High mileage and a/c

[toyo71]

HI! I'd like to know how long your a/c worked on your echo, and what failed when it did. Today, my a/c stopped working at 235000 km. Since last year, I noticed that it was less cold but now, it's hot! The compressor works, so i'm thinking it might just need a freon refill? What do you guys think?

[ECHOKnight2000]

i don't know if they still use freon anymore. Maybe for Canada but I don't know about the U.S. Maybe needs to be "charged." But I really don't know much about it.

As for myself, I rarely use my A/C, probably cause the weather in MN doesn't need it, although this past summer we had our fare share of warm humid days. My A/C isn't strong but its decent. Certainly takes the mpg out of the car but that's the nature of it, especially for a small engine, small hp car.
While I thought my A/C was going out, last month I took my nephew to the movies and had it on. Surprisingly it wasn't bad and fairly strong, especially being a day where it was 80+ and humid. So I was thankful for that! It held up well considering I thought it was weather effected. Meaning if its cooler than 80 or 75 then it works decently but above that it doesn't blow very cold air. I was wrong on that day I guess.

But over all I'd say its average and not strong at least for hot days. But like I said I rarely use it. What I do is turn it to cold and turn the circulation from the outside and even if its fairly warm out, it still blows decently cold into the car. Of course going that way is weather effected.

I'm at 124k and I have an 03.

[twiki]

Yup, it sounds like you need a refill, or recharge.

Speaking of which, what's the visual indication that the refrigerant is running low?
There are several glass 'bubble' ports built into the A/C lines, but which do we look at to tell if attention in required?

My A/C doesn't blow cold either, but that could just be the nature of the Echo's unit.


Thanks.

[denman]

My AC is fine but I've had good results with the aftermarket refrigerant kits, Duracool in my case, but all I see now is RedTek. They claim on the kits to be effective in the various freon formulations.

[toyo71]

Twiki, you talk about ''glass port'' to see the refrigerant? I never saw them. Anyone knows about them? Denman, I never saw duracool refrigerant. Redtek is everywhere here. I was thinking about using a refill of Redtek but instead, I will go to my Toyota dealer this morning. We'll see after that .... I need my a/c to work asap. I use it all the time from may to october....

[twiki]

On my '03, it's located on the passenger side to the left of the engine block, just behind the washer fluid reservoir.

Originally Posted by toyo71

Twiki, you talk about ''glass port'' to see the refrigerant? I never saw them. Anyone knows about them? Denman, I never saw duracool refrigerant. Redtek is everywhere here. I was thinking about using a refill of Redtek but instead, I will go to my Toyota dealer this morning. We'll see after that .... I need my a/c to work asap. I use it all the time from may to october....

[toyo71]

Thanks twiki! this is the first thing the toyota mechanic looked at. Now I know where it is lol!!! They added refrigerant, a small leak sealer and some colorant to find leaks. I will go back to my dealer in 1 week to see if there are any leak. All this for 150$ For now, my A/C works perfectly. We'll see next week if there are any leaks....