A/C recharge
 

I recently got a 95 camaro 3.4L and I have to ask, is the freon self rechargable? Or must I take it to a mechanic?

Also, I checked under the hood and the engin says 3.4 but the inspection has it listed as a 3800cc...error?

RE: A/C recharge
 

Freeon has become very expensive and is no longer available to the general public. However, your car uses R134a refrigerant which is available to the public. Just get a R134a recharge kit, one or two cans of R134a and you are redy to go. If you suffered a major leak where you lost all the refigerant, you should go to a shop and get the system pumped out to remove all moisture that may have entered the system. Otherwise things might ice up internally and give you warm air instead of cold.

RE: A/C recharge
 

Ahh, ok, thank you, z28pete. One more question...

I know that my local walmart has this R134a refrigerant and if I bought this, could I use it as a trail and error way to see whats up with it? Is it difficult to install the R134a and do I need any tools or lifts? I've called around town to local mechanics and they want an upfront fee to just look at the car. The way I have it is that as soon as I start her up, she blows warm air... I mean it feels like it took the outside air and blows it directly into the cabin/face. Nothing cool comes out. Before I got my Camaro I had a Toyota Celica and it had an A/C problem too. It would blow cool air for about 5-10 min and then blow hot air. I took it in and the mechanic said I needed a new exspantion valve. Never got that fixed. Something just to me thinks the two cars are having the similar problem. I'm no expert so I'll let you guys inform me. :D Thanks again.

RE: A/C recharge
 

As I mentioned before, you need a recharge kit, consisting of 3 hoses attached to control manifold, control valves, gauges, 2 or 3 cans of R134a, and carefully follow instructions that come with the kit. Everything can be done without going under the car. Make sure you put the gas in on the low pressure fitting. The high & low press fittings are of different sizes so it should be no problem. Don't go around inhaling the gas, it is not good for your lungs.

FYI, The expansion valve you mentioned is part of the tube from the receiver drier to firewall connector.

Some preliminary checks:
1) turn AC to max. You should hear the compressor clutch engage and the radiator fans should go on.
2) If compressor does not engage it could be an electrical problem (fuse #12), bad clutch, or there is not enough refrigerant in the system.
3) The compressor has to run when you recharge the system. It will run in spurts until it gets enough pressure to operate the pressure switch, and then it will stay on.

RE: A/C recharge
 

Thanks again, Pete. Your help is very useful. Would you know how I could get the fabric on the roof of the car to stick again? Its just a little loose in the areas where the T top would of went if I had that.

RE: A/C recharge
 

Auto Zone sell headliner adhesive in a spray can.

RE: A/C recharge
 

Cool, Thanks again Pete.

Just to let you know the headliner adhesive will work for a while but the biggest reason the headliner material starts falling is the thin foam backing on the fabric dry rots so it will eventually, maybe within a year, start falling again. The only true fix for the problem is taking the old material off and getting all the old foam off the backing board and replacing it altogether. Fortunately the material is reasonably priced, usually around $20-35 per yard around 60" wide depending on where you buy it. I think two yards should cover it but measure to be sure.

I just went threw this. I replaced the compressor and accumulator on my 99 3.8. First thing you need to do is find the leak. With R134 systems high side pressure can run 250-300 lbs. Heck sitting still there will be over a 100 psi in the system. You are not going to get away with adding a can every so often. You need to fix the leak.

What I did was go to auto zone which has Vacuum pumps and Gauge manifold sets on their loan a tool program, borrow them and use them to pull a vacuum on the system. I then added 1 can of 134 freon that had UV Dye in it and finished the fill with regular freon My air worked great for about a day and slowly went away to nothing after about a week.

At his point I jacked the car up at night and got under it with a pen sized blacklight that made the UV that was in the freon glow. I was quickly able to determine that the seals on the compressor were bad as ther was a glowing green trail of oil dripping off of the compressor.

I got my compressor and accumulator off of Ebay brand new for less than $200