Learn from my mistake

So I recharged my ac the other day with one of those Diy bottles. Apparently the cheapo gauge on it was incorrect, because I overcharged it. First time I used it, blew a seal on the compressor.

The real lame thing is I have a manifold gauge set, just didn't bother to hook it up because I trusted the gauge on the bottle. Big mistake.

 

While it's not a good idea to add refrigerant to an A/C system without being able to watch both high and low side pressures the system has protections in place to protect it from excessive pressure so I seriously doubt that blew your seal, odds are that's where your leak was to begin with.

The big problem with those "quick charge" cans is most of them contain stop leak which can wreck an A/C system if any moisture or air ever gets in.

 

Good to know. The reason I thought it blew the seal is that when I first turned the AC on while driving, the AC clutch engaged, then about a 30 seconds later I heard a "pop" and sound like gas escaping. I shut the ac off and you can see the dye on the back of the compressor.

@Dm93 I am going to order a new compressor, but a lot of the stuff I am reading says to replace the drier, which is built into the condenser, and the expansion valve at the same time. In this situation, do you recommend replacing all of that?

 

That may have just been the pop-off valve on the compressor, it's there as a last resort to vent if pressure exceeds around 500-550psi which is well above 400-450 where the high pressure cutout switch should shut the compressor off.

If there is metal or other contamination in the system from a compressor or something else then yes always.

Otherwise while not nessesary it's best practice to replace the filter-drier any time the system is opened.

If you don't replace/flush everything make sure to follow the oil adding/balancing procedures, some compressors come with a full system charge of oil which you wont need if only doing the compressor.

Also save the Lock Sensor off the old compressor, aftermarket ones aren't particularly reliable and may not work out of the box.

 

How would I know if it is only the pop off, and not a seal? Also, does the pop off automatically reset?

 

Did a little reading and it appears the pop off resets. So should I still replace the compressor, or just evacuate the system, recharge, and see if it works?

I have never had to do AC work, so learning as I go

 

The popoff is just a relief valve it should close again once pressure drops to a safe level.
Should be easy enough to see if it came from the popoff valve or not, find the valve and see if the leak originated there.

Honestly the first thing I'd do is put gauges on it and see what my pressures are and confirm where the leak is if there is indeed one.

 

Will do. With the location of the compressor, buried below everything, it will be hard to see. Plus the dye sprayed all over the back of the compressor as you can see. I will definitely do as you suggest though. Thank you.

 

You may have to wash it off and look again to see if there are any active leaks or (hopefully) it was just the relief valve venting.

Pressures will vary with temperature but typical low side pressure is 30-50psi and typical high side pressure is 175-300.

I have seen cases before where the condenser gets restricted it will (depending on where the service ports are) skew the pressures low and make it look like it's low on charge, typically when this is the case the outlet line of the condenser will be cool instead of warm to hot.

 

It seems to be okay. Pressure was way high. Got the high pressure adjusted to 280-290 and low side to 45-50. Seems to be working fine for now. I need to test drive for sure. BTW, think I found the original leak that caused it to be low to begin with. When I pulled the high side cap off of the Schrader valve, I heard pressure release. So the high side Schrader must be leaking a little