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I think I killed my compressor


azz3879
07-21-2004, 07:09 PM
Monday I found a leak in my system, O ring gone bad. I replaced the O ring and then went to add 134a. Added coolant to specified pressure and the AC was singing all afternoon. This morning I woke up headed out, cranked on the AC and it seemed to be working fine the first few minutes, when I stopped at a red light though the engines RPM’s dropped drastically almost to killing the engine. Pulled away from the light and I was no longer getting cool air. Stopped at the next gas station and lifted the hood, the compressor was no longer engaging. I thought that there might be a leak somewhere else, so the system lost pressure and the sensor wasn’t allowing the compressor to be engaged. Came home checked the pressure on the low side and it was up to 150 psi! Took it to the local A/C guy who gave me the run around, said that the pressures had equalized and thus the compressor had kicked the bucket. He asked whether I had vacuumed the system before charging it, I explained that I hadn’t and he said “Well there ya go, that’s probably why your compressor died.” Baffled I explained that everyday people charge there empty systems with 134a without vacuuming the system, why would that have anything to do with it. He walked away said I shouldn’t have bought the cheap sh*& from Wal-Mart…

So the question is, they sell recharging kits to folks like me everyday who don’t vacuum their systems before they recharge them, can that truly be the cause of my compressor’s failure? If so how???


Truly Confused,

Justin Kase Conder
www.sportsshooter.com/azz

geojim
07-21-2004, 08:06 PM
Sounds like your system is really overcharged. Did you put in more than about a can and a half? Simple to fix; just release some R-134a from the low side pressure value until you get a reading of about 40 with the engine running with the A/C turned on. My compressor recovered fine once I got the pressure down.

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