Air Conditioning recharge Questions...

[mcs32jr1968]

hey all...have had my '89 Accord since January and we have a freak heat wave going on in LA (southern California)...

the car has A/C installed (only 76k original verified miles) but does not blow cold (A/C blew cold for only a little while, now just blows air, I'm assuming a refrigerant refill is necessary).

Any hints/suggestions on how to refill so I can endure this heatwave? Any cheap, cost-saving measures are well appreciated.

Also, if any of you live here in southern california I know we have pretty ridiculous laws concerning refrigerant.
If any of you were successful in recharging your A/C on your 3G Accord especially here in SoCal, let me know...(any local shops or websites with solutions/products would also help).

thanks and peace to all,

mcs

[Xaisk]

hey all...have had my '89 Accord since January and we have a freak heat wave going on in LA (southern California)...

the car has A/C installed (only 76k original verified miles) but does not blow cold (A/C blew cold for only a little while, now just blows air, I'm assuming a refrigerant refill is necessary).

Any hints/suggestions on how to refill so I can endure this heatwave? Any cheap, cost-saving measures are well appreciated.

Also, if any of you live here in southern california I know we have pretty ridiculous laws concerning refrigerant.
If any of you were successful in recharging your A/C on your 3G Accord especially here in SoCal, let me know...(any local shops or websites with solutions/products would also help).

thanks and peace to all,

mcs

You should be able to go to autozone and grab a can of refridgerant with a gauge on it that tells you if its full or not. you can completely do it yourself, but be wary, usually the refridgerant doesnt leave the system unless there is a leak. If thats the case youll need refridgerant with dye in it to detect the leak. There are several gaskets in the system that could leak. If thats the case replace it and you should be good. JUST NEVER UNBOLT OR OPEN THE A/C SYSTEM WHILE REFRIDGERANT IS IN IT!!!

[RAZR]

crack your front window about 3 inches and crack the passenger side rear window the same and its a nice cool breeze.
thats my cost-saving advice

[kaylabryn]

Careful, with those kind of miles it is probably still R12 refrigerant. If it is you need to take it to a shop that can do R12. If it blew cold before but now is not you have a leak. Need to fix the leak then refill. If equipment is good with no leaks then keep it R12. Again "DO NOT MIX REFRIGERANTS" ie R12 and R134A.

Mike

[mcs32jr1968]

you're right on with that solution, only thing is that even the breezes are hot in SoCal during heatwaves and the hottest part of the year (usually from June to ....October!)

the only place the breeze is cool is near the beach, I live in the city where I'm lucky if any type of sea breeze cools the air...

[Dr_Snooz]

Just using "heatwave" and "SoCal" in same sentence makes me laugh. Come spend a summer with us in Fresno. We'll show you what a "heatwave" is all about!

I think Xaisk's advice is good, unless the car has not been converted to R134. Converting to 134 is about the same price as refilling with R12. However, if the system lost freon the first time, it will probably do it again, so you'll have to fill at least twice. When you start considering the costs of double fills (or probably more) of R12 vs. R134, R134 starts to look real good.

[Xaisk]

Ahh your right. I forgot to mention the refrigderant type. I'm glad somebody else mentioned that before he went out and mixed the two. Sorry haha!

[88Accord-DX]

I recommend you shoot some dye in the system & charge it some, so you can find where the leak is with some yellow glasses made for looking at the dye - have to use special LED light too. Then you'll need have the system recovered by qualified personel since you live in CA. Then you need to rent a vacuum pump & ac gauges from autozone or where ever & pull a vacuum on the system for about 10 minutes to see if the system will hold a vacuum of -30 hg. first.... Most of the time, you have a small leak somewhere that needs fixed before it will hold a charge. Other than that, your wasting your time shooting freon (r-12 or r-134a) in it, cause it will leak out...