Hey everyone,

Heat wave in Los Angeles is driving me wild. I've noticed the last few months my AC is not even close to blowing cold. I've also researched enough on the forum to realize that there is a special fluid needed on HCHII for recharge.

I have several cans of , but when I tried to refill today, I met an unexpected issue-- the
Is there a specific fitting that is necessary for the low-side fill-- or am I just an idiot for not figuring out how this fits on?

EDIT: I am an idiot; the bushing needed to be pulled up to fit on the nozzle. Please close/delete this thread.

Thank you!

 

Did you run it for 5 minutes to allow it to stabilize?

Did you find the site glass to help you determine when it was full?

Did you do it when it was 85-95°F for best results?

The HCH2 takes a special oil that costs about $5/teaspoon (I'm not kidding), but you really only need it when it you're replacing components/flushing.

Filling with straight R-134a (no oils, dyes or sealants) is fine (that's what you linked) is fine.

 

I recharged mine with dry refrigerant and it works fairly well. Doesn't mean it'll make it cold in full sun, 110F, even at speed, but it'll make it reasonable.

I didn't see anything in the manual about looking for the sight glass so I charged it based on temperature. Where is it?

 

When facing the open hood , it will be down and left at the passenger front corner. You will see the A/C line with the pressure switch. The site glass is likely completely obstructed/dirty, so you won't realize you're looking at a site glass.


I'm not familiar with the term dry refrigerant. If you mean straight R-134a without any oil, dye or sealants, then good.


Best to do with ambient at 85-95°F after A/C has been running full blast for at least 5 minutes.

 

Dry as in no oil.

Thanks for the heads up on where it was. I read through the guide in the OEM service manual and didn't notice anything about it there.

That's about what the weather was like, and I had it running full blast for a while first.

 

2009 civic hybrid: I've looked for that sight glass everywhere and can't find it. I followed the line from compressor to both charge ports and looked in front passenger corner where the pressure switch is and nothing. There's a receiver mounted to opposite corner of radiator but no glass there. I followed lines to firewall and nothing. There's a line going under radiator passenger corner but there's no visibility past that corner. Any one has pics? Noted the condenser has almost half the fins gone...

 

It's possible the 2009 doesn't have it.


If that's the case, then get a new set of manifold gauges and fill with STRAIGHT R-134a (no oil, seal or dye) based on both high and low pressure readings.

 

Thanks keith, you happen to have the normal pressure reading levels I should refer to?

 

Normally, I would just send somebody to "let me google that for you", but here:


http://acprocold.com/faq/r-134a-system-pressure-chart/

 

Youre right, I forgot about Google, sorry about that! Thanks Keith!!