1998 Chevy Prizm No AC

HOMERBSHARP

MEMBER
1998 CHEVROLET PRIZM
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
160,000 MILES

I lost my AC quite quickly over course of a day max, heater still works. Fan blows hot, ambient air (Texas). Clutch engages immediately and spins. Belt seems good. Fuse for ac at front of engine looks OK. No hoses are cold. Hook up can of 134a/dye and no pressure as per gauge on can. Can gets a little warm and gauge/can setup works on other car. Can does not see to empty at all, no pressure still after 15 minutes.
Spraying w soapy H20 has bubbling right next to firewall when AC is set to full see pic for bubbling area at firewall/low side hose. Q1: could the bubbling be blowback from fan inside firewall/dash? Q2: If I see bubbling when AC set to full why is there not enough presssure to pull in refridgerant / or Q3: If there is no pressure does a vacuum have to be pulled first? I want to confirm leak with dye. Q4: What kind of connection is that in the pic? Is it 2 threads so need backup wrench and how tight should they be and can I unscrew and possibly replace o-rings? Finally, could I be missing something else to look at?

1 Reply

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi Homerbsharp,

Thank you for the donation.

Q1. Yes, it is possible.
Q2. If the bubbling is due to the blower motor air, it has nothing to do with the refrigerant. Regrigerant pressure is from the compressor suction side.
Q3. If the freon has leaked of completely, you definitely need to vacumn but the leak has to be repaired first.
Q4. I do not see any pic so is not able to comment on this.

The low pressure side has to be cold and high pressure side hot if the system is working correctly.

Get the low and high pressure readings to confirm if there is freon in the system.

If the compressor is bad, which I suspect is the problem, and all the freon has leaked out, you would not get any pressure into the system.