I have been having A/C problems for the last few weeks and I 'm hoping some of you on this board might be able to help. I first noticed that it was blowing warm so I took it to the mechanic and he said the system needed flushing. He flushed the system and replaced the receiver dryer, expansion valve, and filled with freon. That was done several weeks ago. Last week I noticed that the A/C was blowing not as cold and now it is not cold at all. My compressor still comes on (even now) but I thought that the freon might have gotten low again so I was going to just use a kit that I bought at Auto Zone to recharge. Before attempting to add refrigerant I checked the pressure. The pressure measured 100 PSI, which is WAY too much pressure. The safe zone, according to my guage is 45 PSi or less. What is going on with my A/C for the pressure to be so high?

 

what year is this ? and what type of gauges are you using hopefully it's dual dial high and low side gauge set. you said the low side is at 100 psi how high is the high side? if the high side and the low sides are the same kiss your compressor bye bye...

 

It's a 1996 Honda Accord. I did not measure the pressure on the high port side so I am not sure what it is. I just used the guage that comes with the can of refrigerant to measure the low port side.

 

yeah something is definitely wrong. you should aim for around 44psi.

 

^^kinda the same problem...so how do u drain out sum of the freon?? u jus let it out from the low side port or wut??

 

thats a good number for the low side but can be higher if it's a hot day the high side should be about 150-250 psi thats the reason you need a set of gauges as the pressures tells the story of problems suches as negitive pressure on the low side means a bad expansion valve usally and if both low and high side is = then your compressor is bad...

it's normal for the pressure to be 90-100 psi when the a/c is off...

 

Did you know that if your radiator and overflow are not full or have air bubbles your ac will not blow cold? If a mechanic charged the ac and the compressor is working I don't think it is fair to blame the mechanic he should have a pressure gauge and should have used the right pressure fittings. Make sure the radiator and overflow bottle are filled up to the top line and up to the top of the radiator and make sure the fluid is fresh. If it is old flush and refill with fresh antifreeze. Shut it down wait for engine to cool and air pockets are gone and refill any missing fluid this may solve your problem. Also the mechanic should know if your compressor was shot.

 

Sounds like you should return to the shop that looked at your car. One sign of a good shop is one that honors a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty on their work. Sounds to me like they MAY have misdiagnosed your car. A good practice of any shop who works on a/c is to put dye into any system they work on. I am willing to bet there is a leak in the system. And, why did the tech say the system needed to be flushed? Did they find contamination in the system?

 

thats the main reason I don't like working on A/C systems I bet the evpansion valve was bad he replaced it and the receiver/dryer is replaced anytime the system is opened to air as it's a filter ...but since theres still the orginal compressor,condensor,evaperator,hoses ,hose valves,rubber seals that can fail and usally do since the it did blow cold then stopped it was working fine when it left the shop and after a few weeks either the compressor went since the pressure is high on the low side or some other problem but I would have the shop look at it if it's somthing that they replaced it should be under warranty if not they will let you know what the problem it.