Air conditioning question

cavaliers60 · 08-09-2009, 11:50 PM

I am wanting to check the charge on my air condition system. Problem is, I don't know what line it is..... My question is, which line is it?

freeze12 · 08-09-2009, 11:57 PM

Line by the firewall

cavaliers60 · 08-10-2009, 12:00 AM

So is it the one with the little blue cap?

[ion] C2 · 08-10-2009, 12:00 AM

Yup...

cavaliers60 · 08-10-2009, 12:04 AM

yikes... should be fun to get to then..... Since it's right next to the alternator.. lol Thanks guys. I just wanted to make sure first.

Nate's Alero · 08-10-2009, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavaliers60

yikes... should be fun to get to then..... Since it's right next to the alternator.. lol Thanks guys. I just wanted to make sure first.

have fun.. i tried

cherrington17 · 08-10-2009, 12:10 PM

i definitely burned my arm on the serp belt last time.. gives an nice instanteous brush burn, that lasts for days. ouch.

btw... mine didn't charge. the little plug wouldn't stay attached, or pressed in... so it has yet to be recharged properly.... since i bought the car.

Beholder88 · 08-10-2009, 12:45 PM

There are two valves on your A/C system. There is a high pressure side, and a low pressure side. Most of the gages you buy are supposed to be hooked up to the low side. It's easy to tell the difference - the high side is larger than the low side.

Nate's Alero · 08-10-2009, 01:46 PM

remove the wheel and jack up both sides of the car, and run it...

Redog · 08-10-2009, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beholder88

There are two valves on your A/C system. There is a high pressure side, and a low pressure side. Most of the gages you buy are supposed to be hooked up to the low side. It's easy to tell the difference - the high side is larger than the low side.

This is true. usually the high side has a blue cap and the low a black one. Plus if you buy a can of R134-A to chrage it yourself, you'll have to buy the lines and the lines will not connect to the wrong sides, (which is good because the can could explode if not done right)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate's Alero

remove the wheel and jack up both sides of the car, and run it...

That makes about as much sense as a woman getting a vasectomy

colonel6632 · 08-10-2009, 02:12 PM

my low side has a blue cap and my high side has a black cap

lonnie · 08-11-2009, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherrington17

i definitely burned my arm on the serp belt last time.. gives an nice instanteous brush burn, that lasts for days. ouch.

btw... mine didn't charge. the little plug wouldn't stay attached, or pressed in... so it has yet to be recharged properly.... since i bought the car.

You need to put some ass into it....LOL I bought my recharge kit right from pepboys and once I found the right charging port....lol it fit like a charm but still took alittle convincing to get it on.

I didn't know it was so easy! The price a shop charges to refill it is an outrage.

cherrington17 · 08-11-2009, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonnie

You need to put some ass into it....LOL I bought my recharge kit right from pepboys and once I found the right charging port....lol it fit like a charm but still took alittle convincing to get it on.

I didn't know it was so easy! The price a shop charges to refill it is an outrage.

i bruised the end of my thumb pushing it on. It would click into place.. but not enough to press the center lever down. I gotta try again, or have some shop do it.

I think i'll have my brother get the legit recharging cables(instead of the 6" waste of space they give you w/ the bottle) and recharge all of our cars from here on out.

lonnie · 08-11-2009, 06:03 PM

The kit I bought had the gauge attached.....worked like a charm...only paid like 25 for it I think on sale.

AlbinoMonkeyRat · 05-28-2010, 11:24 AM

bringing this up because it is that time of year when more people are using their AC, and I was looking up AC recharge kits for myself, so this info will be helpful.

Also, I have a question, to which the answer will be useful for anyone who needs this info:
are the AC lines and valves in the same place for all Aleros, or are there different places for them depending on the engine/trasnmission setup?

Nate's Alero · 05-28-2010, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlbinoMonkeyRat

bringing this up because it is that time of year when more people are using their AC, and I was looking up AC recharge kits for myself, so this info will be helpful.

Also, I have a question, to which the answer will be useful for anyone who needs this info:
are the AC lines and valves in the same place for all Aleros, or are there different places for them depending on the engine/trasnmission setup?

Different Depending, i know the low side on a 3400'ed alero, is below the alternator, down on the firewall.

clutch1 · 05-28-2010, 01:44 PM

Ha, you guys got it good. 1lb cans of refrigerant are illegal here in Wisconsin.. like if you want them ya gotta smuggle them in black market style.

On the plus side if you're losing a pound a year or so, an just keep filling it back up, it's much more environmentally friendly here to NOT be able to do that.. round these parts if it's leaking a shop has to find and fix the leak before letting a car out the door.

And the reason the fill up prices at shops are so expensive is because A/C machines are expensive and they need to get paid for somehow... they do way more than just inject R134a... they put the system under a deep vacuum to boil off water, recover and clean old refrigerant, measure the precise amount removed, , separate any oil that got sucked out with it, and deliver a precise amount so the vehicle has optimum charge.

Just like how dealers get away with charging $50 just to hook up a scanner.

clutch1 · 05-28-2010, 01:48 PM

Also, to answer your original question. The gauge can be hooked up to either side (assuming you have the adapters), because pressures equalize as it sits.

DONT RUN IT! It's super easy to check with it sitting and off.

Depending on ambient temp, a full system will hold X amount of pressure. If it is lower than that, it has a low charge.

Use this site to determine exactly what pressure you should be at.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/r134apresstempconv.html

AlbinoMonkeyRat · 05-28-2010, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate's Alero

Different Depending.

hmm...so where is it on the 2.4-auto Aleros?

cavaliers60 · 05-28-2010, 05:19 PM

I can tell my A/C isn't cooling as much as it use to. I mean, I bought the car back in like 2004, and have not recharged it since I bought it. So it probably could use a recharge. I never did get it done last year. Now that I'm in Arizona for one more week, I'm really feeling it, and need to get it checked out.