Not a happy camper right now.
Since it began to get warm in my area, I noticed that the A/C in my "new" car was not functioning properly. At first (that is, once the car is started) it worked OK for a little bit, then after it cycled off, it refused to cycle back on again. The only way to get it back aside from parking the car and coming back later was to turn the A/C mode button off, wait 3-5 minutes, then press the button again and perhaps 2 out of 3 times it would kick back on. If not, it was another 3-5 minute wait.
I realized in retrospect that this was why on a couple of occasions I could not get the front windshield to defog AT ALL.
So this past week I took it in to my trusted mechanic (we've been taking our cars to him for a good 20 years) to get that looked at along with a timing belt which was due soon.
The AC portion of the repair was about $250-275 (total bill was $708). According to the service invoice, they found the system to be low on refrigerant, so they evacuated the system, vacuumed it down to remove any moisture, did a leak down test (finding no leaks), then refilled it.
(As a side note, it's my understanding that car A/C systems are sealed and would only become low on refrigerant if there's a leak. So I'm not quite sure how it would need a recharge yet pass the leak down test.....)
When I picked the car up the A/C seemed to be working brilliantly, and was blowing ice cold. So cold in fact, that I had to turn it down a couple notches.
Well, yesterday and today it's been acting up even worse than before. Right now, it'll come on, cycle off, come back on briefly, then it just totally craps out. This was especially troublesome today because on my commute home it was EXTREMELY humid and the windows were fogging up so bad that I had to grab a t-shirt I had in there and start wiping off the windows so I could see.
I tried turning off the A/C first for 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 7, then TEN, all with no luck. Finally, after nearly an hour of this nonsense, it finally came back to life about 5 minutes away from my house.
Not happy am I.
Of course, my mechanic closes up shop at 5 so I haven't had a chance to discuss this with him yet.
All I know for certain is that the system IS properly charged right now. I have an R-134A pressure gauge and it indicates that the system low-side pressure is exactly where a fully-charged system should be.
I'm just hoping this isn't going to cost me another small fortune.
Since it began to get warm in my area, I noticed that the A/C in my "new" car was not functioning properly. At first (that is, once the car is started) it worked OK for a little bit, then after it cycled off, it refused to cycle back on again. The only way to get it back aside from parking the car and coming back later was to turn the A/C mode button off, wait 3-5 minutes, then press the button again and perhaps 2 out of 3 times it would kick back on. If not, it was another 3-5 minute wait.
I realized in retrospect that this was why on a couple of occasions I could not get the front windshield to defog AT ALL.
So this past week I took it in to my trusted mechanic (we've been taking our cars to him for a good 20 years) to get that looked at along with a timing belt which was due soon.
The AC portion of the repair was about $250-275 (total bill was $708). According to the service invoice, they found the system to be low on refrigerant, so they evacuated the system, vacuumed it down to remove any moisture, did a leak down test (finding no leaks), then refilled it.
(As a side note, it's my understanding that car A/C systems are sealed and would only become low on refrigerant if there's a leak. So I'm not quite sure how it would need a recharge yet pass the leak down test.....)
When I picked the car up the A/C seemed to be working brilliantly, and was blowing ice cold. So cold in fact, that I had to turn it down a couple notches.
Well, yesterday and today it's been acting up even worse than before. Right now, it'll come on, cycle off, come back on briefly, then it just totally craps out. This was especially troublesome today because on my commute home it was EXTREMELY humid and the windows were fogging up so bad that I had to grab a t-shirt I had in there and start wiping off the windows so I could see.
I tried turning off the A/C first for 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 7, then TEN, all with no luck. Finally, after nearly an hour of this nonsense, it finally came back to life about 5 minutes away from my house.
Not happy am I.
Of course, my mechanic closes up shop at 5 so I haven't had a chance to discuss this with him yet.
All I know for certain is that the system IS properly charged right now. I have an R-134A pressure gauge and it indicates that the system low-side pressure is exactly where a fully-charged system should be.
I'm just hoping this isn't going to cost me another small fortune.
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