A/C Help Please!

Hey guys! It's summer in SC and the temps are on the way up! I'm having A/C problems though. About 2 years ago I had the clutch go bad on the compressor which seized and blew trash into the system requiring replacement of the compressor and just about everything else! Well a few months ago as it started to warm up, I reliezed the A/c was doing a worse and worse job until it was blowing hot! I took it to my friend who runs a Goodyear Gemini and after looking at it he told me it was the evaporator and that Goodyear would not let him fix it because the dash would have to be torn down and they were afraid the airbags may deploy. So he topped it off with R-134 and sent me to the dealership to get a quote. $1200! Ouch! And it was blowing cold from what he added, so I figured I would hold off until I could come up with the cash to fix it.

We'll it's blowin hot again! I figured I would go get a recharge kit to fill it up again as I don't yet have the funds to fix it. Got an Interdynamics trigger dispenser with guage and two cans of R-134. Followed the directions hooking up the guage to the low side port and started the car and began to add coolant. The compressor started to cycle off and on again and all was going well...

..until the coolant wouldn't go in anymore. The pressure indicated by the guage began to stop moving even as the compressor cycled off and on. Then the compressor stopped cycling and I could hear the coolant vent from around the valve when I pressed the trigger. It still feels like there is coolant in the can and the air is still blowing warm. Am I doing something wrong here? Your help is appreciated! My Jeep is a 99 XJ Sport 4.0L 4x4. I tried searching for a solution to my problem, but came up empty! Thanks in advance for an help you might give!

-Hershey

Tough to say without seeing it, but the plastic fittings that come with the AutoZone cans can go bad and not seal, maybe that's what's going on? Is the freon coming out of the valve on the car or on the can?

If you've got a friend that runs a GoodYear shop, have him suck out whatever you put in and recharge the system. However, go to NAPA (and only NAPA) and get this stuff called "Super Seal" for R-134a systems. Have your friend at GoodYear put a vacuum in the sustem, then shoot in the can of Super Seal (it's a very small can), then charge the system back up...just be sure to charge it right away and through the low-side port because Super Seal will seal up that port if you don't. In my experiences it's the only sealer that actually works sometimes...the other brands from other parts stores seemingly doesn't really do much, if anything. That's like a last-ditch effort, if it doesn't work then you'll have to change the leaking evaporator....and open the windows in the meantime. Yes, it's a LOT of labor and about a $1200 job.

If it's leaking from the evaporator core, then wouldn't you be inhaling freon? I don't know man.:angel:

Besides, moisture and freon don't mix well so having a vacuum on the system is pretty much mandatory to get all the moisture out.

You know no one ever said anything about health effects of freon and I guess I never really thought about it...

It seemed to be leaking from the dispenser fitting not from the valve. And to clarify, with the trigger not depressed there was no escape of gas. It was only when I would depress the trigger to alow more R-134 into the system. As if there wasn't a good enough seal and it was escaping from around it. I didn't know if the pressure in the system may have reached a high-enough point that the gas wouldn't open the valve anymore, but if that were the case it would seem as if the compressor would be engaging.

Anyway, I guess I'll call Goodyear tomorrow.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

-Hershey