I didn’t mention the oil until now, because that’s got little to do with this discussion, BTW
I may be wrong, but I got the impression perhaps YOU thought those machines remove the refrigerant, and then you have to dispose of the whole 2 pounds, or whatever you recovered, and then you have to recharge with 2 pounds of virgin refrigerant. That is only the case when you know or suspect the refrigerant was contaminated. That is not standard procedure when just replacing a leaking component, for example
Servicing AC systems would be very tedious, if you constantly had to dispose of good refrigerant from cars
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When evacuating and recharging an AC system with the precise amount of refrigerant recommended by the factory it was rare that I didn’t add a few ounces or pull out a few to obtain the best performance @George. So I just topped off the system to get the pressures and cycling rate, etc in sync when needed and rarely evacuated a system unless necessary for a repair or diagnosis. General consensus among my competition/friends was that after market parts and excess oil made the factory specified volume unreliable. The most common reason for topping off was when adding dye to search for a leak.
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Ok, I read the stuff in your link. It goes precisely against all other recommendation not to recycle refrigerants and put them back, perhaps contaminated, into the a/c system. Reading the heading. of course, this commercial website (lowest cost, superior methods…etc) wants to go through this ritual.
I stand by what I am saying. No need to evacuate an a/c system just because it is low on refrigerants, whether it is a “regular” or variable displacement a/c system.
Huh . . . ?!
I didn’t post any link
I believe you meant to talk to George . . . ?
Talk about barking up the wrong tree 