What if say...I drained my AC completely?

So I pulled the engine and tranny out from above but to able to do that, I disconnected all my lines including the AC. So after I put everything back together I refilled the AC system back up myself. Was I supposed to go to pro to add some other liquid since I drained my system completely of freon? The AC used to blow really cold before I took the engine out.

Please Help, its starting to get hot in Florida.

The pros use a vacuum pump to vacuum the system before they add the refrigerant. If you don't vacuum the system, you will not get a very cold a/c system and your system will probably rust out faster due to the moisture in the system.

The AC needs more than a drain before trying to recharge it. It needs to be sucked down to nearly 30" of vacuum and held there for at least half an hour. It will not work with any air in the system, and the long suck down is needed to boil off any moisture in the system.

You need to take it to a shop that has the equipment. Unless you are well trained it is not a do it yourself project.

LOL. Jim, we posted the "same" thing at the same time, except that my explanation was a layman's explanation and yours was the technical one. :laugh:

congrats your AC system is full of air and moisture...

Also I wouldnt recommend running it, cause if you just added refrigerant, then you dont have any oil to lubricate the parts. Also I should mention that the moisture isnt good either.

Tree huggers are going to bust down your home too, you shouldnt drain refrigerant into the atmosphere

FunInNorthDakota said:

Tree huggers are going to bust down your home too, you shouldnt drain refrigerant into the atmosphere

Click to expand...

LOL, i just about pissed my pants with this one. Wow, I did not know the AC system was so delicate, that explains alot. Do you fellas know about how much this is going to set me back or how long it would take?

I think I meant to say into and not down, but anyways. Doesnt cost much. Just call a local shop and get a price.

All they have to do is plug their machine into the lines, it will pull a vacuum on the system, once they are done with that they add a little bit of oil and hook up a bottle of refrigerant. Set the bottle on a scale and when the correct amount has been added to the system all is well with the world.

I cant really say how much it costs, I usually borrow the stuff from other people and do it myself, refrigerant is cheap, I would be suprised if it was a lot more than 100 bucks as long as nothing is wrong with any of the parts of your system. I hope you replaced all the o-rings when you reassembled the lines, cause you are going to have leaks otherwise and you will be back at that shop again.

O-rings are cheap, you can obtain them at the parts store, and if you took it all apart then it will be simple for you to do.

It's actually a really big EPA fine to release a/c coolant into the air, I wouldn't advertise it. The water in system combines with the freon to make acid that eats up your system, it also freezes really easy when it shoots across the small orifice, plugs system then and zero cooling. If you let out the freon gradually so as to not lose oil, none needed to replace. The more they replace to help 'guarantee' no damage just hurts you because oil takes up space that can be used by more coolant.