azari

Hey guys,

My A/C has stopped working all of the sudden!!! The last time I checked was about 2 weeks ago and it was blowing ice-cold air out. Last night, while I was driving, I decided to turn it on and to my surprise it wasn't working. The temperature of air blowing from the vents was the same weather the A/C was on or off!!! (and yes, my temperature setting is on the lowest, 65 F). It makes no noise or anything either at all. I'm just totally surprised, like I said, 2 weeks ago, it was working very well. What could this be? What do I need to do? How much will it cost,,, Please, if some of you have experienced this, let me know what's happened. Oh, by the way, the previous owner had changed the expansion valve.

Thank you all.

spxChrome

Could be a number or reasons. I would just take it by a dealership. If it is blowing air, that is good news since it sounds like the compressor is working and that is one of the most expensive parts. Maybe it is just low on freon.

azari

Oh yea, no question about it... it sure does blow air, it's just that the air is not cool. It's as if the A/C botton was not pushed. I didn't know that could be a good thing though! Well, I'm glad that it is Anyways, the low levels of freon was also my first guess. How much will it cost me to put in new freon, and also if i'm not mistaken, there is a speciall (extinct?) freon that was used on my model year (1991). How is that going to work for me? more expensive? More difficult to repair?
Oh another thing, the person that works on my car is a Toyota technician and works at a toyota dealer (very honest guy). When I take it to him, should I tell him to get me OEM freon from lexus, or non-OEM? What's the price difference? what's the performance/longevity difference?

thanks for helping out.

GA400

Hi Azari,

I have a 91 also. You need standard auto R-12 type freon. It is more expensive. You can't buy it over the counter, but someone that is A/C certified can. To check it, there is a sight glass on one of the hoses that will show if you have freon or not. It will look like a square metal piece on the hose with a small glass window on one side, clean it off, turn on the a/c and look in the glass to see if it has a lot of bubbles inside, if so, you got freon. A small amount of bubbles? you need freon. No bubbles? you have no freon at all and you probably have a leak. As far as the sight glass, You may want to compare it with another vehicle that has known good freon levels to get an idea of what I mean by the bubble levels.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

GA400

azari

GA400,
Thanks for the tip; sounds like an excellent way to find out weather or not I'm in need of freon. The only thing is that I'm not sure where to look for the window. You talked about the hose with the little window, exactly where is the hose? (sorry, a little mechanically handicapped).
again, thanks alot.

Another thing: in case I take it to mechanic to fix the A/C, will he have to take apart or uninstall major stuff to fix the A/C (like the rear main seal that requires the tranny to be removed for example) or will it be relatively simple without major un-installation of other component.
thanks

dbullen

iTrader: (3)

Does the A/C light blink or is it on solid?

GA400

Azari,

Question 1 -- open the hood, look behind the left (passenger side) headlight frame, there will be some hoses back there, one has the little window (looks kind of like an eye looking back at you!) Just checked mine, there was some stuff moving around in there with the air running, looks kind of like water going by (not exactly like bubbles, but similar). My AC is COLD, too. Just got the compressor rebuilt and the dryer replaced last summer, freon topped off back then too.

Question 2 -- depends, freon fill is done at a small plug in the font, mine is down by left knee as I stand in front of the car with the hood open, mine has a red cap on it. That should be a charge for the freon only and the time to fill it.
If AC system components have to be replaced, there is a lot of crap that has to come out, it will be a few hours labor, but not as bad as the rear seal you describe, the rear seal is an eight hour job -- just had mine done a couple of months ago - ouch!

GA400

azari

dbullen,

It's on solid. What does this mean? good news or bad news?

thanks