Could I pick your brain about the A/C system

[craftybigdog]

My wife has a mitsubishi mirage 1995 and I bought a a/c recharger kit from autozone and I emptied a bottle into it into the low pressure side and now when the a/c is turned on the clutch engadges real hard and pulls hard on the motor any ideas did I overcharge it any inputs would really help thanks!!!

 

[B.G. Smith]

A/C problems

I doubt that you over charged it with one can unless it was more than about 14oz. unless it already had some refrigerant in it. Was it straight refrigerant or oil and refrigerant? If it was a recharge kit to switch from F12 to 134 , you have to drain the old oil from the compressor on most of these. Would the clutch engage before you put the can in? How long was the unit out of service when you recharged. It might be full of air which will make the compressor pull hard. Also if you put the can in without the unit running you may have pulled some liquid into the compressor when it came on. I would try running it under control (unplug a wire under the hood which you can safely reach that controls the clutch) cycle it on and off a few times and see if it frees up any. Good luck but it don't sound promising. bg

 

[craftybigdog]

The system was never out of order I know its r-134 I just wanted to top it off to make sure it was cold and I added the can that had everything in it oil, seal cond, ref. and I added two cans so I think I over charged it!

 

[B.G. Smith]

Two cans???

If it was cooling and you added two cans you definitely overcharged it. If you let a little out and can get it to operating, you can tell if the charge is at the right level by feeling the condenser coils in front of the radiator(careful, they are hot), with the proper level of refrigerant 3 or 4 rows of tubes at the bottom should be cooler (not as hot would be better description) than the top tubes indicating the liquid level in the cond. With too much refrigerant, the coils in the cond. are flooded with liquid and they can't condense the refrigerant back to liquid, and the head (discharge pressure) goes way up. Well at least you were trying to do good. The only people who never make a mistake are those who never do anything. bg

 

[Amianthus]

You over-charged it.

Guys, just putting in refrigerant doesn't make a system cool any better. It doesn't consume refrigerant, nor should it lose any. And if it does lose some, you need to repair it first or risk breaking the law. Your biggest indicator of an automotive system not funcitoning properly, should be it's inability to cool. If it's cooling, leave it alone. Unless you understand the function of the system and have the tools to diagnose it.



It's over-charged. You need to take it to a shop and have them trim the charge to make it function. And don't do any more pre-emptive maintenance on your A/C system. It shouldn't need it.