I do not write well enough to be published. The Boss Lady would read my first draft, have heart failure, and call me unflattering names.
As to the other, everyone on here passes on worthy information. I try to do my part.
Keep in mind I have no official training in AC repair. I'm just a fat guy who doesn't like to be hot and picked up a few things over the years.
Just an FYI, the above post has been edited a few times over the last 12 hours.
Toyman01 + Sized and said:I do not write well enough to be published.
Keep in mind I have no official training in AC repair. I'm just a fat guy who doesn't like to be hot and picked up a few things over the years.
Personally, I find that to be a complement to you! You always do an excellent job of keep what you write very readable to us "common" folk*!
*There is a 60+ year old family joke in there.
But I like your writing style a lot. And a good detailed AC description
My 03 F350 squeaked by last summer and through the winter OK, but will not cool at idle. Obviously a leak. but small leaks are notoriously hard to find. Instead of just shooting some freon form the parts store in, I am considering a local shop with good rep. Only problem a 40 yr. friend in VA is one of the best AC men I've ever known. Only did auto ac for friends - if he liked ya enough, for free. If he didn't, he wouldn't do auto ac for any amount of money! Anyway, he did not like dye (for reasons I did not understand the explanations!) he only used a high end sniffer. Prolly 99.998% of the people I could take my truck to are going to just throw a can of dye in it.
Thought I'd be in VA before it became bad enough, but, alas, not gonna happen. I guess if it going to get dye for the first time ever, I should do it myself 
In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :
I think you have helped me diagnose a flaky high pressure switch. It would previously take freon, and get cool. If you added enough freon to bring the pressure up to consistently green on the cheap parts store can gauge, the next restart of the system would see no function of the compressor clutch. You could bent freon to the same low charge level, and it would continue to cool as poorly as before. Bypassing the high pressure switch with a paperclip seemed to fix the problem, so i replaced it with another delco piece this morning and brought pressure up to the 65f line on the chart you posted per the real gauges.
Cold enough to fog the outside of the windows this morning!
hopefully it continues to work well this afternoon and is cured. Otherwise im really lost.
In Reply to 03Panther:
Thanks for the compliments.
He probably doesn't like dye because it adds extra oil to the system. If he does repairs often I'd bet he has to flush a lot of systems that are overloaded with oil and junk. If he uses a reclaimer, it probably contaminates his bottles and he ends up with dye everywhere.
Hopefully the OP is fixed, and does not mind a short hijack 
Toyman, always over thought the no dye thing I guess. You prolly nailed it. That being said, I may do a dye job on my truck, before giving up and paying a shop to do it!
BTW, until a week ago, I always read your handle as Tonyman in my head... no clue why. Brains are funny things!
Yesterday afternoon, rapid clutch cycling, super high high side pressure (350-400), no cooling.
Im lost.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
At a guess I would say trash in the orifice or overcharged. What does the low side pressure look like?
You mentioned flushing the system a couple times. What do you recommend using to flush the system?
In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :
Honestly, low side looks still low. Cannot seem to get it up to full pressure on the low side. It seems to hover at an acceptable low pressure reading at about 30 for a moment, then drop down to less than 20 and cut out the compressor regardless of outside temp.
I guess the really baffling part, and probably key to diagnosing it, is the outside temp change. Otherwise the system wasn't changed at all between morning and afternoon.
Previously i flushed everything with the ac flush cans and air compressor, put in a new orifice tube and dryer, and replaced all the o rings.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
I'm far from an expert, but at any point did you pull and hold vacuum on the system? I was never able to get an accurate charge in without doing that (and believe me I tried).
In reply to 02Pilot :
Yessir. Pulled a 30in vacuum and it held overnight.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
Gotcha. Must have missed that - sorry. What's the specified charge weight, and how much did you put in?
In reply to 02Pilot :
Unknown on both, as at this point i have added and subtracted so much in trying to figure it out....
And i also never looked up charge weight initially. I did look up oil capacity, and added about half that capacity as i wasn't sure i drained the oil out of the compressor completely.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
As much as I don't want to say it, it may be necessary to 1) find the spec, and 2) empty, vacuum, and refill the system by weight. Eliminate the unknown variable and see what happens.
That's sounding like the condensor coil is running hot. How much air do you have flowing across the condensor? Lack of airflow will piss off the system.
Electric fans or engine driven. Does the electric fan come on when the compressor does? If not it needs to no matter what the engine temp is.
In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :
I hope not, but im ok if it is.
Engine driven fan, with clutch that is functioning properly. Full factory shroud, extra effort made to seal gaps between condenser and radiator.
How old is the car? Does it have a TXV valve in the AC system?
In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :
1998 Silverado. No txv that i know of.
I will say that hosing the condenser with cold water this afternoon while it was running normalized the pressures enough to allow constant clutch engagement for the first time since I got the truck.
Not sure what that signifies, but it was reccomended to me by my tire guy to isolate if it is condenser/oriface tube issue.
Im lost....
At a guess, the condensor is clogged up. The passages through them are tiny and can get stopped up with crap.
In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :
Is there any way, before I drop a hundred bucks, to confirm condenser? Based on your experience, and more Google and YouTube research, it does seem that blocked condenser is the most likely problem.
There probably is. But I don't know it.
You might check Rock Auto for the condenser. The one I ordered for the Suburban was about $65. If it didn't have rear AC it would have cost about $45.
Here is a really annoying guy testing the temps across a condenser to find out if it is blocked or not.
I'm going to circle back just a little, and I think I already know the answer, but what the hell...
This weekend I'm going to replace the leaky high pressure line. Then I'll need to recharge the system. Is it okay to do the recharge with the cheapo, parts-store gauge/filler that I already have, or do I really need to get a manifold gauge setup? The Harbor Freight version is only $60, so I could do that. On the other hand, it's $60 so if I don't have to buy it...
If you are opening the system, you really need to vacuum it down before you fill it. If you want to save the $$$, borrow the manifold set and vacuum pump from the auto parts store.
Agreed. The oriellys vacuum pump works, but you have to have the gauge set to use it. The parts counter guys generally don't know that. I think you can rent it as well.
That being said, the gauge can combo has its place. Its not a replacement for the vacuum pump and gauge set, but works well for topping off on the second can of freon in my experience. Ive also done a system fill with it after replacing a line like you describe. That was on flippers, and the system wasn't perfectly functioning, but was good enough to sell.
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