This took me DAYS to complete (a couple hours in the evenings, weekends and such). Admittedly, if I would have PAID to get this done, yeah, I would have paid out the nose on this job. Not that I WANTED to do it, but I'm happy with the money I saved and that so far, it's working.

FYI - I also repaired something I that I kinda also knew was not working. My dual climate was a little "lack luster" as it did not seem very effective on the driver side (it would not go extreme hot or cold, just bounce around the middle). I learned why. The blend door in the HVAC module was too tight. I used a piece of sand paper and sanded where it was rubbing just enough to make it move as freely as the passenger side door. Now, that baby works GREAT!! And it still has the factory actuators!!

 

BAD NEWS!

I've had the A/C charged for a couple of weeks, used it maybe twice, go to use it for a 3rd time yesterday, it DOESN'T work (again).
I'm going to contact my friend that has assisted me with this thus far, see what ideas he has. But looks like it will be a warm/hot ride to the GM Nationals next weekend.

 

i feel for ya i tried to charge mine and it poured out the condensor lol good news is that I got a brand new with lifetime warranty for 75 plus 10 shipping

 

Did you put dye in it when you did all the work? May make it easier to find the leak. FWIW, I have seen tons leak at the service ports, check those first.

 

The guy that diagnosed my problem charged it with the dye originally (last year). No signs of it ANYWHERE, hence, by process of elimination, lead to the evap core. And it was charged recently (after I changed the evap core) with the dye.
My dad has a goggle/UV Light setup for looking for dye, so I borrowed it and I checked last night when I realized my AC quite, no luck. I can't find my problem part

 

Man Maniac I would be pretty frustrated as well. You have went above and beyond what the average person would have done. Soooo sorry to see you rolling again without the A/C after all that. Mine does not work either, my builder says it's my line connectors and it's about $500 - $1000 to fix as he would essentially need to remove my turbo and such to perform the repair. So I'm rolling without A/C this summer too.....

 

Wow, that sucks, especially after all the work you have put in to it. Does the compressor come on and have you put a set of gauges on it to see what your pressures are?. Look over every connection and see if any of them look wet or oily. Check out the compressor carefully and make sure the leak is not there. Look behind the compressor pully because sometimes they can leak there and it is not easy to see.

Go to this website: www.autoacforum.com and register and post everything that you have did to repair this car. There are some very knowledgable people on this forum and the place that actually hosts this site is an AC repair shop. They have helped me many times in the last six years since I repaired my first vehicle AC system. I have also bought most of my AC parts from them over the years. I bet someone there can point you in the right direction on how to fix the problem.

Wayne

 

Thanks for the info Wayne. I just got off the phone with my GM mechanic friend who has been helping with the diagnosis of this. I'm taking it to him Tuesday so he can examine before I do any engine detailing work. He's got the gauges, black light and what not. Also, the compressor only activates if it has enough freon in the system. Anytime we've charged it with freon, it always fired up with zero problems. So we have something else going on.

I little bummed, but NOT giving up. But depending what it is, it might get shelf-ed until next year due to expenses put into the car already for repairs.

 

If you are losing refrigerant then you obviously have a leak and if it is losing most of the charge that quick, then you have a big leak. Leaks are sometimes hard to find. You might have to use a refrigerant sniffer to see if you can pick something up. Good luck.

Wayne

 

Yeah, I know it has to be leaking pretty bad to have lost enough charge to no longer run (it does not have to be empty, just low enough that the system will not come on). I'm assuming it's only leaking when the A/C is running (but I don't have gauges or know how to properly use and read them, so I don't know how much I've lost at the moment).
The guy I'm working with is a well seasoned GM mechanic for one of the local dealerships. He's helped solve many of my mystery problems (if this turns out to NOT be related to the evap core, this is the first time he was wrong and for the many times he was 100% right, I'm not complaining). He's got knowledge beyond what I know and access to the tools to figure this stuff out. I'll see what he can figure out on Tuesday.