2000 LS1 Air Conditioning recharging

As the summer approaches, the temps are up so my wife turned on her A/C over
the weekend and it just blew hot air.
Since this car was new, she's had to take it in to a Saturn dealer 4 times
to address this issue. Each time they said they "fixed a leak and recharged
it" and it works for the rest of the summer.
I tried to charge it myself tonight with a "universal" hose and a can of
134a tonight and the quick-disconnect will not fit the LS. I measured and
the ID of the female connector on the hose is 0.51" and the male connection
on the car is 0.62". I measured the male connector on my Tundra and it's
0.51".

Has anyone else ever recharged their own A/C on an LS before? Is there a
special adapter that I need?

Thanks,
Dave

In article >,
says...
> As the summer approaches, the temps are up so my wife turned on her A/C over
> the weekend and it just blew hot air.
> Since this car was new, she's had to take it in to a Saturn dealer 4 times
> to address this issue. Each time they said they "fixed a leak and recharged
> it" and it works for the rest of the summer.

Obviously they arent fixing the leak. Stop taking it to them. Makes me
wonder what was leaking each time, how they fixed it, and if it was
mentioned on your invoice. If you are missing the caps & the o-rings on
you schrader valves I can tell you where a leak is right now.

> I tried to charge it myself tonight with a "universal" hose and a can of
> 134a tonight and the quick-disconnect will not fit the LS. I measured and
> the ID of the female connector on the hose is 0.51" and the male connection
> on the car is 0.62". I measured the male connector on my Tundra and it's
> 0.51".

These little cans of death should be illegal for anyone to purchase IMO.
And they are if you dont have a 609 certification. If they contain "seal
swellers" or "stop leak" you will be contaminating your ac system! BTW
you were looking only at the "Highside port" on your LS. Since you didnt
know this I would suggest not going any further because the risk is to
great for the DIY'er IMO.

> Has anyone else ever recharged their own A/C on an LS before? Is there a
> special adapter that I need?
>
> Thanks,
> Dave

Here's my special adaptor:
http://www.otctools.com/products/detail.php?id=1259
Among $2000+ dollars worth of other tools and equipment.


Reading material:
http://www.refrigerantid.com/refrigerant/news.html
http://www.robinair.com/acsolutions/...h/motorveh.php
http://www.epa.gov/Ozone/title6/609/recharge.html

On Tue, 30 May 2006 21:51:03 -0400, "nospam" >
wrote:

>As the summer approaches, the temps are up so my wife turned on her A/C over
>the weekend and it just blew hot air.
>Since this car was new, she's had to take it in to a Saturn dealer 4 times
>to address this issue. Each time they said they "fixed a leak and recharged
>it" and it works for the rest of the summer.
>I tried to charge it myself tonight with a "universal" hose and a can of
>134a tonight and the quick-disconnect will not fit the LS. I measured and
>the ID of the female connector on the hose is 0.51" and the male connection
>on the car is 0.62". I measured the male connector on my Tundra and it's
>0.51".
>
>Has anyone else ever recharged their own A/C on an LS before? Is there a
>special adapter that I need?
>
>Thanks,
>Dave
>


The reason why a R134a connection might not fit is because you are
trying to charge the high side. EXTREAMLY DANGEROUS!

If you aren unable/uncertified or uncomfortable, you need to spend the
few bucks and save a finger, or eye you can lose messing things up.

hth,

tom @ www.FreelancingProjects.com

>
>These little cans of death should be illegal for anyone to purchase IMO.
>And they are if you dont have a 609 certification. If they contain "seal
>swellers" or "stop leak" you will be contaminating your ac system! BTW
>you were looking only at the "Highside port" on your LS. Since you didnt
>know this I would suggest not going any further because the risk is to
>great for the DIY'er IMO.
>


Lighten up or get a lighten up or get a life as he is asking for help
not insults. You could have simply told him that his was trying to
connect to the wrong fitting ang they are sized that way because even
well seasons techs can make mistakes too sometimes and the keyed
fitting sizes provents attachement to wrong port.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com

The guy at NAPA told me about the high side vs low side today. I charged it
up, tightened all of the fittings and it works like new!

I used to work on a FLIR system on the A6E bomber in the Navy that used
Helium to cool the detectors down to -450°F. I've never had to charge an A/C
in a car in my 45 years until I bought a new Saturn. I've owned 20 year old
cars that had ice cold A/C with no problems.
I had a 92 SL before I bought this 2000 LS. I put 242,000 miles on the SL
with no problems other that losing a quart of oil every 1000 miles. It had
the original clutch, rear brake shoes and timing chains when I got the LS in
2000. I thought I'd get another reliable car.
The LS has had tons of nickle and dime problems since it was brand new.
I will never buy another Saturn or GM for that matter.
Toyota seems to be the most reliable car for the money!!!

"nospam" > wrote in message
...
> As the summer approaches, the temps are up so my wife turned on her A/C
> over the weekend and it just blew hot air.
> Since this car was new, she's had to take it in to a Saturn dealer 4 times
> to address this issue. Each time they said they "fixed a leak and
> recharged it" and it works for the rest of the summer.
> I tried to charge it myself tonight with a "universal" hose and a can of
> 134a tonight and the quick-disconnect will not fit the LS. I measured and
> the ID of the female connector on the hose is 0.51" and the male
> connection on the car is 0.62". I measured the male connector on my Tundra
> and it's 0.51".
>
> Has anyone else ever recharged their own A/C on an LS before? Is there a
> special adapter that I need?
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>

nospam wrote:
> The guy at NAPA told me about the high side vs low side today. I charged it
> up, tightened all of the fittings and it works like new!

Glad you got it working.


> I used to work on a FLIR system on the A6E bomber in the Navy that used
> Helium to cool the detectors down to -450°F.

That's pretty interesting.

I've never had to charge an A/C
> in a car in my 45 years until I bought a new Saturn. I've owned 20 year old
> cars that had ice cold A/C with no problems.

You are just EXTREMELY lucky then. It happens all the time with every
make of car. It is a lot better now that it was 20 years ago, but leaks
are not uncommon at all.

Cheers,

In article > ,
says...
> The guy at NAPA told me about the high side vs low side today. I charged it
> up, tightened all of the fittings and it works like new!

So long as you didnt use an additive can of 134 with seal sweller or
sealant in your system you should be fine for this season... Each time
you top off you will eventually introduce to much air into the mix and
who knows what the oil level would be.

> I used to work on a FLIR system on the A6E bomber in the Navy that used
> Helium to cool the detectors down to -450°F.

I should have noticed when you used thousands to discribe the fitting
sizes that you werent the average DIY'er.

> I've never had to charge an A/C
> in a car in my 45 years until I bought a new Saturn. I've owned 20 year old
> cars that had ice cold A/C with no problems.
> I had a 92 SL before I bought this 2000 LS. I put 242,000 miles on the SL
> with no problems other that losing a quart of oil every 1000 miles. It had
> the original clutch, rear brake shoes and timing chains when I got the LSin
> 2000. I thought I'd get another reliable car.
> The LS has had tons of nickle and dime problems since it was brand new.
> I will never buy another Saturn or GM for that matter.
> Toyota seems to be the most reliable car for the money!!!

Where's the logic in that?
The L-Series, the 1st model year at that, hardly reflects other GM cars
and trucks considering it shared NOTHING with them. I've probably seen
EVERY make and model you can think of on the road with less than 3 years
use with A/C issues and yes that very much includes Toyotas. If you
actually live by the your above logic, eventually you wouldn't buy any
car on planet Earth...

A glimps at the wonderful world of toyota:
> http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/dir...f227dd.ee93e7e
> http://groups.msn.com/ToyotaOwnersUn...n/shoebox.msnw
> http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ta_engine.html
> http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ra_engine.html
> http://suvs.autoblog.com/entry/1234000530039835
> http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/compl...plaint7194.cfm
> http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/compl...plaint8578.cfm
> http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=150&did=566
> http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2...erLemonAi.html
on and on and on....

Thanks to everyone for the help.

I guess I have been lucky never having A/C problems until I bought my first
new car.

My main complaint about Saturn isn't the car's nickle and dime problems, I
suppose. It's the service at the dealer. They have been the worst at
Merrilville, IN and Greenwood, IN.
When the car was new, I took it into the Merrilville dealer under warranty
because the headlamp switch was getting very warm. The service manager (some
girl named Kelly, I think) tried to tell me that that was normal. I
explained to her that I am an electrical engineer and switches don't get
warm unless they're underrated or arcing. She then told me that it was
because of where the switch was located on the dash. I told her the switch
was on the turn signal and to please bring a service tech out to look at it.
He came out and told me he'd change the switch. She actually tried to BS me
out of a simple switch! I could go on and on.

The reason I like Toyota so much righ now is that I know so many people that
drive them and swear up and down they're the best cars they've ever owned.
All of them are repeat buyers. I took the plunge an bought a new Tundra last
year and I have no complaints with the truck or with the people in the
service dept. I noticed it didn't start immediately twice last winter,
didn't think too much about it but called the dealer anyway. They said to
bring it in, and they found a TSB problem and changed out the fuel pump (for
an intermittant problem they never witnessed, with no questions asked)! I
was pleased.

Good luck to everyone out there and thanks again for the help.
-Dave


"BläBlä" > wrote in message
...
In article > ,
says...
> The guy at NAPA told me about the high side vs low side today. I charged
> it
> up, tightened all of the fittings and it works like new!

So long as you didnt use an additive can of 134 with seal sweller or
sealant in your system you should be fine for this season... Each time
you top off you will eventually introduce to much air into the mix and
who knows what the oil level would be.

> I used to work on a FLIR system on the A6E bomber in the Navy that used
> Helium to cool the detectors down to -450°F.

I should have noticed when you used thousands to discribe the fitting
sizes that you werent the average DIY'er.

> I've never had to charge an A/C
> in a car in my 45 years until I bought a new Saturn. I've owned 20 year
> old
> cars that had ice cold A/C with no problems.
> I had a 92 SL before I bought this 2000 LS. I put 242,000 miles on the SL
> with no problems other that losing a quart of oil every 1000 miles. It had
> the original clutch, rear brake shoes and timing chains when I got the LS
> in
> 2000. I thought I'd get another reliable car.
> The LS has had tons of nickle and dime problems since it was brand new.
> I will never buy another Saturn or GM for that matter.
> Toyota seems to be the most reliable car for the money!!!

Where's the logic in that?
The L-Series, the 1st model year at that, hardly reflects other GM cars
and trucks considering it shared NOTHING with them. I've probably seen
EVERY make and model you can think of on the road with less than 3 years
use with A/C issues and yes that very much includes Toyotas. If you
actually live by the your above logic, eventually you wouldn't buy any
car on planet Earth...

A glimps at the wonderful world of toyota:
> http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/dir...f227dd.ee93e7e
> http://groups.msn.com/ToyotaOwnersUn...n/shoebox.msnw
> http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ta_engine.html
> http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ra_engine.html
> http://suvs.autoblog.com/entry/1234000530039835
> http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/compl...plaint7194.cfm
> http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/compl...plaint8578.cfm
> http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=150&did=566
> http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2...erLemonAi.html
on and on and on....

"SnoMan" > wrote in message
...
>
>>
>>These little cans of death should be illegal for anyone to purchase IMO.
>>And they are if you dont have a 609 certification. If they contain "seal
>>swellers" or "stop leak" you will be contaminating your ac system! BTW
>>you were looking only at the "Highside port" on your LS. Since you didnt
>>know this I would suggest not going any further because the risk is to
>>great for the DIY'er IMO.
>>
> Lighten up or get a lighten up or get a life as he is asking for help
> not insults. You could have simply told him that his was trying to
> connect to the wrong fitting ang they are sized that way because even
> well seasons techs can make mistakes too sometimes and the keyed
> fitting sizes provents attachement to wrong port.
> -----------------
> The SnoMan
> www.thesnoman.com

FWIW, I disagree with you, SnoMan. As a non-DIY-er, I would not have
been insulted by this reply; in fact, I would appreciate the advice and the
delivery of that advice.

On Thu, 1 Jun 2006 13:35:04 -0400, "Steve" >
> FWIW, I disagree with you, SnoMan. As a non-DIY-er, I would not have
>been insulted by this reply; in fact, I would appreciate the advice and the
>delivery of that advice.
>


Maybe you but you assume too much about others. There was no nice
intent in his post as it was meant to be abrasive and nothing more.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com