lebanondon61

Need help I had a fender bender back in the winter and I had to replace condenser wanted to know how much freon 134 do I need or do you guys think I lost all freon just was wondering how many cans do I need if I do myself.....thanks in advance

lebanondon61

that's a 2004 max guys thanks

twentyeggs

well it depends, i want to say go get it done with the liquid/gas gauges. but its really expensive to take it in for the work, the dealer will gouge you for this, its almost a crime how much the charge. it only takes 10 min and about 10 bucks in refrigerant. if you know anyone with the manifold gauges and a tank of R134a do it yourself, its easy. make sure to do it during the coldest part of the day for best results. if you can't or don't have access, look for a truck shop. they always have this stuff on hand and im sure a mechanic will do it for 50 bucks. if your local to Sacramento, ill do it for you at my shop for 50 bucks. you'll be in and out in 20 min.

if your talking about the stuff in the cans at autozone, you need to be careful. the liquid/oil part cannot exceed the gas and vice versa, if it does, you will have a "dead" system, full of refrigerant but blows hot air. the gauge on the cans do not measure the two aspects of refrigerant but rather the psi. this is only important to know when to stop filling. you need to know what is in your refrigerant reservoir. if it is completely empty, nothing in it, then go get 2 cans and you should be fine just watch the pressure levels and do not let the system get in the red or it will go "dead." if you have done all of this and your system blows hot, it means you had left over lubricant and you can not do anything unless you have the two way manifold gauges and hoses.

twentyeggs

in all, the cans at autozone will work, but never as good as your air conditioning could be. start with 2-3 cans and go from there.

KevMaster

Pretty simple...

Get the gauge for $10 or $15 and get 134a can from anywhere and recharge yourself. You may not need more than one 12oz can.

Start the car and start AC on high speed, remove cap from lowe pressure hose, and recharge with 134a.

I have done this many many times when my low pressure ac hose that was leaking and when I was out of refrigerant from AC system.

I give 10 minutes the most.

twentyeggs

yeah exactly and once you get the gauges, you can sell your ac services to friends and local members too. a good tip is to run the engine (after is is completely warmed up) at 2.75 rpm when doing it. use a bar clamp or adjustable rod, is what i use to set the rpm if you don't have a buddy to help. also remember the temp of the ambient air plays a huge role. so get your a** out of bed at 5am and do it then.

the gauges are at auto zone for cheap. the tank is about 30-40 bucks. but you can fill up a lot of cars with that.