AC problems - Now what to do??
AC problems - Now what to do??
Hello Again Last summer my AC started to give me problems. It would just stop blowing cold whenever it felt like it. I would turn the AC switch on and off and it would take a few times and then it would start to blow cold again. It would stay cold and then it would blow hot and I would do the switch thing again to get it cold. Somedays it would stay cold and others it would start cold and then go hot. It was never the same, somedays it would work fine and others I would have to turn it off and on. I asked a friend and he said that maybe my expansion valve is sticking. I am the original owner of this 1990 s13 and have never had any problems with the AC. I tried to use it yesterday and now it does not blow cold at all. A friend that knows about home AC's looked at it. What he found is that the compressor does not turn on. The relays are working and 12 volts it going to the compressor. He connected his guages and said it had pressure but could not tell how much freon it had because the compressor would not kick in. He did not have the correct freon to add so he put in some r-22 to see if it would get the compressor to run. It did not do anything so he took the r-22 out of the system. I do not know ANYTHING about AC systems at all. He said that he could not help me anymore to take it to a AC tech. What was strange is that he told me not to tell the tech that anybody looked at the system and just to tell them that it is not working. Did he screw up the AC system with the R-22? Now what should I do? It seems like the compressor is dead. He said that I should have had it checked out when it was switching on and off and that maybe it was low and with me turning it off and on made the compressor go out. Any idea of the price this will cost me for repair?THANKS, M C
Your buddy committed a federal crime by mixing the 2 fluids--which is why he said don't tell anyone. And he didn't do your system any favors. Is he even EPA certified? Mixing fluids changes the characteristics of what the system is designed for. Now you need to find a shop that has a dedicated waste container for impure fluids and can handle it. If the shop doesn't check the purity before doing any work, then you probably should go somewhere else.