Got a 2008 Prius here with ambient temp AC. Took it to a Toyota dealership for a $50 diagnostic. Came back with a $1,500 quote. Freon is leaking so they say replace heater core, charge AC, put in freon. I say no thanks. I'll either put up with no AC. But maybe I can add freon and charge myself (if this gets me 2 months of AC I'm fine doing this every year)? I've never worked on an AC system so I have no idea.
Auto parts stores sell cans of R-134. Some may come with a charging hose, otherwise you'll have to buy a set separately.
Check under the hood for a (usually) green sticker that shows the freon capacity of your car. Put that much in and see how long it lasts. Don't add any A/C oils unless specifically recommended for your Prius. The A/C compressor is run by the electrical side of the hybrid system. The wrong oil can short the system and fry very important and expensive parts.
I put Red Angel leak stop in a friend's Prius and it helped. Then added freon via the low side port like every other car on the planet. It doesn't take much so be very careful about how much you put in. Monitor pressures because there's probably some in there already. I believe there's no high side service port so there's no advantage to a full manifold gauge set when working on a Prius.
OK cool. So a lil stop leak, lil of the correct freon, and just a low side filler hose with gauge. I figure if it's $20 a year to refill I got 40 or so years to when the $1,400 bill makes sense.
I'll be the naysayer here. Don't put stopleak in the system. Go to harbor freight and buy a 50$ set of gauges. If you have 0 pressure you likely have a major leak (when did the AC work last)? In any case after getting the gauges, use a 5 dollar can of R134 with no oil. to see if you can get the pressure to rise. If it doesnt, you have no choice but to determine what major component really is fried and needs replacing. Stopleak can be just as much of a problem as it can clog the oriface tube and render it just as useless.
The Prius need non conductive oil for the compressor, not your standard R134/PAG combo. Putting the wrong stuff in can cause some more expensive repairs than just no AC
Heater core? You mean the evaporator? How did they diagnose that without charging it? AC isn't really all that hard or expensive to work on, just time consuming if you have to get into the dash, the tools are affordable, now you can even get an electronic freon sniffer for like 40 bucks, it's worth doing it right (not stopleak) on an 8 year old car.
Read Mrap1000s thread where he replaced the IMS bearing in his Porsche. He gave a really good overview of how to use SuperSeal on his evaporator.
BrokenYugo wrote: Heater core? You mean the evaporator? How did they diagnose that without charging it? AC isn't really all that hard or expensive to work on, just time consuming if you have to get into the dash, the tools are affordable, now you can even get an electronic freon sniffer for like 40 bucks, it's worth doing it right (not stopleak) on an 8 year old car.
Evaporator, yes. I think I had my volvo on my mind. The prognosis was it would be $300 to charge the AC and the mechanic (said he worked here for 9 years blah blah blah) says he's 90% sure it's the evaporator and I should just jump right to replacing that. Your last sentence is a great point, think I'm use to having junkers while this car has lots of life left so I should fix it right. I figure I'd do some testing my own before I start playing parts russian roulette. I'll probably have to pay someone to work on the AC if it needs it though (I can charge it myself), I'm starting graduate school next year and with my full time job I won't have time to dedicate to long wrenching sessions.
Yeah, I wouldn't trust a mechanic who guesses it's the most labor intensive job. Get some 134a (the cheapest generic stuff on the shelf is fine), get a sniffer, find the leak, and go from there.
Right! What's the budget sniffer to get?
You'll need to log in to post.
