Air conditioner in my 1994 Accord LX is not blowing cold air.
I guess I need to recharge the ac unit. is it something I can do or I will need to take it to a a/c place?

 

you can recharge it yourself but the question is....how did it leak out? if it is only a small leak in a seal or hose possibly getting freon with a leak sealer in it will fix the problem. my favorite freon is the sub zero made by quest.....that stuff is cold. your car should be r 134 a right now. hopefully someone with a 94-97 can affirm this. if it isnt though it can easily be converted with the 5 dollar wal mart kit. dont pay someone hundreds of dollars to do it. if there is a serious leak in your compressor or evaporator or in a line then it will need to be replaced, which isnt that hard and if you do it yourself it will cost so much less. i think a compressor for your car is like 180 bucks but i bet the dealer would charge you 750 to do it.

 

You can recharge the system yourself, but I would strongly suggest that you invest in a set of gauges. You should be able to rent a vacuum pump (or some places have a loaner program). But lightshow is also correct in that you will need some method of leak testing the system. Typically, oil stains on the components will be a good sign of a leak.

If you want to get into doing the work yourself, I would be willing to steer you through the process.

Hope this helps!

 

ACWiz, I took my car for some repair today the guy told me that to diognose AC problem is $65.00. I told him not to.
So, please give some directions.

thanks

 

OK... not trying to pick sides here, but I don't blame a shop for charging to diagnose. We did it all the time. Problem is that they work up an estimate of a few hundred dollars and when the customer says 'No', they spend all the time without any reward.

If you want to do this, I need to know if you have the tools (gauges, etc.) in order to add refrigerant and recharge the system.

I would say that you would start with adding some refrigerant. That's NOT a long term solution (and it's too long of an explanation to do here), but when you add refrigerant and get the system cold, then you know everything else is working.

The other problem is leak testing. You need some tools or UV light and dye, etc. So a little idea of how far you want to go will give me a better idea of how to help. You should also consider information about recharing your A/C system like this.

 

I don't have proper tool.
I will let the guy at the shop handle it.

thanks, ACWiz.

 

Just a thought... in a lot of cases, the shops will charge for the diagnosis. But when you actually do the work, they refund it against the job (or at least part of it). They couldn't do the work if they didn't check the system....but they can't make a living just checking. So it's sort of a win-win scenario.

Hope this helps!

 

if the a/c compressor is engaging and the a/c does not cool well,, you are either low of freon,,possible leak, in which case you need to recharge system and put some dye in the a/c system, ..you will need an ultraviolet lite to see where the dye is leaking from,,

Or, the heater cable could be misadjusted..

now if compresor is not engaging ,, you could be totally empty on freon,, OR it could be some electrical problem...
So my question is .. is the compressor engaging when you put the a/c on ??

 

I am not sure if the compressor is engaging, how can I tell?
At night, I feel the cool air when outside temp is not that hot.
So, am I low on freon?

 

Here's how to see if that compressor is engaging. Start your car with the A/C off. Watch the tach or listen to the motor. It should idle very steady, with little fluxuation in RPM and sound. Now kick that A/C on. It doesn't matter what setting, as long as the A/C button is pushed and the fan is on a speed setting. If you notice the RPM's drop slightly and the motor sound dip a little, the compressor is probably engaging.

Another way is to have someone else start the car as described above. Then you can look under the hood at the A/C compressor, which is down kinda low, but it's located under the alternator where all those belts are. You should notice that when the A/C is off, the belt spins around it, but the center of the compressor doesn't spin. Now when someone kicks the A/C on, you should notice that belt spin the center of the compressor.

Listening for it though is probably the easiest.