Im pretty pissed about this. I dont know if I was wearing my idiot hat or what, but this sh** takes the cake.

I know that our cabins are supposed to be hot. But I figured I would at least check the A/C pressure from the low port just to be on the safe side. If there was a way to improve the A/C, id do it. "So whats the harm?" I thought to myself.

I went out and purchased this advanced auto parts product called "A/C Pro". Its basically a freon canister with a gauge on top to check the pressure. Basically how the gauge works is you turn the temperature **** to where the temperature outside is, and try to get the pressure needle in the middle/towards the higher side right?

I followed the instructions on the can. I lifted my hood up, unscrewed the cap for the low side port, turned my car on, set my A/C on max with recirc mode.

I waited about 2-3 minutes and then hooked the Gauge/canister onto the low side port. the gauge showed about 30 PSI, which was about right in the middle/a bit towards the lower side of where the can indicated it should be. So I said hmm.. ok ill give it a quick shot to top her off. Now, during this time with just having the gauge attached and not squeezing the can, I heard the clutch stay on and turn off briefly for a few seconds every 1-2 minutes or so. when that would happen, the gauge pressure shot up a bit (not into the red however)

I started squeezing the can and doing the whole motion, and kept checking the gauge. It wouldnt change.... I kept adding more thinking it would go up to where it was supposed to be. As I did this, the clutch kept going off more often, and the pressure on the gauge started to go down slightly, and the needle bounced around much more. I kept adding and when I finally got to about 3/4 done with the can, I said this is ridiculous im gonna ruin this thing and stopped.

The clutch started coming on for about 2 seconds and vibrated the sh** out of the car and then turned off. These massively loud cooling fans started to turn on too. Im not sure if maybe this is because the whole process of me adding this took about 10-15 minutes parked? so maybe the engine was getting too hot? I dont know.

But the air stopped getting cold out of the A/C. I decided maybe if I drove it around the block it would improve. It actually did, the shaking went away and semi-cold air came out of the vents. I pulled into my driveway and saw a ton of water going down my driveway where i was however. I looked under the car and saw that there was a very steady leak of what looked like water dripping down from right to the left of the fill plug for the transmission fluid.

When its parked the clutch comes on for a few seconds and the car vibrates a lot. When I came back from my drive and turned the A/C on max, the loud fans came on and stayed on.


Any idea of what I did? Did I accidentally ruin my A/C system or overfill it? I dont understand how I could have overfilled it when the pressure gauge did not go up at all, but instead went down.



This is the pressure gauge I used on the bottle. you can see that the middle shorter arrow is pointing towards 71 degrees, which is how warm it was out today. It started at around 34-35 PSI, and went down to about 31 psi after using 3/4 of the bottle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSvG...ature=youtu.be
^^This is about 20 minutes after i added it (Even though it's a bit hard to tell, 1:27-1:33 is where you can hear the noise the compressor/clutch is making).

The can lied. I'm not 100% satisfied with my product

 

time to take it to the dealer.

 

You over filled it, let some freon out the system before you risk blowing a line. These cheap "kits" are almost useless when it comes to getting the pressure right, you have to use the right tools, a dual gauge set up with both high and low sides measured.

Let some freon out from the low port till the a/c isn't cycling so much. Also make sure your a/c amp is programed so the compressor cycles less often.

To program the a/c:
-Hold down the air rec* button and front defrost button at the same time.
-Turn key to "Acc" wait 3 secs (holding buttons)
-Turn key to "On" position (holding buttons), wait 3 secs. Rear defrost button should flash 3 times to let you know it has been reprogrammed.
-Start car

You have to do this after every time you disconnect the battery.

 

the program will only put the A/C 's default to Recirc everytime the car turns on, regardless of what it the last state was, the system is weak and you will be breathing your own CO2 the whole time.






As for OP

these kits are useful ---- AS LONG AS the person who is using it know what they're doing, those "gauges" on the kit usually sucks and NEVER provide you with accurate reading.

I'm no expert on A/C systems, but after I've been thru my FC's a/c system and learn a lot by reading, buying necessary a/c tools, ask experts on A/C forums. I have my own conclusion on RX8's A/C system.

- R134a
- condenser way too small, Cuz R134a sucks.
- not enough airflow

R134a is pathetic, period. tree hugger thought it 's green and use it. but the truth about it is that, while it's a bit better than R12 for the enviorment, but the cooling capacity just SUCKS and it requires PAG oil, which is corrosive. to make the problem worst, it requires high pressure and it's heat carrying ability is just weak.

condenser, yea, it's too small for R134a. Mazda should position it a bit different.

Airflow. Well, we all know that already.

u can see if u can let some of the R134a out will help. but you have no idea what your pressure is going to be (if it's within spec). and while you are letting R134a out, 90% chance some PAG oil might come out at the same time. if it's not too much you will be fine. but if it's anything more than couple of oz, it will kill your compressor.

what you can do now is get help.

Learning to fix A/C takes time and $$$, a 2 stage vacuum pump and a "good" set of gauges will cost couple hundred + some minor fitting and let's not forget there is something called "if you **** up, the cost will go up"

I'm almost done with my FC (fixing 1 coolant leak), when it's done. I will start working on the RX-8's A/C system to improve it's cooling ability

 

^ A/c system seems fine to me

I guess it could be slightly better when not moving....



-Edit-


https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/my-c-problems-solved-69640/

 

because after a while of cooling, the inside cabin's air will be cooler than outside and if you recirc the air, the compressor will cycle less often, that's why people think the program works, but it doesn't change the fact that the stock system suck ***** and this "program" thing does NOT improve the system's heat rejection capacity in any way. it just make it "recirc" the air whenever you turn the car on.

To "truly" improve cooling, you need to find ways to let the system carry more heat away.

 

I just wanted to show where I was getting my info from.

I still think the a/c in this car isn't all that bad tbh. Mine puts out 40*f air in +100*f amb temp. Only things I did was wrap the a/c lines with insulation, and do the a/c amp program thing.

 

@nycgps....................Well, technically it's not true that doing the amplifier reset makes it on "recirc" when you start the car. What it does do is when you turn the fan switch to on(or the first position), it changes to "recirc".
Also, I'm one of those people that will tell you for whatever reason, doing the amplifier reset will actually drop the temp it puts out by 3 or so degrees and it's NOT because of "recirc". Being in Florida, 3-5 degrees makes a world of difference.

 

the recirc mode makes no difference for me, we had 107 degrees last summer so yeah I know how important A/C is. That's why I will focus on "improving" it.

 

Have you tried wrapping the lines? I saw a nice improvement when I did mine, especially when not moving.

 

:/ my a/c is fine temperature wise.. I cant put it past 3 without getting goosebumps on my arms.

 

nope, I warped it 4-5 years ago, it looks ugly so I ripped it.

I know that's the "cold" line but honestly, the system itself just sucks/weak in the first place.

 

When I checked, the temp at the air duct was cold, but the real problem is the cat and transmission.
Put your right hand between the seat and the console.

It's so hot that no AC unit can compensate for that.

Small cabin, little air flow between the housing and floor pan, R134a

 

They shouldn't have a problem with 4 either, or else it's whack.

 

how do i do this?

 

I thought of putting a heatshield right above the CAT, but space is so limited there I gotta think what I will be using.

 

It's just like a tire valve. press the little needle in and freon will come out.

 

Use a disposable rag or paper towel to prevent the spray from going everywhere.

 

^Sorry, forgot to mention that.

 

Alright well I did do that. Im not sure how much I let out but it doesnt vibrate as much now. Now it just puts out cool air, not cold.

 

Put a set of gauges on it, and do the system performance test.

http://foxed.ca/rx7manual/2003mazdar...078834W01.html

 

Which product did you buy? A/C Pro sales several different charging products. It should be something to the effect of ACP-100.