General A/C question

The A/C in my fiancee's GMC Jimmy is just blowing out hot air. I think the "vent" dial puts out colder air than the A/C.

We bought it 3 years ago and the dealer said they had repaired the A/C and given it a tune up. When I took it for inspection, the shop confirmed that it had just had a tune up, so I assumed the A/C was done too.

We bought it in the fall, and didn't use the A/C until the next summer. By then we realized it was not working. We've lived with it like this for 3 years, but I want to get it fixed for her.

I'm hoping there is just a leak and it needs to be charged. But I'm curious if anyone can give me a real rough ballpark figure for some costs here.

1. Fix leak, freon charge
2. Replace condenser, freon charge
3. anything else?

Need to know how hard this is going to hit the old pocketbook.

what year jimmy? if it has R-134a refrigerent, its cheap to do and you can charge it yourself... and its cheap for a can of the refridgerent... and get a can that has the stopleak in it

It's a 95 Jimmy SLE. I know nothing about that vehicle (couldn't find a cool forum like this one for Jimmys that old). She only drives it about 3 miles a day, but we take it though the hills sometimes, and to the hardware store A LOT.

I've never refilled refrigerent. How hard is it to do? My biggest problem is that I fear there is a leak (why else would it stop working?) so how would I pinpoint the leak?

First thing, find out if the compressor is running at all when you try to activate it from the inside. If it is, I'd then check the refrigerant level. From there, start looking over the various hoses and see if you can find any suspect areas. Unless some seals went somewhere causing a leak, your hoses could be suspect with a pinhole. A/C systems aren't the cheapest things to fix.

how do I check the refrigerant level?

If your seals are shot and the coolant is leaking out you'd see an oily residue. 95 I believe is the new R-134a. First off you have to see if the clutch engages on the compressor when you turn the A/C on. Turn the A/C on and visually look at the pulley. Is the whole thing spinning or only the outer? If the whole thing is spinning then the clutch is good. If only the outer then the clutch isn't engaging. If the clutch isn't engaging you'll have to find out if it's not getting the input or not.

If the clutch is engaging then I'd go to the parts store and buy a charge kit they're cheap. Follow the instructions to service your A/C. If that works and doesn't hold then you have a leak somewhere.

Since it is a 95 my money is on the clutch isn't engaging cause it's shot. Unfortunately the only fix for that is a new compressor.

Let us know what you find.

Get a 134a recharge kit and do that first (if the clutch is engauging)... cheap to do and is a common thing to need done. Probably will need more than 1 can (might get one with the kit, so you might need to get a 2nd bottle @ a few bucks). If that doesn't work, go from there.
Fixing A/C is a PITA!

Thanks guys.

How do you find out things like "oh it's a R-134a"? I would be lost without this site.

Looks like I need a kit like this one?

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-Browse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2002875/showCustom-0/p-2002875/N-111+10201+600002308/c-10101

That has the coolant, leak detector and some other junk. You think that is the first step once I confirm the clutch is working?

Umfan, my Autozone store has a whole red cart loaded down with various refrigerant and oil charges, not to mention UV charges for finding leaks. Why don't you see if yours does as well?

You'll find that small cans of r134a (6oz or abouts) run around $9. You'll usually need two. You'll also find some fix alls that include some oil, stop leaks to recondition A/C seals, and UV dye. If you feel like going to the trouble, charge it with UV refrigerant and try one of the kits. You should be able to find the leak that way, but you might just want to hold off after recharging to see how fast it leaks back out. A refill kit usually includes a gauge that shows you how full your current system is.

it is very easy to charge, get something at autozone, the kits there are very cheap and they can tell you how to do it if your unsure... just DONT overcharge the system!!! 95 and up should be r-134a, to find out it will either be in the owners manual, or under the hood where the A/C info sticker is

Ok, so when I turn on the AC I can't see or hear the compressor come on. But, the engine is so loud, it might be covering it up...I just don't know.

The refill kit I bought says that if you can't hear the compressor come on, you should dump one of the two refill cans into the system and try again.

Do you think it's worth a shot, or should I just assume the compressor is bad and return my refill kit unused?

Also, when refilling, the instructions say there is a "high side service port" and a "low side service port". It says to refill to the low side port, and not the high one or the refill tank could explode. I see two ports, but only one of them fits my refill kit. How do I know which is high side and which is low side?

Here is a photo since they say a thousand words:

http://www.msu.edu/~schaef60/Random/Jimmy001.jpg

The two red arrows point to the two ports I found. The one on the left (going into the cylinder) fits the recharge system. But, it's at the highest point in the AC system which makes me wonder if it's the "high port".

The other port is too big for the recharge system, and quite frankly it is not much lower than the other.

Is there another port somewhere that I'm missing?

no, there should only be 2 ports, one is the high and one is the low, you would be recharging the low side, if i rember right the HIGH port is larger then the LOW, so you can only put it onto one port

Whatever you do, don't use the high pressure side!

Yeah I know, that's why I'm nervous to just plug it in, and try.

If there are only two ports and only one fits...then I'm ok. But I don't want to be wrong and explode a can of refrigerant in my hand.

The ports are different sizes for a reason. Your kit will only fit the correct port.

Thanks Herc. I will try it then.

If my posts start looking like this "awefh[go8aweghagea" then you will know I plugged into the wrong port and am now typing with stubs.

I must be an idiot or something. I can't get it to work.

I do everything the instructions say, but the refrigerant won't leave the bottle.

Wouldn't the coolant leave the refill bottle even if the compressor is bad? Is it possible that a bad compressor is not "sucking" the refrigerant out of the bottle?

I would feel really dumb if I couldn't screw the hose onto the bottle properly, but I turned it as far as it will go, then I turned it a few more times until it clicked repeatedly.

How can I screw up something this simple?

To recap:
I start the car, turn the A/C on max, hook up the refill kit, and then turn the knob to allow the coolant to start flowing into the system. But, I waited for several minutes and the bottle is just as heavy as when I started.

sounds like you're doing it all right. as long as the hose on the car's fitting is on enough to open the port.
and hold the bottle upsidedown.

there should be a valve that sits on the top of the can... you screw it ALL the way down to punchture the can and then unscrew it slowly to open it up... and when the ref leaves the can, the can will get COLD, so you will know when it is going through

I'll dink around with it again tonight. Last night I got too frustrated and decided to hang a storm door instead.

It helped my bruised ego to at least be able to handle a drill. And, my door actually works!!