Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

Hello,

The AC blows hot air so I bought a can of refill and a pressure guage to hook it up.

I tried it on my jeep first and its in the Blue zone which is perfect. ( I assume people know the refill guage goes ... Green, Blue, Yellow, Red).

When I plugged it in to the Chevy Cruze it shoots all the way around past Red) and almost back to zero again ...thats off the charts !!

I tried it several times and the reading is correct.

What does it mean, What do I do ....? Thanks.

Unfortunately that type of kit from the parts stores is exactly what not to do.
Wish you had come here first for advise.
1. Those kits usually have sealer, which is something you never want to do (it will clog your system) . If you still have the can please report back if it had sealer.
2. The pressure gauge that comes with those kits are notoriously inaccurate.
If you want to do your own AC work, it is suggested to get a pro manifold gauge set with both a low and hi pressure gauge.
What most likely happened was that your system had low seasonal losses that accumulated, in which case you would take it to a pro shop for recovery and install the correct amount of 134 by weight.

2014chevycruze wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 6:55 am I assume people know the refill guage goes ... Green, Blue, Yellow, Red.

Bad assumption. Folks on this site/forum know not to use such "miracle in a can" products, and know to use real service gauges (not "guage") to measure both low side and high side pressures at about 1800 rpm.

Cusser, did you have nails for breakfast today???? LOL, signed Dave

tbirdtbird wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 8:18 am Cusser, did you have nails for breakfast today???? LOL, signed Dave

Funny ! But no !!!

Some folks think it's simple to add such stuff blindly because it's sold in stores and claims to seal leaks. I especially "like" posts selling vehicles to state "AC just needs a recharge" - almost always there isn't a small seepage over a decade or two, or the seller would fix it before trying to sell. Similar is AC compressor just needs a belt....

AC stuff can occasionally be simple, but in real life some specialized stuff and knowledge is needed. I'm NOT an AC professional, but live in Arizona and have vacuum pump, R-12 service gauge set, R134a service gauge set, electronic sniffer, UV light and goggles, soap bubbles, assorted green NBR O-rings, schraeder valve tool, can side tap....and likely more that just doesn't come to mind right now....

Cusser, you are an AC tech, alright , just without the lab coat that says it. I am the same.

We are here to help the great unwashed ,who have been led down the garden path, find the true path to their salvation. In other words they don’t know what they don’t know…..

tbirdtbird wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 11:25 am ....just without the lab coat that says it.....

Right !!! But I do have lab coats, worked in the Analytical Chemistry department of Dial Soap/Purex/Persil/Renuzit/Combat for over 4 decades (managed/mangled the department for a dozen). So we had lab coats issued to us, but I always got too hot wearing them, so wore it only for official tours of R&D. Our first Armour-Dial lab coats were an ugly mustard color while Armour Foods got powder blue. Later, all R&D got powder blue, and later they went to white coats.

My girlfriend summer of 1978 was an intern from a university; she worked for Armour Foods R&D and wore her blue lab coat as a bathrobe, interesting. Mrs. Cusser was al full time employee of Armour Foods R&D when we started going together in 1985, but never wore a lab coat as a bathrobe. So I have retained lab coats of all those colors, including one I dyed black to be Groucho Marx for Halloween (one year Mrs. Cusser went as Harpo Marx).

My question would be, are we supposed to help a poster when they use these quick fix-it-in-a-can problems? I'm certainly not going to say it's in the red; you better dump the refrigerant quickly, or it will blow up.

The fact remains that every auto parts store we know about sells it. It's not the posters' fault. They are just following the directions, Miracle AC Blue/Green/Kaboom.

Sealer or not, no one should charge a system with a single-gauge product in a can. At least, that is the view of this poster.

Cusser you are cracking me up!
We are stamped from the same mold.
While at university I worked part time at TI and wore a variety of lab coats of various colors. This was the early 70s. I even wore the stock boy jacket from a local supermarket chain that went belly up (Almacs). It was my choice as long as I wore something.
I went from there to a lab tech at the local cancer hospital, where I also found the lab coat too hot.
My career then bounced from medicine to vintage cars and their AC needs.
Tim, you don’t know what you don’t know. I feel sorry for the OP

All my life I decided it was better to keep my mouth shut and keep my eyes and ears open. And research something before doing it.
Our OP got sucked in by the glitzy display at Oreilly or NAPA

It amazes me that more posters who are looking for R134 in 30 lb jugs have not gotten their 609 license.
Mainstream engineering is the way to go. The basic theme is to not let refrigerant into the atmosphere .
I bring this up because of the posting that John just made about how 134 is restricted. I still maintain that the EPA has overstepped its bounds .
Careful of how you vote.

Back to the topic at hand.

2014chevycruze wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 6:55 am The AC blows hot air so I bought a can of refill and a pressure guage to hook it up. I tried it on my jeep first and its in the Blue zone which is perfect. ( I assume people know the refill guage goes ... Green, Blue, Yellow, Red).
When I plugged it in to the Chevy Cruze it shoots all the way around past Red) and almost back to zero again ...thats off the charts !!
I tried it several times and the reading is correct.
What does it mean, What do I do ....? Thanks.

OP, no cooling is a common complaint on a 10-year-old car that might have had too much refrigerant added and "topped up" at some point in its life. More is not necessarily better.

Let's take a look at the specifications for your car first. Three engine sizes are listed for the 2014-2015 Cruze, but the A/C specs for all three are the same: 22.4 ounces net weight of R-134a, and 4.3 fluid ounces of PAG-46. As always, if your car has an under-hood decal with specs that differ, the decal takes precedence.

According to your low-side gauge, it would appear that the system is overcharged. The only way to know for sure is to have the refrigerant recovered by a professional Mobile Vehicle Air Conditioning (MVAC) shop, as already mentioned. As long as no sealer is present in the system, the shop will handle this for you. The shop's machine will display exactly how much refrigerant it recovers, letting you know whether it's overcharged (likely), undercharged, or right on specs.

Next steps would be to evacuate the system, then recharge it exactly by weight. Again, the shop will be able to handle this for you.

Your car holds a relatively small amount of refrigerant, so just an ounce or two or three "off" can make a significant difference in cooling performance. As you can tell, it's very important to get this right.

The refrigerant charge being out of spec (overcharged??) could be the only reason you have no cooling.