Hello all,

My car is going on 14 years old now and I doubt the air conditioning has ever been serviced. When I set the system to blow on LO it is not as cold as it should be. I wanted to add refrigerant to it but I'm not sure where to check/add it.

I bought one of the recharge kits at the auto parts store and I'm wondering where to connect it.

There is a plug by the passenger side of the radiator, is that the spot? Is there a hi-side and a low-side like the canister says?


I would try and use the JTIS program but I encountered a problem during installation and it doesn't show any pictures...

Thank you

 

Is this the JTIS pic you need?



Associated text is:

Remove vehicle charge port protective caps and connect equipment pressure hoses to vehicle.
1. BLUE hose = low pressure.
2. RED hose = high pressure.

This is the only pic in the Air Conditioning (A/C) System Recovery, Evacuation and Charging section of JTIS for 2000MY.

Graham

 

Most modern vehicles are charged by weight, and have no sight glass, like we used to have. And pressures vary greatlt dependent on your local climate. (you can use 35 psi on the low side, and 225 on the high side as a guide only.) The best advice I can give you on how much to put in, if you are just adding R134a, is to go a few ounces at a time until the Low side pipe gets quite cold to the touch. You can feel it back by the firewall where you have connected the low side freon connector. This way, you can likely avoid overcharging. Make sure your fans are working correctly, too. The a/c will never get cold if they aren't functioning.

 

Thanks guys, it was the low pressure port I couldn't find. The r134 can I bought has a pressure gauge on it and it redlined instantly when I connected it to the high side.

I'm looking forward to filling it after work today... What fans are you referring to by the way?

I'm assuming they all work cause it still blows cool air but I might as well check

Thank you

 

The radiator fans. Have you seen one or both in operation?

 

Oh yeah, haha they run. I thought you meant little fans inside the dashboard or something.

 

The low side pressure should be high until you actually run the compressor. Then you should see around 35 psi at idle when it's properly charged.

 

Set the A/C temp as low as it will go (I think it says Lo on the display) and charge using the port by the firewall on the pass side. I filled mine to about 25lbs using the stuff in the black can from Walmart and it's been working great. You'll feel the can getting real cold; shake it a bit side to side while it's filling.

 

I got it pumped up to 35 psi, it was reading maybe 31 or 32 when I started. Not a huge difference but it's slightly cooler.

I wonder if the gas that constituted the original 31psi is possibly expired or past its prime? I guess its a mute point as I'm not really willing to spend the $$$ to do a complete drain/refill and service.

 

Filling an AC system with gauges is a little more complicated than '35psi'. Here is the chart for the Jaguar system with the high/low side charge pressures based on the ambient air temperature. Actually, relative humidity plays a part but this is close enough for folk music.

Freon, in a closed system does not expire.

 

Sitting it in a pan of warm water *after* starting the fill is helpful.

 

This AirCon recharge procedure is obviously a regular maintenance item for those of you who live in warmer places than me. Never feel the need for anything but heat in the car here!

However, I'll be heading south soon and thought I'd better check the system. Just as well I did because there was absolutely nothing - no chill at all on LO with Recirc.

My local autoparts store had the kind of refill kit discussed here:



The standard hose wasn't quite long enough to reach the LP Port and to be able to shake / warm the container as plums suggested so I had to buy the extension hose.

test point's chart on correct pressure in relation to ambient temperature had me concerned but the device takes this into account:



The outer blue bezel (arrowed in yellow) is rotated to set the red arrow to ambient temperature on the inner scale of the gauge. The two red lines then show the correct pressure required on the outer scale.

Instructions are to run the engine for a minimum of three minutes and to set the AC to LO and Recirc.

The gauge is then connected without the gas cylinder to check initial pressure. Mine was down at around 5 psi which explained why there was no chill from the AC.

The gas cylinder is then connected and gas added by pulling the trigger and releasing to read the new pressure in the system. Five cycles of this brought the pressure up to 32 psi.

AC now chills and no leaks from the system.

Graham

 

I know Rotherham is "south" of Durham, but when the hoods up my AC is always on auto (unless its on demist first thing), helps keep condensation off the windscreen in winter.

When I bought it from a dealer, with a waranty I found it needed a new condensor, so it was recharged then.

 

My AC is permanently on Auto but with the temp set to a comfortable level. Hence little need to investigate the 'blue' range settings.

Graham

 

And you scoffed at me yesterday when I asked if you'd checked it!

I was watching the racing from Donnington yesterday, and with the amount of naked torsos on display you may need the ac at home.

 

I didn't scoff - that was WHY I checked it.

Graham

 

thanks all - although most of the time the top is down, a recent rainy day had me kick on the ac and found it to be rather warm even on lo so just bought one of these recharge kits - perfect timing for this thread

 

completed recharge - @0psi to start and gradually shot a 20oz can into the system. Ambient was 91degrees which should equate to 45-55psi, but the most I ever saw on the gauge was 35 and when the can was empty - watched it cycle between 25 and 34. Wondering if I need more or should just wait/see. The label in the engine bay says charged with 1lb 7oz of 134a so if I was at 0 and put 20oz, may need another 3oz shot to stabilize. Thoughts???

 

You need a little more juice.

 

I'll have to check mine, it isn't as cold as I think it should be... summer is coming, so I'm fairly certain I'll want it to be cold.