duckyjp

I had to let my car sit for a month becuase it wasn't registered. Just got it registered yesterday and took it out, but the ac didn't work. When i turn it on there's a sort of hissing sound, but when i turn it off and the fan is just on, it goes away. I'm assuming I have a leak somewhere. Has this happened to anybody? Any idea of how much it might cost to fix? Is this something I could take it to the dealer for or should i still steer clear? Basically is this something only for a specialty shop like KD or PFS or would i be ok with the dealer or a local shop?

Also anyone in MD had a/c work done? WHere is a good place?

Sexy7

Is there any air coming out at all from the vents? I had the same problem but it turned out that I didn't have a leak. It would blow air but it would never cool. I took it to a friends shop and found out that I was all out of - damn! I'd like to say refrigerant(brain-fart)..but it's that stuff they put in the AC to make it cold! It was going to cost me $200 dollars because it's $100 bucks a lb. and I needed 2 lbs. Instead of doing that, my buddy, installed a CFC-Free AC kit. I think now it has the new R134 stuff in it. He said that is cheaper than just putting the old stuff in it. All he did was put 2 fittings on the AC unit, then vacuumed the AC lines then put the R134 plus a dye of some sort to see if it leaked somewhere. The whole thing cost me $170....but as for your problem...If it's not blowing air then there must be something wrong with the AC unit. I myself is learning stuff about the car and the rotary, so..I can't really specify what is up with the AC unit. I don't know how it works where you are at but my friend charges $55/hr to look it over and see what is wrong with it, then he waives that fee if you decide to have him do the work and charge you for the labor. If you need replacement parts, I was playing in Yahoo last night and typed in "used parts" in the search engine. A whole bunch of hits came up. One hit...www.car-parts.com (not carparts.com) had this thing that you can enter the year, make and model of your vehicle, specify a part that you are looking for and pick which state (GA, FL, etc...it had an option also for "any state") you are located in. Hit submit and if the part you are looking for is found on the database, Used Parts Stores(anywhere in the US) that carry your specific part comes up, complete with stock/part numbers and pricing. The prices are in decending order so you can get most expensive to least expensive. They had lots of stuff for third gens. Most of the time there is a link to the Used Parts Store. Most of them offer 12mo/12,000 mi warranty and some with even more.


Hope this helps. Didn't mean to write an essay but switching to a CFC-free unit works really great. It's cold. I don't even have to put it above the 2 notch to get the car in cool temp (90+ degrees hre in ATL, sometimes feels hotter) during mid-day.

Laters,
Jason

duckyjp

The air is blowing fine it's just not cool at all. It was working great before i had to let it sit for a month. So I'm assuming it will involve using dye to find the leak and then getting it fixed. What does switching to non cfc involve? What gets relplaced? How much does it cost? WHat are the benefits? It is actually cheaper that fixing the existing system? Did you have a hissing sound when you used the ac and it didn't work?

Crazed

I had the exact same thing happen last August.
Turn out I had a leak in my compressor and had to have it replaced.

Warranty is nice

duckyjp

How much would it have cost you?

djantlive

I don't know about the hissing sound. It could be a leak somewhere. I would suggest taking your car to a dealer or a good mechanic that you've used before to find out what's wrong.

Don't take it to a major chain repair shop like Pep Boys or Sears. They don't always know what they are doing! One shop said that I needed a new compressor and I said thank you. It turns out that a hose was loose and all I needed was some freon.

I've heard that lots of people who converted to R134 said it's not as cold as R12. This is especially true for 93 models I think. The conversion typically consist of new fittings and obviously new freon. I would compare the prices to do both and think about how long you would like to keep the car to decide which is better choice for you.

As for Sexy7(Jason), that's great that your buddy was able to help you out. I think he did a real good job w/ your car. It's good to know that someone is having luck with R134. There is hope for us w/ 93/94 models. Do you have a 93 or 94?

badass7

Where is this "Hissing sound" coming from that you guys are refering to?? Can it be heard from inside the car once the A/C compressor kicks on or are you hearing it from the engine with the hood open??

Sexy7

I have a 1993 Silver Touring. I bought it for 8K last thanksgiving. It had 101K. I now have 104K. The engine was replaced at 70K. As far as the turbos....They were rebuilt at 70K as well. This car had a boatload of problems. It had dents from hail, paint chipping off, Fender dented, throw a check engine light, coolant light going off, scratched panels, etc (list goes on and on). Basically for the the last 8 months, I have been busting my *** fixing this car. It was a nightmare but now it's healthy. I was going to sell the car for 9K to some kid, deal was done, test driven and everything, then....I backed out because I couldn't let it go. I felt violated when I saw someone else on the driver seat and that I wasn't done with it (Damn emotional!). I didn't pay attention to the AC when I bought it in Nov. but when summer rolled around, I found out for sure. No regrets since. SS DP and Catback in 2 weeks. Then Air Intake next month. I heard CWR is releasing their new intakes late fall. I might just wait.

Laters,
Jason

duckyjp

Badass, the hissing can be hear inside the car all the way over by the right air vent. It's only on the right side. When i stuck my head under the hood and had someone switch it on and off I could hear the compressor kick on but not the hissing. So to answer your question, the sound is inside the car. There may have been a hissing sound I couldn't hear over the engine. Should've tried it with the car on but not the engine. Any ideas?
WOuld you take your car to the dealer for something like this?

Dustin

When I bought my car the AC was out. The local shop wanted $60.00 dollars to diagnose my problem. So, I went to the local Wallmart and bought the R-134a retrofit kit for 35.00. I charged the AC compressor and the AC compressor kicked back on (it will shut off if there is not enough refrigerant in the system). I have read that the R-134a is not as cool as the original refrigerant. I wouldn't know, but the R-134a is very cold. I live in the Ohio Valley, and relative humidity is extremely high as well as daily temps in the 90's. The R-134a works extremely well, and I only used 2 of the 5 cans they put in the kit. The way I figure, it can leak all summer and I will still have spent less than it would have cost for it to be diagnosed.

Hope that Helps,
Dustin

Zoomspeed

Is the 134a retrofit and refrigerent fill difficult? After reading all the warnings on the side of the can I'm alittle affraid.

CPA

I had the same problem with the hissing sound just as the A/C stopped blowing cool air. They had to replace a valve in the A/C. Rotary Performance did the work. I have a 93 with the old A/C R12 stuff. They told me that there was no difference in the old A/C system and the new except for the R-134a fittings. They replaced the valve and put on the retro kit and filled her up with R-134a. The A/C is now so cold that it freezes my fingers on the steering wheel. The cost to do all this was about $250. RP knew what the problem was before I even gave them the car. Call a Rotory shop and not the dealer. I had originally took the car to the dealer and they did not tell me that all it took was a $35.00 retro fit kit and I could avoid the $100 a can for the old R12 stuff. They put the old stuff in my A/C with dye and it cost me $250 for them to do this and they could not find the problem. I hate the dealers. I just call RP over the phone and they knew what needed to be done. Why did I bring the car to the dealer? I figured that A/C should be easy enough for them to fix, but again they just cost me a bunch of money and did not fix the problem. RP had a 3 week wait to get in and the dealer was close to me. I had to get it fixed. Dallas is 100 degrees everyday in the summer. How many times does it take to learn the lesson that the dealers do not know how to work on our cars, not even the A/C.

duckyjp

I also noticed that when i run the air with the car on but not the engine there is no hiss. I don't know what that means. Probably just that the a/c doesn't work when the engine isn't on?

Dustin

The retro-fit was easy to install. All I had to do was put the two fittings on the AC lines, and charge. It took all of 10min. The directions were slightly confusing, but the retro-fit valves only fit on the correct line, and the charge only fits to the correct valve. So, it was hard for me to screw it up. I think it was the best $35.00 I ever spent on my RX-7.