Since I got quite a few suggestions on my wife's Jeep's AC problem, I thought I
would
give you an update.
For one of the few times ever and since the Jeep had to go in for insurance
repairs on
its burglery/vandalism incident anyway, I let the dealer look at it.
This is a guess, but the dealer didn't have any better ideas:
Despite the fact that I dumped a R134a recharge kit into it and that the gage
showed
proper pressure, it was way low on refrigerant. I suspect that they pulled a
vacuum on
it and then were able to complete a refill. They said that it had no
leaks...now. They
did not use a sealant.
I believe that when I did my previous fill a couple of months ago (it worked
fine for
two months time) that there was a slow leak. The recharge kits typically have
a sealant
in them, and I believe that this plugged the leak eventually...but also plugged
the
valve...so I couldn't get anymore refrig into it. When they pulled a vacuum on
the
system, they broke the sealant plug loose (so is it still in there waiting to
plug
again?) and then were able to charge the system. It now works great.
I got many emails for assistance; thanks to all. One of those, forgot who
though, sent
me a link to an AC troubleshooting site that had an article concerning damage
done to AC
systems by the use of sealant and the fact that many manufacturers (primarily
Japanese
and European) will now void waranties if they find sealant during repair.
I used a couple of recharge kits on the 86 Chevy truck and it has worked fine
since.
The Jeep, being a Chrysler, of course had to be a problem. Be careful with
recharge
kits that contain sealant. It would be better to use a recharge kit with leak
detecting
dye in it and then fix only the specific problem instead of using a whole system
sealant...of course, the problem with that is that most of what is sold in the
parts
stores has the sealant in it.
Mark Noakes
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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