Whatever advice or criticism you can throw my way will not be offensive. I'm getting frustrated to the point of just taking my car to a shop, tho I'd rather not.

With full, DIY respect for my A/C system in my 1996 Accord, 2.2L, ND compressor, I decided that after mucking around with it enough, I should evac/pull vacuum/recharge: which is what I did, with nice new loaner pump+gauges from Autozone.

I followed all steps, many not listed here, including pulling vacuum for over 30 mins, steady @ 29.2-29.5 Hg, then confirmed system held vacuum for a time after, let 1st can fill with car off, thru yellow hose into existing system vacuum (didn't pull for long, so started car within 20 secs to turn on compressor for regular fill). Then followed high-side pressure gauge predominantly, when filling with 2nd can to around 22 oz. R134a, for the 2.5x ambient air temp/pressure. Low side was up around 40 psi w/high-side pressure @ 225 psi. Air temp at vents not below 60F, and that's on the highway, RECIRCULATING, fan on 3 (75%), after 10 mins. of driving, windows closed.

Amount of PAG 46 oil in system is BIG question, suffice to say, it may still have too much in there after pulling compressor and pouring oil out (1.5 oz), pouring 1.5-2.0 oz oil into compressor prior to re-installing, replacing receiver/dryer after adding .5 oz to it, because before previous procedure, when I thought system was "low" on oil due to my mucking around with "venting", I added 5 oz of oil from pressurized can.....advice says most oil would "settle in compressor", and maybe cause compressor to be "sluggish" but inverting removed compressor and rotating clutch by hand repeatedly, only got 1.5 oz from it as described.

Can a lot of oil also "settle" in the evaporator/condenser, which I didn't service?

I won't be taking entire system apart, but would welcome any advice to include doing over again with better procedure this time. In Houston with 95 degree/65% humidity days regularly, balancing amount of R134a required in system is hard enough, and I don't need 40 degree vent temps, but SURELY it could be better. When system is A/C on VENT on highway, only get 75 degree air.

I'm considering converting back to R12, or a worthy equivalent at this point, even though it's always been R134a.

Any ideas, anyone? Thanks

 

I'll have to leave the pressure reads for TX, PA or someone else that is better at those.

I just ask the dumb questions......I'm sure you have checked both cables for the blend door and heater control valve. One to be sure the door inside the evap/heater core "box" is closing all the way....so all of the air goes across the evap.

Second to be sure the heater control valve is closing all the way....also be sure that even in the closed position that the coolant isn't still flowing...they can fail internally

 

What was wrong with the system in the first place?

 

Well in the first place, I ignorantly alternated between "topping off" freon, "discharging excess", and adding PAG 46 oil, in an attempt to get proper system balance. Decided to fix slow leak in low-side valve stem, which valve cap regularly suppressed, so I replaced it which required complete discharge. (At one point, compressor was cycling off at stop lights after getting off freeways around town here in Houston metroplex during work day which I realized was due to high pressure switch kicking in. Got home, tested pressure, and realized that I was lucky the system didn't burst, or reach high-pressure venting level, but as you can guess, it was WAY up there, so I quickly discharged some when I got home.)

So........I decided to do system vacuum/refill on my own with numerous instructions and new receiver/drier, to save $$$, for the experience, and for the fun of it since Autozone loans pump and quality MasterCool gauges, using proper safety goggles, gloves, etc.

My main concern, was and still is, how do you know how much PAG oil is in the system without removing every single A/C system component and checking/blowing out/refilling? I realize now, that one can never know, so I was cautious when putting new oil into the new drier, and the recently-emptied compressor (pulled from car).

System pressures I listed in first post were actually higher than necessary, and probably contributed to poor performance, so I decided to discharge system down a bit, this after complete vacuum and refill, which brought pressures down to: 28 LOW, 150 HIGH.

Test drive last night showed this was in fact too low for proper A/C performance, so I then carefully added freon ONLY, without any more oil, watching both HIGH and LOW gauges, up to current pressures of 34-36 LOW / 200 HIGH, and now all is well.

Drove to pick up kids from Grandma's on 4 hour road trip today with outside ambient air temp @ 85-92 F, humidity around 50%, and I got A/C temps across all dash vents of 35 F! Cold enough on RECIRC that I had to turn down FAN because it's too cold after a few mins. Not complaining, but not hanging meat either!

Rock on. And no, I won't be "mucking" around anymore, unless I hear the compressor squealing from low PAG oil in system, but I highly doubt that will happen. Like I said, it works great now and isn't leaking, so I'm DONE!

Thank You!

 

Since the a/c is working properly, I would leave it alone.

If you ever have to do this again, or if someone else comes across this thread, I would remove all of the components and drain all of the oil, because you don't know how much oil is in the system. Put the receiver-drier in a plastic bag, so it is not exposed to moisture in the air. I would replace every o-ring in the system. If you look at the specifications in the shop manual, the total amount of oil should be 9oz. I would probably add the 9oz first, seal and evacuate the system, then charge with R134a that has no oil in there.

Glad you got it fixed.

 

Thank you, PAhonda. That's exactly what I plan to do, hoping that I don't ever have to.

 

Good advice from PA.

As you've found, getting charge right w/o charging by weight can be tricky and knowing how much lubricant to add to a repair is very difficult. The good news is I know I've run mine w/ perhaps 50% more lube than spec w/o noticeable problems. Hopefully, you're on the high side.

If you're getting 35F at vents on the road, that's as good as you can expect.

If you have to pull system down again for any reason, replace the receiver/drier as it's been exposed to air and may not able to efficiently scavenge moisture.

good luck