Zoomingx8

I have an 04 rx8 and bein that I live in florida I had some free time to go get the AC checked to make sure everything was okay. Well I went down to a small shop that specializes in AC systems. The guy hooks up the machine and tells me that it's missing or lost about 30% of refrigerant. I said alright and he vaccumed everything out and recharged it with the dye in it. I got in an drove home and it's colder than it has ever been. It used to warm up slightly when I was sitting at a light, doesn't do that anymore. Now it will actually make me cold if I leave It on high for a long period of time . It worked alright before, but not like this. I bought the car used in October and I don't know what kind of AC service was done on the car before I got it. My guess is the AC hasn't been touched in 8 years. My questions are :

1. What are the chances I Have a leak in the system? Or maybe the guy was just messing me around when he told me it was low

2.Do AC systems naturally lose refrigerant over time ?

3.Is it possible the lines and moisture just needed cleaned out of the lines and a little bit more of refrigerant added ?

If anybody has personal experience with this please feel free to share

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Mine has needed a charging a couple of times over it's 8 year life. I have never had any parts replaced.

04Green

iTrader: (1)

Just did the same thing with my 04, but, I had a leak, I took a rock through the condenser. All charged up, better than ever, and I live in Florida as well. No seals are perfect. And there is a chance that the refrigerant he put in was better than what was in there.

Be happy, Be Cool

Zoomingx8

Alright thanks guys , I'm going to grab a UV light from the local auto parts store and keep a watch on it over the next free weeks ..

Nubo

Since you have an '04 you may have one of the early cars that needed a "reprogramming" of the "amplifier" to achieve good AC performance.

That may be something you still need, or maybe your mechanic knew this bit of arcane knowledge and reprogrammed it for you.

In any case, the reprogramming is lost if the battery is disconnected and has to be redone.

The details are probably still on the forum. Search for "reprogramming" and "amplifier"

Worked wonders for my '04.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

the A/C Amplifer has to be replaced on early models.

the "programmed" thing will just change the default settings to Recirc.



I'm not A/C expert but I learned a lot from one of the 7 guys who is an A/C expert + while I work on my FC's A/C.

A/C system should never leak, if you lose charge, you have a leak. doesn't matter how small it is.

when you have a leak, it means you have air in your system and it will decrease the cooling performance.

best thing to do is find the leak, fix it (replace the part, don't use those fix-a-leak crap, all it does is just trying to put band-aid on gun shot wound), Pull deep vacuum (+29mg for at least 30-45 minutes), recharge.



also, if u have a leak long enough, chances are your system is full of moisture, and being absorb by the PAG oil, if u want best performance, u should replace the drier, put couple oz of PAG oil in it, do flush on t he compressor, add a few oz of oil(I forgot the exact amount of oil runs in the system, so if total system uses 8, add about 3 to the drier, and 3 to the compressor)

Our 8's A/C drier is part of the condenser, so u have to replace that if u want the best cooling.

after I'm done with the FC, I will explore better refrigerant options on the 8. R134a is garbage, and no, I'm not going to use any HC blend, don't feel like killing myself.

Zoomingx8

well the AC works great now, like i said before i dont know if the guy lied to me about how much coolant was in it or if it had been serviced before and they just didnt fill it up the rest of the way. I checked tonight with a UV light i picked up at the auto parts store and couldnt find anything but a small amount of dye on port near the coolant container from where i wiped it off. I checked the connection before it goes into the car, i checked underneath at the condensor, and i also checked both lines hooking into the condenser. I found nothing. But the air will freeze you.. it was not this cold before. I dont get it, it works great now and i cant find any leaks. I did learn something interesting about the ac system. the aux fan cycles like every 10 seconds to keep they high pressure and heat down in the system, its pretty annoying and on top of that you have the compressor cycling. Not one of mazda's best ideas

Zoomingx8

Ok just find out my compressor is bad, the car started cycling every two seconds today when it was hot out. Took it back in and it had .69 pounds in it. It lost quite a bit, they then put the car on the lift and it had splatter of UV all over the bottom of the compressor . Looks like this is going to be costly

kevinande

Just because you have a bad leak does not mean that the compressor is shot. Vehicles are designed not to engage or cycle the compressor when low on refigerant. This is to keep from trashing the unit. Have them fix/replace the seals on the compressor. It may involve purchasing a new line, I have never done AC work on the 8. Pull a vacuum, and refill with oil and refriderant and you should be good to go. Purchasing a new compressor should be the last thing you do, unless you know for a fact it is dead. The fact that it cylcels tells me otherwise.

Zoomingx8

I dont understand what your saying. I thought the seals in the compressor werent re-buildable? I dont know where else it could be coming from if its on the bottom of the compressor. The ac lines are on the top of the compressor. Im really stuck here because this shop is telling me one thing but im starting to believe that the compressor may be good. IDK, i have heard that the seals can go bad but the compressor will still function completely normal

kevinande

You are seeing the leak on the bottom of the compressor due to a little phenomenon called gravity. There are two orings on the compressor, one for each line. Replace those and I believe most of your troubles will be over. I would replace all I could get my hands on while the system is open. As I said previously if the unit is cycling it is most likely fine. It's your car and your money tell them to change the seals, or better yet take it to a different shop and have the seals replaced, evacuate and recharge. Enjoy your A/C.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

there is a possible chance the compressor itself is bad, but it's pretty rare.

and just because you see some dye there, it doesn't mean the compressor itself its leaking, most likely it's the o-ring.

tell them to replace them with HNBR o ring and start from there.

Zoomingx8

Alright thanks guys, the wierd thing is I don't see any UV dye at all on the connections were the two lines bolt into the compressor, wouldn't there be some sort of dye around the lines where you all say it's originally leaking from. I couldn't find any leaks at my house because I wasn't wearing amber glasses which I guess is required to see anything. Once I put those on at the shop, I saw it plain as day, but it was just on the bottom of the compressor. There was no trace around the lines

Zoomingx8

Im pretty sure i found the leak, it looks like its coming from the back line, i just got underneath the car again and looked around, you can see where the green dye starts around that line and then runs down to the bottom where it splatters all over the bottom of the compressor and everything else because of the wind coming through. Im going to have them replace both o rings while they are down there and hopefully they dont give me too much of a fuss because they want me to believe its the compressor...

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Compressor + labor = 1.5K dealership pricing 2 hours of labor 220 bux. the rest goes to parts (everything MSRP BABY!)

O-ring + labor = 200 to 400 dealership pricing. depends on how retarded ... err I mean how good the dealership tech is, 110 to 330 bux goes to labor, 5 bux for the ring, the rest? OMG PAG oil is so expensive yada yada and they will be using R134a that's worth more than gold.

notice : I got a set of ring with 270 pieces for 30 bux that fits almost any freaking Japanese made car and most Domestic car's A/C systems.

Zoomingx8

Well I Found a shop that would install the new compressor for 600 bucks including a new denso compressor. BUT I don't need the compressor anymore, I do need the o rings, which if im not mistaken I can get at a parts store, the ones made to fit the car too, so I'll get them in the morning and have them replace the seals and I should be good to go after an evac and re charge

Zoomingx8

jesus christ this issue is beating me into the ground...i cant tell wether its the seal or the compressor now...i just dont get it, i cant see for sure where its leaking, its thrown all over the place. The pulley above the compressor looks like someone drew on the inside with faint green marker which is making me think that the compressor is flinging it up onto the other pulley, i think im going to just replace the compressor and be done with it, im going to do it myself and have that place evac and re charge it

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Buy a new "Receiver/Drier while your at it.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

You can actually do it yourself. buy a cheap set of gauges at HF. then loan a tool at autozone (I think they do have Vacuum pump)

I know you can "just replace the compressor and call it a day"

but

what happens if it's NOT the compressor that's leaking ? what if it's say, the evaporator core that's leaking ?

oh btw, have u check that ?

Get a can of electric safe cleaner and spray it all over the A/C fittings. then use a can of R134A into the Low port. turn the A/C on let it pump for a bit. After a while check the fittings all over again.

that way I'm sure u will find ur leak.

RX-8's Receiver/Drier is part of the condenser assembly. so yeah, need a new condenser if you want icy cold AC

That also means you will have another 2 o rings to be replaced.

Zoomingx8

is that required ? i didnt think you had to replace that as long as the compressor didnt seize up...and where exactly is the evaporator core at? the reason why im sayin it has to be around the compressor or the compressor itself is because the green dye is all over the place on the compressor, its even on the left engine mount. its on the back of the compressor, its on the bottom...everywhere

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

it's probably due to the hose fitting leaking. Have u check that ?

it's required because it seems that your system is full of air for so long, PAG oil is really good at absorbing moisture in the air. Most of the oil are either in the compressor itself, or it's in the drier.

so whenever an A/C system has been expose to air for long period of time, you SHOULD replace the drier. RX-8 is weird (so does Mazda 6, Mazda is weird maybe?) because they made the Drier part of the condenser ... instead of replacing a 20-40 dollar part, now you're looking at double/triple ...

I would say u should be patience when you work on A/C, I got really pissed about my FC's A/C system at first and want to just nuke the car and call it a day. but at the end I took a deep breathe, bought the tools, read, learn. Boom. Icy cold A/C (colder than my RX-8 anyday) and wondered, why so many suckers pay those so called "shops" hundreds and hundreds of their hard earn dollars and they still can't fix ****. most of them just charge them 99.99 and feed the system with a can of 19.99 R134a with some stop leak garbage, then tell the customer that they "fixed" it. jeeze

Zoomingx8

i have checked both lines that bolt into the compressor..i cant see any source of green dye around the connections to show that its leaking, i can see spots of dye close to the connections but none of them have a steady stream of green around them which is what im assuming i should be looking for. the connections look solid and there is no trace of dye on the back of the compressor pulley which i figured would be there if it was leaking from that seal. the only thing that is leading me to believe it is that seal is the fact that the middle of the pulley above it has green in between the grooves which would mean it had to of been flung up there somehow, and that somehow obviously being the ac pulley...

Zoomingx8

F&$@ it I'm replacing the compressor. I'm tired of pissing with this I have better things to do. I got a great deal through napa on a BRAND NEW Denso for $330 . It should be here Friday. I will update everyone when I get it put on in a couple of weeks.

Renesis Noob

hi all, i have an 04. long story short the ac is cool when im moving and warms up from light to light. Hooked up some professional gauges with a buddy of mine that know a little bit more and was told i have a clog in the line. Low side too low and high side too high. Any thoughts on where this clog would be? thanx in advance

kevinande

Based on the information you provided the most logical conclusion is that one of your fans has died or the relay to that fan(s) has died. I would check in that first and foremost before I started messing around "clogs". If air is not passing over the condenser you can not remove heat, therefore the system can not cool. Once you start moving the air flow is there and the system does what it was designed to do. When there is no air flow pressure builds and could account for the readings you were getting on the gauges. Look at the fans first and go from there. Good luck.