A/C unit recharge

Does anyone know what kind of refrigerant is used for the A/C unit? Also, I see those little bottles in the truckstops for do it yourself. Is that the right stuff to put in and do they work?

[mike3fan]

If you are getting some cool air I have used those type,but buy them at WalMart as they are much cheaper there,it lasted the whole year after I recharged mine with one.

Ya, but what type of refrigerant. They many a few different types. I'm not sure what type my 2001 truck takes? Maybe I'll wait until I get to Texas and have someone do it. I don't think you can mix different types.

[yoopr]

Freon is banned-I used Puron after the ban

[mike3fan]

R134

[heavyhaulerss]

dont worry.. if you buy the wrong one. it wont hook up. it should be 134-a
i buy from walmart. very easy. but buy a gauge also so as not to overfill sys.

Ok, thanks for the replies. Maybe I'll give one of those little bottles a try. My compressor kicks on for about 30 seconds then off and continues this cycle. I think this is due to not enough gas in the lines. I have an A/C temp gauge that a HVAC person uses and my output is about 65 degrees and it should be a lot colder than that.

I had a BMW before that didn't get cold enough. My buddy had me rev my engine up then pumped a ton of freon into the system. Ice started forming at the vents for the first week after that!

[mike3fan]

mine blows at 41 degrees after 1 can.

I called my A/C friend and he had me stop at Walmart and buy a little kit with a guage. I put the gauge on and it was below normal but still plenty of pressure so that ruled out a massive leak. I put 4 cans in and it raised the pressure to just at the OK mark but needs to go more. He said it would take 20 cans to get it up since it's a big unit with lots of pipe and would be cheaper to pay a garage $29.95 to dump a lot in.

It went from 65 to degress to 50 so a huge improvement and it's nice and cool in the truck. I'm still going to get it charged the whole way when I can.

Nice here in Texas, in the 70's

[mike3fan]

good luck with that,I will be interested what you pay a shop

[yoopr]

$29.95 to the shop? Good luck with that

[bob h]

older trucks used R12, which is no longer available, the only service it gets is evacuation.

trucks are now charged with R134a. it is the proper refrigerant for hd truck and auto a/c systems

some shops may refuse to work on your a/c system if they discover that a "can of cold" has been installed. there's a technical name for that walmart patch stuff, which i can't remeber, and it can cause damage to the a/c machine

a gauge set, high and low side, will tell you system pressures, they do not tell you how much refrigerant you have in the system. in the shop, the charge is weighed before pulling it into a "vacuumed-down" (empty) system

I actually don't know what it will cost. I just threw that figure out. What do you think it will cost or is it based on how much gas they use?

[mike3fan]

$100 bill atleast,I'm betting more,first they will want to evacuate and blah blah blah.......

I went in for a charge and came out $1000 lighter,we had the hottest summer in Michigan that summer and I never regretted that $1000 once.

[repete]

$100 bill atleast,I'm betting more,first they will want to evacuate and blah blah blah.......

I went in for a charge and came out $1000 lighter,we had the hottest summer in Michigan that summer and I never regretted that $1000 once.

if your a/c is just a little low there is no need to pump it down and refill it. All that is needed is to top it off. It's not like R134 wears out after all do change your motor oil or just add some when it's low?

Just to let you know when your system is pumped down and refilled most likely they're refilling it with the SAME gas that was removed from your truck!! It's run thru a filter removing contaminates and oil,then stored in a tank to be sold back to YOU

Thanks for the info. My AC is working good and my buddy said wait until I get home and he will charge it for nothing. He said he buys the whole tank for $45 which is 35 pounds, the size of a grills propane tank!!!

[Bigmon]

You can buy a case of the 134 at Sams Club. It comes out to $3.09 per can.

[GMAN]

If you are several cans low, then you likely have a leak. You may want to check that before recharging.

[armadillo]

hey,

I have a 97 Pete w/ 3406 cat. Was wondering what year they changed to the new system? A friend told me that he spent $2500 cuz his was old (96) and had to change over to the new system. Man I freaked! It gets 110 here. So does anyone know? thanks a

You can just stop by any small appliance repair shop and have the guy take a look. My buddy owns a small shop like that and filled up my system in no time. He has tons of the old stuff also if you have the old system. Even though it's illegal most repair men bought a lot of it and put it away.