Ed Hall Posted September 13, 2004 Report Share Posted September 13, 2004 I’ve noticed that the AC performance on my car has been degrading. The other day the message console lit up with “A/C Low Refrigerant”. The car (and most likely compressor) has almost 200K miles and I’ve owned the car for the last 2 ½ years. It has held its charge for at least since I bought it so I’m looking for some expert advice? Now that the system is low, would this be the time to replace the condenser and accumulator? I would like to replace the accumulator because it looks like it is in bad shape. I’m surprised that it even holds anything. I don’t have any way of recovering what’s in there so how much Freon would I be releasing? If I were to just top it off the way it is, how many pounds of Freon would I need to add? Is there any way to pinpoint leaks that are this small? Are there any good AC repair books? I should check my factory service manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hall Posted September 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Someone on another board recommended to just top it off and cross my fingers. How many cans of R-12 does it take once the "Low Refrigerant" warning comes on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 The only positive way to know how much R-12 is left in the system is to recover the refrigerant and weigh it. Then charge that amount back into the system plus the amount to bring it to a full charge. I'd have a shop leak test the system with an electronic leak detector and identify the source of the leak. It may be something that can be repaired easily such as a shaft seal. Then have it recharged to spec. with R-12. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davedog Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 just fixed that on my eldo today mine was just shwoing that message everynow and the, it took about 1 can to top it off, this happens to my once a year...just a VERY slow leak, if it's super slow like mine, just top it off every year and forget about it.... Crystal Red Tintcoat Exterior | Shale/Brownstone Interior | 32k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DashingDaryl Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 You may be in luck because it looks like there are folks on ebay selling R-12 R-12 And a few guys selling the "Works as good as R-12" stuff Freeze 12 I have NEVER used it, Don't know if it works, but Found a listing for it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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