SQAcuraTL04

So apparently my A/C system is overcharged resulting in the compressor to kick on and off. I know this because I hooked a gauge up to my L pressure line for the AC. I can deffinitely feel it while driving also. Now my question is what the hell am I suppose to do. Acura wants $125 just to diagnose the problem and $199 if it requires a re-charge talking about draining the freon. It's just like what the fuck are you talking about? Wasn't R134 the new standard set forth before this car was even built. Fuck that freon bullshit. So now I ask myself do I just pay for them to fix it or is there a way I can resolve this issue on my own. I am an angered individual which get's worse as the heat does. So please help me before I just decide to wrap the car around a pole and total it or leave it up in the ghetto with the keys in it.

Fulani has a TL

iTrader: (1)

To properly measure refrigerant, you have to measure both low side and high side. At least thats how I do in household and PTAC units.

Still under warranty? MAYBE that can help. Or just take it to a repair shop and they can do it cheaper.

btw: what does R134A have to do with it, that was put in in the 90's but does not have anything to do with your costs. Just that dealerships are trying to make money so they can pay for the labor, licensing required, and equipment to properly treat A/C systems.

Edit: A system cannot be overcharged unless you added refrigerant into the system, or it was like that from the factory. If it was the latter, then you should have had problems alot sooner

THE SLEEPER

I think that says it all. But... you could just bleed some off the low side with the car running and a/c set to max cold/ fan speed high until the compressor stops cycling. You could also have a bad pressure switch. Some are two way, some are three way.

SQAcuraTL04

Well the problem is now fixed. I drained the system myself, may not be the correct way but I was able to evac enough so the compressor stays on and the air is cold now. It's not super cold but when I have the money to blow on this I will have it completely drained and recharged. I understand that R134A was a standard many years ago but the dealership made it sound like it's so expensive because it had to be disposed of some special way as if it were freon. It's good for now though so I apologize for my ranting. I just hate when stupid things like this pop up.

pohljm

r134a is freon and needs proper recovery/disposal

Bearcat94

Dude I don't think they're going to fix your AC.






OK, seriously, glad you got it going.

Ran across this link. Might help.

http://www.id-usa.com/how_to_recharging.asp

lars161

Well, who worked on it to overcharge it?

And are you checking that low side with it running? If you are not that should pretty much show you the ambient temperature which would show an overcharge.

So, make sure you check it with the car running on max a/c

And sorry I know a/c repairs are not cheap

But each pound of R-134(still referred to as freon) should cost about 25 per lb should be two lbs

I hate cars

What was the original complaint? Was it not blowing cold air? The compressor is supposed to and will always cycle on and off so if that's you only problem you don't have a problem.

THE SLEEPER

Who cares about the enviroment?? Ha ha

2008 Acura TL

Right, too many wacko's.

bhelsdon

The compressor is supposed to cycle. When the evaperator gets down to a certain temp, the compressor shuts off. Secondly if you were to see an over charge you would see it in the high side, not the low side.
Just my

THE SLEEPER

Of course the high side is where its measured but you wouldnt try to tap the high side to bleed or charge, thats dangerous and not practiced. And as far as cycling goes, if its over 85 or 90 deg. out and your a/c is set to low with the fan on high, the temp in your car is NEVER going to get below 60 deg. even on recirc. So the compressor is going to be on constantly trying to get that temp down inside your car to the setting on the climate control. which goes from 55deg. to low.

I hate cars

No, even at 113 degrees ambient, the compressor cycles. It cycles for various reasons but one is to control pressures and they will get too high if it runs all the time.

Chad05TL

but the REAL question is, HOW MUCH should it cycle!

see.. that's a huge difference.

If the thermostat is set to 74, the compressor cycles. And at 60, it also cycles..

and on LO it also cycles... But it should cycle MUCH less when at "LO", than at 74 degrees.

I think I have the same problem as the guy above. The damn compressor cycles so often the duty cycle is nearly 50/50.
And thats NOT right. Because if its 100 degree's outside you need something closer to 90/10 duty cycle.

Or else it takes F O R E \ / E R to cool off!!

Brettg

Almost all cars cycle the compresor on and off using low side pressure.
With freon, pressure equals temp, and when the low side gets down to and maintains for a while, some set pressure, the compressor cycles off.
For R134a, somewhere around 15 to 20 psi is normal.
When the pressure gets above about 30 or 35 psi the compressor comes back on.

I dont know if the TL has a high pressure cutout.
In the old days, over pressure would just open the blow off valve and vent almost all the gas in the system!

Unless someone adds gas to the system at some point, there is NO way its going to be over charged with gas, as its measured quite closely when the system is charged at the factory.

Short cycling would indicate the system is LOW on gas, not overcharged, since the compressor goes off with lack of low side pressure.

The only car I know of that worked differently was the Jaguars, which used evap core temp to cycle the compressor on and off, and you could select the humidity by changing the temp the core was kept at.
It had 4 settings, 35F, 40F, 45F and off (econo mode).

Brett

I hate cars

Good info. FWIW, I posted in another thread a while back that mine was undercharged from the factory. Since I bought it brand new the AC has been lacking. It didn't get any worse over the years, it was just never very good to begin with. I finally had it evacuated and recharged and was told it was very low and many Honda products are that way from the factory. After charging, it has made a drastic difference in the amount of time it takes to cool off on a hot day and the temp coming out of the vents is much cooler on a 105 degree day. Before it would take as long as 15 minutes to get cold. Now it's a minute.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

First step would be to check the self diagnostic mode for faults.

Correct. After high/low side readings, a calculation is necessary for ambient temp., and compressors are designed to cycle.


Looks like the quick fix didn’t work. I assume you just hit the Schrader valve to bleed some off, not a very good idea.

The refrigerant system shouldn’t be taken lightly, and takes time/equipment to diagnose properly, as you have found during your little experiment which didn't work.

As you will find, there are not many places that will charge as much as the dealer for any service. Who else gets $100 per hour?

Either pay now or pay later!

Chad05TL

I agree with Brettg. If the system is overcharged OR undercharged the compressor won't cycle properly. In either case, the compressor doesn't stay on very long if it comes on at all. And I am also leaning to the fact that mine may be undercharged as well. I have a friend that has an 07 or 08 TL on lease and his also behaves nearly identical as mine. I think I will buy one of those metered R134 cans from Walmart the next time I am there to read the low side pressure, to see if it's too low. (now that summer is nearly over).

I hate cars

The only accurate way of measuring it is to have it evacuated with a machine. It would take someone with a lot of experience to interpret pressures and even then it wouldn't be accurate.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

With gauges attached to the high/low side, one can get a feel of the system operation as a discharge and recharge isn't always necessary. When recharging after an evacuation, most manufacturers will recommend weight to be used (Acura 1.1-1.2 lbs), but without a scale one can use gauges with no problems. I have a SnapOn recycling/charging machine which made life easy, but haven't used it in years.
Also, if the system is found to be low, there is a leak somewhere as the refrigerant doesn't evaporate nor is any lost during operation.

I hate cars

Agreed but myself and most people don't have enough experience with AC systems to get a good feel if it's fully charged. I used my friend's machine and it was as easy as hooking up the two different sized lines and hitting a button.

I have a feeling mine has always been low from the factory. It has never put out like it should. Air out of the vents would get into the mid/upper 50s in the summer with the fan on high when it was new. Now it's in the high 30s.

YeuEmMaiMai

TL just like every other Honda since 1994 has a high pressure cutoff switch

YeuEmMaiMai

if the system has never been serviced, then high pressure is indicative of some kind of blockage.....usually caused by the compressor failing........it's gonna be a costly repair to get the system in proper working oder as just about everything will need to be replaced if there are metal shavings from the compressor in the system......

Chad05TL

Come to find out... last summer.. My system was over charged too. I took it into the dealer. See, mine cycled a lot too. Infact it wouldnt really stay on. And that is because the pressure was too high. When I started the system it would run a while, but at normal operating temperature or when it was hot, the compressor could not run full time or near full time because the pressure was too high. The idea is to have as much pressure as possible without hitting the limit. When you first start the start, it can run a little while until the pressure builds up. But since the idle pressure is too high, the normal runtime pressure is over the limit. So, what happens is the compressor tries to come on, then its immediately cut off from the pressure sensor. So when its really hot outside, and the engine has been running a while, the compressor just seems to click on then shutoff immediately and never does cool. It has to circulate that R12 to cool.

Chad05TL

er not R12, I think its R134a. Whatever it is today