pdexta

I bought a daily not too long ago, a '96 Prelude. The car had very cold AC. I drove it for a few months. I was making a 400 mile drive back home from my parents house and about 250 miles into the trip the AC just stopped working all the sudden. Once I got home I bought some freon in hopes that it just needed to be topped off. I hooked it up and the system was WAYY overcharged. Apparently a previous owner didn't bother w/ gauges and just emptied out a bottle in the AC.

Any AC experts around? I'm guessing something in the system is fried and needs to be replaced. Any ideas on what might be wrong or how much it'd be to repair it? Thanks in advance for the help.

s2k aok

didn't know you could overcharge it. with other cars i had i got the cans at walmart and let the car run with the ac on and it just sucked out the necessary amount until it equalized out and that was it.

Slows2k

Stop trying to partially charge a leaking AC system.

You are causing more harm than good, and not actually fixing anything.

Tell whatever shop you take it to that you and the former owner tried to charge it yourself, and they will make sure to check for contaminated refrigerant before destroying a few thousand $$$ worth of AC equipment.

pdexta

s2k aok: You can overcharge a system, that's why the recharge kits come with a gauge and warn against overcharging it.

slows: I'm not trying to charge a leaking system. Apparently it's holding a charge way to damn well, which is why it's overcharged. Which is why I asked what would be the likely casualty of an overcharged system. I'm worried "a few thousand $$$ worth of AC equipment have been destroyed" and I'm trying to diagnose a problem. I haven't done ANYTHING to it except check the pressure. I would like to have some idea what is wrong w/ it before I take it somewhere and get raped b/c I'm ignorant to the problem. Hence my asking.

I'd still love to get some opinions if anyone has a contribution that relates to my problem. The questions, to recap b/c apparently it wasn't clear the first time, "Any idea what could be the problem with an AC system that was way overcharged? Any ideas how much I should expect for a repair?"

Slows2k

It can be overcharged with just about any kind of gas.. Propane even makes an excellent refrigerant, except for that whole flammable part. Partially charged leaking system = overcharged with air and turns the oil to acid and can damage everything the refrigerant touches.

No system that was cooling fine quits, then becomes overcharged without someone adding more refrigerant.

Contaminated refrigerant destroys AC recovery equipment.

Overcharged and contaminated systems run much higher pressures with can damage the compressor, expansion valves and all the rubber o-rings and hoses.

So for the interwebs diagnosis take the car to a qualified AC service professional and they can tell you what is screwed up.

Reborn56

Agree with Slow on this one a system doesn't work then goes down because it was overcharged.

I do HVAC for a living and have seen just about everything in my journey.

I could def see it working for maybe about 10 minutes then going down due to being overcharged, however you said you drove about 250 miles then failed.

My question to you is, how do you know its overcharged?

Do you have gauges?

What to do.

Take it to a professional and have him evacuate the refigerant if indeed it is overcharged. Then have him add the refrigerant by weighing it in (the right way)
Or have him recover some and do a super heat subcool method ( chances are he won't do this )

Good luck

slalom44

I had a problem with my AC system in a Corolla several years ago. Similar symptoms - it just stopped working, and at times I could hear the compressor cycling on-and-off. I tried charging the system myself, with no success. I finally broke down and took it into an AC service place.

It turned out to be a leaky head gasket that was causing the radiator to have an air pocket. This caused the car to run hot, the radiator to stay hot, and the AC system to get too warm, therefore cycle off due to excessive pressure.

daktruckie99

Is the compressor running when you say it's overcharged? I notice with a gauge on my A/C that as the compressor comes on and off, the pressure reads high during the off period, but when the compressor comes on it dips down into the safely charged zone.

modifry

[QUOTE=scottrunsxc,Sep 2 2008, 04:26 PM] I bought a daily not too long ago, a '96 Prelude.

s2kmendez

hey scottrunsxc I do ac service for a living what i would like to know is if when you turn the ac on can you see the compressor cluch engaging and if not egaging is going to be an elctrical problem try looking for blown fuses or bad compressor clutch relay or disconected wires. if the clutch is egaging and you have gauges tell me the pressures of the system is possible that the valves in the compressor are no good but check that first and then let me know what you find