My AC has never given me a problem, but Saturday night all of a sudden i noticed it wasn't blowing cold. I tried to recharge it but no luck. while recharging the system is was blowing cold, then stopped as soon as i finished. whats the first thing i should check?

 

Is it all the vents or only a few vents blowing warm?

 

Do it right. Find the leak, fix the leak, evacuate the system with an HVAC vacuum pump to get rid of air and moisture, and then recharge.

 

Sounds about right based on what the OP says. Do they still make the oil with the dye in it for locating leaks? Haven't worked on a AC leak since my '82 Honda civic. Man! Those were so easy to work on.

 

Yes, I've seen the UV dye in AutoZone. I see they sell really cheap electronic leak detectors for R134a on eBay for around $20 (like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Refrigerant-...C/201766421537 ); no idea whether they work well enough to get the job done, but would probably try one if I was going to DIY the repair.

 

My ac worked for about 5 minutes then quit, it went warm. any suggestions?

 

did you notice if the compressor turned off? Could be your compressor going out... and when you recharged did you have a gauge and see if it was in the right psi zone per ambient temp?

 

I'm not sure what you mean. Did you just try to recharge it again? If so, you seem to have a bad leak. Get the dye stuff and throw that in there. After it's in, you need to inspect all lines, condenser, expansion tank, compressor, etc and see where there is dye leaking out. Could be a simple hose issue or a difficult as a condenser leak which may be touch to see as I expect it's buried in the dash. The dye is pretty nasty stuff so make sure you're not wearing any good clothes. Wear some gloves and watch the floor underneath the car. Trust me. If there's a leak, it'll help locate it.

 

As for "did the compressor turn off", the compressor has a clutch on it that is engaged by a relay (probably in one of the fuse boxes). You can watch the compressor on the pulley end and you'll see the end of the compressor spinning when the clutch is engaged. If it is not engaged, the compressor is off and the end of the compressor will stop spinning. The pulley continues to spin of course. You should hear a sort of loud click when it engages.

 

Hello I have same issue 2016 IS250T only LHS vents are blowing cold RHS blowing warm - tried on recirc and non recirc same issue any ideas?