air conditioning recharge

Hi dr09q,

If the idling speed is low with AC compressor running, the engine would want to stall abd when engine speed is too low, the compressor would be turned off. This repeated cycle would result in the engine idling go down very low till engine feels like stalling and then back on again.

Get the throttle body and IAC valve cleaned and problem should be over.

I have a 2 door 1999 Honda Civic with 110K miles on it. My a/c went out last week. I do not have a regular mechanic. What can I do to prevent getting ripped off? I fear that some teenager at a mass chain store will tell me to just recharge it and then I will be back a week later because it will stop working again and then they will say that I should have had other work done. What should I insist that the mechanic test or look at, and what ballpark figure should I expect to pay for the diagnostic tests? How do I know if my car is already equipped to take the new freon or if I need to have additional work done?
Thanks!

OK. Your car has the new refrigerant in it. Under the hood it will probably make reference to R134a. Anyway, I would suggest having a dye added to the system to locate leaks. Now that said, Walmart and parts stores sell complete kits to recharge the system and have pretty good instructions. It is pretty easy to do. Anyway, either this comes with a dye included or you can get a can with the dye, but in all it is a rather inexpensive route to take and atleast be able to point to where the system is leaking. The leak may be slow that you can stave it off for a year.

When recharging my A/C do I need to evacuate the system first & if so how do I do that?

If you're just adding refrigerant,there is no need to evacuate the system.If there was somepart replaced or a line opened,you have to evacuate the system using a vacuum pump.

My newly converted and charged AC worked for about 1300 miles until today, at 110 F outside temp the compressor didn't turn on. It worked in the morning while running errands.I tried pushing hard on the AC switch, but it still didn't work.
Any suggestions?

Thank you,
J.

Have the AC high and low pressures checked could be low/no freon-start here

We measured the pressure and it was in the low range. Tried to charge it with a re-fill bottle but it made no difference. The compressor didn't even kick in. Could it be a faulty relay or some other bad electrical connection?

Could be the AC relay or pressure switch-also the AC magnetic clutch defective

I have a 91 Honda Civic, I recharged the AC with R134 because the person at Autozone told me that all I needed was the connection kit. The AC wasn't working for quite sometime before I did this. How can I tell if I messed up my cooling system? My compressor is still kicking on just fine. The AC worked for a couple of days then stopped blowing cool air again. Is there anything I can do short of taking it in to get repaired?

When you charged it was the system completly empty?How much did you put in the system?Did you add any dye to the system when you charged it?

There was no dye added. The unit was completely empty to my knowledge.

If the system was low or empty of those cans you charged it with should have had dye in it so you could find the leak.How much did you charge the system with when you charged it up?Also you will need gauges to see what the pressures are or your best bet is to just take somewhere that they can look at for you.

I used the gages and got it to fill to the correct pressure, my problem is that someone said I may have messed up the system if the sytem was R12 and I used 134, I don't know what it had before but everything on the car was original down to the clutch so what ever it had was probably the same.

When you charged it did the fittings where you hooked it up have threads where you had to change the fittings to the r134 ones?Also when charging you go by weight of how much charge you put in not pressure.How many 12oz cans did you put in?

System is empty gauge states 0 psi. Nothing flowing from the valve if opened. Upon starting to fill with 12 oz can of Freon compressor kicked on and pressure rose to around 55 before the can was depleted. I drained the system again for a double take and same issue. Cannot figure why the compressor responds but the system's pressure is not properly regulating like it should. Compressor does shut off at high pressure and kicks back on if you drain the system of some pressure.

Good morning.

How much did you add?

Did you evacuate the system?

What is the high side and low side readings when you add it?

Roy

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/air-conditioner-how-to-add-freon

Which pressure rose? High side or low side? System zero and adding R134A should cause the compressor to engage as soon as the system pressure rises over the threshold of the low pressure switch. However, if you did not pull a vacuum on the system prior to adding the 134a the air in the system could be causing it to react this way.

Did not pull vacuum. Low side is where the pressure rose. Will try pulling vacuum and seeing if that fixes the issue.

Where did the Freon leak?

Can you get a set of gauges?

Roy

I'm trying to figure out the location and which of the 2 valves is used to recharge the system on a 88 civic.
I know the vlaves on the civic are the old styles and they need to be fitted with the new adapter which is compliant to the new freon that is used.
and the caps are color coded, I beleive black, and green.

Hi speed2000,

The valve on the pipe connected directly to the condenser is the high pressure.

Use the other one for recharging.

Okay, no vacuum will cause an issue as the air and moisture in the system will compress differently and the moisture can also create a higher pressure as it goes through the compressor. I would pull a good vacuum and let it run a while to get as much of the moisture and air out. Then see if it will hold a vacuum. Now charge it and see what you get for pressures.

Still didnt find it, do the caps have a certain color......Where is it exactly?
How much do you fill ...

Hi speed2000,

Sorry, I am used to RHD and is not sure about LHD. RHD is found near left side strut on wheelhouse.

Check the pipe coming out of the evaporator, the low pressure valve should be found on it. It is slightly bigger than the high pressure valve which should be located near the condenser.