Filling R134a from high side in liquid state with engine *OFF*

[Tim]

Those OE compressors are junk. Freaking nightmare for shops offering a warranty. We quit repairing back in the day due to failures.

Aftermarket did offer a piston replacement, all my vendors are out of stock on that item.

[WestPoint]

I'll roll the dice and hope the Nissens spec'd ones are better and most of the reliability and performance has to do with a proper install. My original Keihin HS110R scroll went almost 180K. Luck of the draw I guess!

[WestPoint]

Thanks for the info AI9. I ended up filling 3/4 of my first straight 12 oz can into the high side with engine off. Worked like a charm! The Nissens compressor sounds so smooth and quiet compared to the old clanker I pulled out. Now let's hope it holds up for a few years but unfortunately I sent a slug of air into the system when I went to swap to the second can (forgot to purge line on second can).

EDIT: I just realized I got no air in!!!!!! Since I was using R134a cans with the self-sealing cans (not sealer inside formula), the can tap does not allow air in as I simply screwed the first one off and then next one on. How did I realize this?! I just went to unscrew the main charging hose from the manifold (other end of hose connected to self-seal can tap) and I got a nice blast of refrigerant to my hand again.

[Tim]

Nissan compressor on a Honda CRV?

[WestPoint]

Morning Tim, sorry I should clarify. It's Nissens brand. Apparently it's a European (Danish) company and they do OE and aftermarket if I recall correctly.

[Anony55]

I am by no means an auto ac pro. But I've been DIY filling R134 (yes, small cans) via liquid into the LOW SIDE for years. This is done with the ENGINE OFF. I use a small space heater on a cart to warm the can, with a good ole window fan on the condenser.

Heat the can up in the upright position a little, then shake the can and turn it upside down as high over my head as I can reach. Watch the sight glass on the manifold, and when the "boiling" slows down... back to the heater for a spell. Back and forth like this until done.

The vehicles that I've done this on, the low side port is located on the accumulator. These are also orifice tube systems (if that matters).

This has worked well for me. I never worried about liquid getting to the compressor, because all you have to do is let it set for a spell to allow the liquid in the accumulator to boil off. Then, when you get around to starting and running the compressor, you already have a full charge to carry the oil through the system.

[Slyphantom]

Hi everyone, I have some experience with A/C but not with the dual systems like the one in the 2001 Ford Excursion Diesel I am currently working with. My question(s): I charged the system using a 30lb cylinder and a scale, I did this with the cylinder valve down for liquid and put in 4lb.4oz. as per the under hood label, I did this through the high and low ports with the engine off and although it did get to be a bit slow I managed to get in the full 4lb.4oz. In with the engine off. Because the system was not running could that result in a problem?

[DetroitAC]

Not sure why you posted in this old thread, but yes sounds like you did it correctly. I didn't read anything that would cause a problem. If you can get it all in without starting the engine, that's fine, no need to start it

[Slyphantom]

My mistake, thank you for the reply still. I don’t understand the problem I’m having with this vehicle, the A/C (the front A/c system) doesn’t get cold enough it’s about 10° to 15°F warmer than it should be when cruising at about 55mph but I can get it to cool more oddly by turning on the rear a/c for some reason this causes the front a/c to discharge cooler… I am so lost on this one. The system appears to be clean inside (after rebuilding and recharging it the first time I had this issue so after about 5 hours of operation I decided to discharge and replace the aftermarket variable oriface tube with the factory Ford red one and noticed no crud in the tube being replaced and there was no change in performance either when I recharged it this time with the different tube in there), I did replace the TXV in the rear system at the original rebuild but didn’t change it a 2nd time. Any ideas or any direction would be greatly appreciated and thanks again.

[tbirdtbird]

This really should be its own thread......

You just went from a discussion of charging with vapor vs liquid to a vehicle specific issue

Not all posters look at every thread, so if they are bored with the vapor/liquid discussion they may easily skip over what you just wrote

I would copy what you just wrote into a new thread. Maybe Tim can delete this last post on this thread....actually I think you can do it