3800 A/C blowing hot air...

[Mikes1998GTP]

a few people have said something about a "do it yourself kit" that you can buy at Napa or Autozone for maybe $25 to re-charge your A/C system, any truth to that? How easy is it really? The dealer said they'd be happy to do it for about $200... that sounds really high?!!

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[imported_Ron Vogel]

Do you have a spoof on the IAT, or is it disconnected?

 

[syP]

i need to do that also...


i had to talk on the phone today for about 15 min... so i had to put my windows up to hear the person... oh my god i was sweating bullets by the time i got off the phone..


how hard is it to do it urself?

 

[phat_ridegt]

200 for dealer isnt bad. our COST is over 30 a pound for r134...im not sure what we charge, but i would guess it would be about 50 a lb, and out cars probably take roughly 2.2-2.5 lbs. so that would be 150 for refrigerant, plus labor. i think we get about 200 for a recharge, but you may have a leak, and we ALWAYS put dye in the system when we recover, vacumn and then recharge,

so r134a- 100-150
dye- 10-30 (not sure how much)
labor probably any hour (our rate is 65.00 which is low)

ive never used a home kit, but it'd def. be worth a try!

 

[Mikes1998GTP]

reason i ask... i went and had my car appraised at a dealership and they said I need new brake pads and the a/c is blowing hot... it would be hard to take my trade-in and give me a good offer with those things not functioning properly. I'm not crazy about dishing out $200 for a re-charge if I might be getting a new vehicle in the next couple months... ANYBODY have any other solutions? Or heard of a do-it-yourself kit? Anyone...

 

[Aircal]

Used to do them on older cars. I would say you must do a dye test. If the system is leaking does no good to dump gas and have it just leak out. usually you just hook it up to the low pressure side and follow instructions on the can.

 

[PANDA]

reason i ask... i went and had my car appraised at a dealership and they said I need new brake pads and the a/c is blowing hot... it would be hard to take my trade-in and give me a good offer with those things not functioning properly. I'm not crazy about dishing out $200 for a re-charge if I might be getting a new vehicle in the next couple months... ANYBODY have any other solutions? Or heard of a do-it-yourself kit? Anyone...

My dad told me stay away from those do it yourself kits. They are cheap and you "might" be able to get the job done with them, but if you mess something up your ac system will be f*cked and will costs tons to repare. Call a few other places and get a price.

What did the dealer offer you for your car? What you gonna buy now? LS1?

 

[burtgtp1973]

Originally posted by Ron Vogel@Jun 18 2006, 02:48 AM
Do you have a spoof on the IAT, or is it disconnected?

[snapback]129927[/snapback]​

hmm, Why do you ask this Ron? How does this cause the A/C to not work? Mine isn't worknig either. It seemes like it would be the easiest place to begin looking for the reason as to why.

 

[CoolGTX]

Originally posted by burtgtp1973+Jun 19 2006, 09:28 AM-->

<!--QuoteBegin-Ron Vogel

@Jun 18 2006, 02:48 AM
Do you have a spoof on the IAT, or is it disconnected?

[snapback]129927[/snapback]​

hmm, Why do you ask this Ron? How does this cause the A/C to not work? Mine isn't worknig either. It seemes like it would be the easiest place to begin looking for the reason as to why.

[snapback]129996[/snapback]​

[/b]

IF the iat reads below a certain point AKA 40 degrees(just an example, as I dont know the proper degree), the a/c wont work.

 

[Royalgtp]

true...

 

[Toasty]

Originally posted by vipermike2002@Jun 18 2006, 10:13 PM

reason i ask... i went and had my car appraised at a dealership and they said I need new brake pads and the a/c is blowing hot... it would be hard to take my trade-in and give me a good offer with those things not functioning properly. I'm not crazy about dishing out $200 for a re-charge if I might be getting a new vehicle in the next couple months... ANYBODY have any other solutions? Or heard of a do-it-yourself kit? Anyone...

My dad told me stay away from those do it yourself kits. They are cheap and you "might" be able to get the job done with them, but if you mess something up your ac system will be f*cked and will costs tons to repare. Call a few other places and get a price.

What did the dealer offer you for your car? What you gonna buy now? LS1?

[snapback]129982[/snapback]​

the 'home kit' that i think you're dad is talking about is the conversion kit that lets you use your old R12 system with R134 (95 and older vehicles) I have used a handfull of these kits on GM's (have seen some not work as well on ford's) and never had a problem, but those arent applicable to this vehicle

you may be able to buy a 'kit' but you dont need any special adapters or anything. all you need is the filler hose, the cans of refridgerant, and the gauge (gauge not completely required, but strongly reccomended)

you'll fill it on the low side of the condenser unit (the hose should only fit that side anyway) (car should be running, windows rolled down, ac system on max, fan on high

get a can of seal conditioner (oil) and put that in first. then, if you want, get one can of coolant with leak sealer in it, and then use that next. If you need aditional, then you can just use std coolant.

If you're planning to get rid of the car, that's the way to go. even if there is a small leak, it's likely to not leak out by the time you trade the car.

it's quite possible that your car isnt totally out of freon either. the compressor has a low pressure shut off, so you dont burn it out by running it 'dry' ... when you add more freon to the system, the pump will kick back on.