Toyota Camry 2002 AC Issue

[jcasti1226]

I have a 2002 Toyota Camry with a 4 Cylinder Engine. I have had this car ever since it was new.

Now the AC performance has degrade.. When the car is rolling and the engine its above 1.5k rpms it starts to cool nicely and at a stop light it starts to get warm. It has a sight glass on the high side when I switch the AC on I do see flow but no foam or bobbles indicating a low charge. But the content that is flowing looks brown.
Any help.

Topic

[dave]

my crystal ball tells me to lean towards a belt tension or compressor clutch issue.

[John B Kobberstad]

What High side and Low side pressures do you have before vehicle is started (cold) and when on and warmed up and at idle?

[college man]

is the ac fan running?

[jcasti1226]

[quote=”college man” post=34359]is the ac fan running?[/quote]

Yes both fans are working at full blast.

[jcasti1226]

[quote=”johnbkobb” post=34354]What High side and Low side pressures do you have before vehicle is started (cold) and when on and warmed up and at idle?[/quote]

I haven’t check the pressures, I think that the next step here. Usally temperatures are around 80 – 95 degress over here. I did a test I switch the AC on engine cold as stone and on the sight glass I saw foam for a about 5 seconds and then got clear.

[dreamer2355]

Watch the series of video’s Eric made on A/C work.

You will need some manifold gauges to help aid in diagnostics for this one.

[EricTheCarGuy]

In my opinion AC work is not really for the DIY as there are a lot of variables and in some locations you need special licensing in order to handle refrigerant. It sounds like you have a low charge but you wont’ know this unless you hook up a set of gauges and check the pressures. As to what you should see that depends on ambient temperature but usually you want to see between 250-300 on the high side and 20-30 on the low side. If those numbers are off then perhaps you have a low charge.

[jcasti1226]

Hey guys I’m back!!!

I finally got my set of AC Gauges and today I got the change to do a pressure check on the Air Conditioning System.

Before I switch the AC on these were my pressure.

The outside temperature was about 82 degree.

Low side 120 PSI
High side 120 PSI

I also got the factory service manual where it says at 1500 RPM on a proper charge system at 86-95F you should be between 21.7 – 36 PSI low side and 198 – 227.7 PSI on the high side.

I rolled all the windows down set AC to max cool and the recycle switch off.

I let the system run at idle rpm after about 10 min

Low side about 50 PSI
High side 210 PSI

Both Radiator and Condenser fans were at full speed.

I raised the engine RPM between 1500 RPM.

Low Side about 42 PSI.
High Side 250 PSI.

Vent Temperature about 60F.

so comments are welcome 🙂

Juan

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[Wayne]

From that, and the previous symptoms you describe, the likely answer is worn compressor.

This guy has a decent walk-through of the typical system, check near the bottom of the page for easy diagnostics (entitled, “The following will help you diagnose your AC system”):
http://forums.nicoclub.com/the-end-all-air-conditioning-article-t269897.html

Assuming that’s correct after testing, take it someplace with a recovery machine, have them do it all, or just the recovery, and you can do the part swap. Still likely cost you $200 minimum to properly vacuum it, then refill after if you don’t already have the equipment necessary. So, very likely worth the slight extra cost IMO just to have a proper shop do it all to make sure the proper amount of oil, etc is done, especially with a new compressor.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Looking at those numbers I’d suspect a slightly low charge. You might try adding a bit of a charge and see if your readings come into line.

AC System basics

AC Performance test

Finding AC leaks

Recharging AC systems

[jcasti1226]

I got a small video of this test. Im not so good at editing… lol

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]z1Mu7ff-YYU[/video]

Thanks

[jcasti1226]

[quote=”Wayne613″ post=42111]From that, and the previous symptoms you describe, the likely answer is worn compressor.

This guy has a decent walk-through of the typical system, check near the bottom of the page for easy diagnostics (entitled, “The following will help you diagnose your AC system”):
http://forums.nicoclub.com/the-end-all-air-conditioning-article-t269897.html

Assuming that’s correct after testing, take it someplace with a recovery machine, have them do it all, or just the recovery, and you can do the part swap. Still likely cost you $200 minimum to properly vacuum it, then refill after if you don’t already have the equipment necessary. So, very likely worth the slight extra cost IMO just to have a proper shop do it all to make sure the proper amount of oil, etc is done, especially with a new compressor.[/quote]

Well my last option is to take the car to a service center. I haven’t found a service center where they work by the book. They just have kids with a single pressure gauge plugging it to the low side to port to check pressures and adding refrigerant the wrong way heck some don’t even have vacuum pumps.

I prefer to fix this my self.

[college man]

by looking at the camry video.the sight glass is flashing from
what I could see. I would add a little charge to clear the sight
glass.when you do run the car to check the ac.keep the doors and
windows closed.otherwise your throwing a greater load on the system.
if you can park the car in the shade.let the car idle for approximately
15 minutes.windows up and doors closed.AC on max cool.fan on High.after
the 15 minutes and the sight glass is still flashing.start to add refrigerant
slowly through the low side until the glass goes full and clear.once full and
clear your done.check outlet temp.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Ignore the site glass. They don’t even use those on many systems anymore as with 134a systems it doesn’t work the same way as it did with R12. These days you want to stick to your pressure readings. I’d add a little refrigerant till you see the low side between 20-30psi at 2000rpm. I don’t think you’ll have to add much but also when you do this check the vent temperatures at the center vent in the same way as shown in the AC performance video.

[jcasti1226]

Hey guys..

I finally got the Camry AC cooling like a freezer again. :woohoo: The system components were all healthy but the refrigerant it self was not It was contaminated from the previous service I describe above. I remember the service guy added a bit of charge from a goofy R134a manufacture and didn’t purge the manifold gauge set. This contaminated the system giving the out of range readings.

So I went ahead and got my self a two cans of Harp R134a pure refrigerant (expensive of course), drove to shop and recovered the old refrigerant, later I vacuumed the system down for one hour (noticed a lot of vapor coming out from the pump after 30 mins.) and finally I added a mix of half oz of refrigerant oil with UV Dye using a FJC Oil Injector and 19oz of refrigerant using a scale.

I got 36F vent temperature at 96f degree summer day enough to fog my windows and give me a cold.

I couldn’t be happier with the results the AC is working like new.

Thanks guys for all the help.

Juan

[Author]

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