Anyone do their own AC recharge?

[Schadysnowball]

I went to go get my ac recharge kit, like i did when my civic went out, same problem, i cut the ac on and it will work fine for 20 min, and then stop, and then come back.
well when i got home i put the can on it, and the stupid thing dosent fit.
what kits have people on here used?
Like brands.. that fit?
or has noone ever used a recharge kit on their NB

[blue'99]

Originally Posted by Schadysnowball

I went to go get my ac recharge kit, like i did when my civic went out, same problem, i cut the ac on and it will work fine for 20 min, and then stop, and then come back.
well when i got home i put the can on it, and the stupid thing dosent fit.
what kits have people on here used?
Like brands.. that fit?
or has noone ever used a recharge kit on their NB

Was the civic an old one with an r-12 system??? The fittings are diferent for your r-134a system, so idiot's couldn't mix them! You can get a recharge, sealer kit at most any auto supply store for arround $30.00. Good luck, Earl

[Toad]

I just did one of those self-ac charge kits this week. It worked fine.

[vw_beetle_gpx]

Question is, now much refrigerant do you put into the low side?

[vw_beetle_gpx]

I went down and bought a do it yourself can with gauge, and when i put it on the low side (black cap toward the front of the engine bay), it leaked a little, the fans came on and the ac worked for about 10 seconds, then the fans kicked off and no ac....i think it may be time to call the stealerhip and schedule a service call


and the blasted do it yourself kit didnt fit the nozzle quite rite...so boo on that idea

[Oyveychris]

If there is too much freon in the system, it wont work either, so you need to be certain that a recharge is in order before adding anything, or more expensive problems will develop.

[rcy]

Yeah, ditto on the manifold gauges. I have a set, plus a vacuum pump (electric type). I've done a recharge on my Grand Caravan and used this sealer http://www.cliplight.com/ssp.php only because mine has the infamous (and common) leaky evaporator and it's 9 hours labour to replace it. Any other leaky part (hose, condenser, compressor etc. and I would replace rather than use a sealer.

This Cliplight sealer is the one several Dodge/Chrysler dealerships use in my area for the leaky evaporator. You MUST draw a vacuum on your system and replace the receiver/drier first.

[Schadysnowball]

well my ac works for like 10 min then cuts off for 20, it is very sparatic about when it wants to work and cvome on, but the pump or condencor always comes on when i push the ac button?
i also bought a recharge kit and hooked it up, and it seems nothing happened?

[GatorBeetle]

Originally Posted by Toad

I just did one of those self-ac charge kits this week. It worked fine.

Same here...last summer, no issues. Going to do another soon as he gets back from the paint shop. Biggest issue I had was that my Bentley has both AC Ports listed as "High Pressure." Took me about an hour to figure out it was a typo (thanks to the ORG.)

[Lmhansen]

Where's the caps I need to locate to do this refill? There's supposed to be a black on towards the front, so I guess I can probably find that one, but what about the other one? When I looked around earlier today, I did see a cap up in the top left corner (closest to the passenger side window). I believe the cap was green(ish) with some writing on it. Is that the high side?

[GatorBeetle]

Yes, that is the high side...low pressure port is also on the pass. side, toward the very front.

[GTRAFF]

FWIW - the low and high pressure fittings are different to protect you from accidently hooking up to the high side of the system. Only charge to the low side. The recharge kits you can buy will only connect to the low side.