First gen AC

Took the Tacoma in this morning to a little local shop, had them check the system. Was half full.
Drained and recovered, then filled to the proper pressure. Blows cold as ice now. Guy said for 14 year old truck was typical to loose some pressure by the shredder valve over that many years.
Anyway, $100 and I'm down the road with cold AC in my 14 year old rig. She still drives as good as the day I got her. Best, most reliable truck I have ever had.
Stay cool, supposed to be around 110 today in Vegas. I'll be inside with the dog if you need me.

 

AWESOME DEOG! Tell me that's your your dogs name?

 

Unfortunately no. His name is Leo. He is 13, goes with me to work everyday, he has been to the Arctic Ocean, the tip of Baja, pre ran the Baja 1000 3 times, and consumed lots of bacon. Blue Heelers, smartest most loyal dogs on earth. He is bigger then most Heelers for some reason, he tips the scale at 65 lbs. packed on some fluff in his old age, but he is still fast and good to go.
Cheers.

 

Just a note to add.

Make sure to clean your AC condenser. I used air first, then used the hose with a nozzle in it. A lot of dirt and grime gets built up in there. Every little bit helps.

This is the first time I have ever lived somewhere that having AC in the truck is very important.

 

Ya the southwest is pretty unbarable without A/C.

 

I live in Santa Clarita, the other week it was 113 outside I always felt like no AC was a deal breaker when buying a car around here, but then I found my truck with No AZc and fixed it

 

"Lots of bacon"

Love cattle dogs. Have lived with many for many years. By the time Zeus was 8 or 9 years old he was shaped like a beer keg.

He lived to be about 16 or 17. A most loyal friend.

 

I'm from Santa Monica and Culver City, rarely used AC in the truck. Vegas, entirely different ball game.
Last week was 116 for 3 days. Brutal. Not mention I am a welder.

 

Phoenix gotcha beat on high temps. Being a welder in the summer time......

Nah I'll pass!

 

This is all kinds of wong!!!! If you took off an a\c line to repair replace you messed up. The air dryer in the system probably sucked up as much air as it can and is now FUBAR air = no good and there is also no vacuum in your system to work now and then on top of that you over charged the system with those crap a\c pro bottles. Those bottles have compressor oil\lubricant in it also and i bet there is way to much in it now. So the system will turn on and off a lot. It will be cool for a minute and then hot. back and forth and back and forth and not work. You need to have a shop with a robin air machine hook up to it and check the high side pressure when you cycle the system. It also needs to be evac and vacuum restored and U.V. leak trace dye injected and leak down test done on the system under vacuum to verify system integrity. The more you mess with it the better that chance your gonna blow the compressor or the evap core in the box and then your screwed. *WARNING THOSE A\C KITS FILL ON THE LOW SIDE LINE* The high side line is under 250 PSI! Those a\c bottle kits are A\C system breakers and my shop has fixed 16 of these this week.

 

Calm down... I think he understands the air/vacuum issue.
BTW: Dryer doesn't suck up air. It sucks up moister in the air . I'm sure you know that. But anyone else that doesn't. I just wanted to clarify that.

 

Lol you coulda said a lot more, with a lot less time and typing, I understand that but I didn't fill my system 100% i only filled it to make sure my compresser even worked, after the line I replaced leaked again, I put a small bottle of freon in to make do till I can bring it to a shop, every one around my area wants to hold my truck for the weekend

 

I’m preparing to service my a/c for the upcoming summer. What components did you replace? Just the seals? And I know this post is older than dirt but do you remember the breakdown of the cost, i.e. components cost vs. the charge service cost? My mechanic quoted me $200 to pull vac & recharge. Thank you!

 

Well, if you want to do it yourself, you'd have to pay almost the same amount for the proper tools: A vacuum puller and a manifold gauge. Plus have to take it in anyway to have them properly discharge it, unless you don't care about spewing old refrigerant into the atmosphere. Not to say you shouldn't do it yourself. I did, no ragerts (well maybe a few ragerts), but you need to know what you're doing before you start and be willing to buy the proper tools, but once you do, you're set to do it again if you need to.

 

Caveat to the above: If you just want to check your current charge and top off, all you need is the manifold gauge. You only need to pull a vacuum if the system was opened and discharged i.e. to change out a component. The DIY cans at the parts store only have a single gague for the low side, but those don't tell you what your actual charge level is. You need the manifold gauge with both high and low to do it right.

 

I’m pretty new to all this but what I was thinkin of doing was replacing all the seals and stuff that I can, because it’s definitely got a leak. I attached a refill can to it and it hardly had anything in the system. So I figured I should do some research and replace any seals that I can myself, then have my guy refill it. I don’t think there’s much refrigerant in there to lose right now. The compressor seems to be working good. Don’t know if the condenser has a leak tho.

 

What you could do then is add some refrigerant with UV dye in it. Let it go a while and the UV dye can help you identify where the leak is coming from. They dye will show up where it’s coming out at when you shine a light on it. The leak could be anywhere.

 

Then just let your guy change the bad spot and/or any old o-rings while he’s at it and call it a day. Otherwise you might end up having to do it all over again cuz you guessed wrong.

 

Well, that was almost 5 years and 67,000 miles ago.
I replaced everything except the lines. Like everything.
I replaced the timing belt at the same time so it was a good size project.

I vaguely recall $900 for all the AC stuff, timing belt stuff and evacuate and recharge the AC system. I pulled the radiator and cleaned the mud out at the same time, did a coolant flush and replaced the coolant.

The post you quoted says $450 but I don’t think that includes having a shop pull vacuum and recharge the system.
Probably more like $650 total.

 

I repaired my AC this summer. Had a busted condenser and one of the lines leaked. I did a fair amount myself (identifying the leaks, removing parts, installing new parts, etc.) but in the end I wish I just took it to a shop to have them do the work. I had the shop do the final charge and install of one of the lines. Its such a unique job that its hard to actually save any money doing it yourself. At least, that was my experience.