Total failure in AC revival attempt

I dont know what the problem is.
I tried to inject an oil & freon charge into the low pressure side.
The cheapo guage, trigger & hose that came with a larger 18oz 134a
bottle that I bought at Target had a plastic reciever that wouldnt fit
onto the center nipple of the dual guage manifold set, so I connected
it directly to the low side and pulled the trigger.
A very little amount seems to have gone into the system.
The little 134a/PAG oil charge seems to have lost only a bit of its
content (wieghs almost as much as before) even though the dial showed
nearly 80psi.
I reconnected the low side connection to the manifold and it seems to
read about 45psi.

This was all done with the engine running and at no time did the
compressor engage. The high side guage did not budge off of ZERO.
(Darn my luck)

Basic deduction seems to point to a blockage which didnt exist prior to
applying vacuum. Perhaps applying a charge has only pressurized the
low pressure hose and nothing else.

On the Saturn system, what is on the other end of the low pressure hose
opposite the compressor? Might the oft mentioned used accumulator be
blocked?

Perhaps a small amount of nitrited plastique detonated by a small
electric cap could resolve this problem permanently?

-Thanks, WaVy

 

Since a "cheapo" gage reads only low side pressure and the low side
and high side have different couplers I am not sure what you are
reading here. ALso, I have never seen a system that has pressure on
low side on none on high side as they are connected together and will
read the same unless compressor is running and in which case the high
side will generally read 5 to 8 time more presure than low side.
(exact amount depends on system and other varibles)

 

If the compressor isn't engaging, it's not surprising that you're not
able to charge the system. Have you checked the relevant fuses and the
fan relay for the cooling fan(s)? Have you tried manually engaging the
clutch to make sure the clutch is working?

Cheers,

 

"Manually" engaging the compressor might be a good idea. I'll have to
try that.

But I still am puzzled to how pressure applied to the low side did not
get around to the high side. (Yeah - I did have the high side of the
nice, new expensive dual guage 134a manifold testing unit attached the
whole time).

Just to make it clear to everyone, I didnt just rely on the cheapo
guage with the hose that came from Target with the $20 recharge kit.
But it seems to me that I only managed to pressurize a small part of
the system - that is - the low side _hose_ ONLY, since I reconnected
the blue, low side of the nice, new expensive dual guage 134a manifold
testing unit and it indicated less pressure than the little recharge
kit guage. (which has a rather long hose where some of that pressure
would be lost).

I'm thinking that the whole time I may have only pulled a vacuum on the
low side of the system - that there is a hideous amount of blockage in
the system....

-Thanks,
WaV

======================== Worst President Ever =======================

 

Well sure. That's the way its SUPPOSED to work. Which, unfortunately
is not what I'm experiencing.....
-WaV

 

You might swap lines around on gage to confirm that the high side is
working.

 

It's not going to "inhale" much freon at all if you don't get the
compressor to engage. It's certainly possible that you've got a blocked
reed valve or some other blockage, but I suspect that once you jump the
compressor and get it to start taking a 134a charge, you'll start to see
a pressure differential between the low/high sides.

 

The pressure should be equalized in the system when the compressor is not
engaged. I simply do not believe that you could have sufficient blockage to
have "zero pressure" on the high side. My guess here is that you have not
opened the high pressure valve on the "fancy gauge set" you purchased. The
trick here is that with most of these sets, those valves open when fully
turned to the clockwise position - this is contrary to most clockwise closed
valves. (Note that this fully extends the depressor onto the Schrader valve
on the quick disconnect.)

To add refrigerant, you need to then manually activate the compressor by
bypassing the pressure switch. I usually use a paper clip to accomplish
this if refrigerant is too low.

Good luck and hope this is your issue and you get the AC fixed. Let us
know.

Bob