I own a 1996 Pontiac Bonneville SE with 242,000 on it. Today I used a can of 134a car refrigerant and charged the system. The pipes/tubes got cold and condensation developed. Actually a a/c pipe close to the firewall developed frost, so I know that it is taking charge. Also the compressor engages and spins fine but it only blows outside temperature air. What is the issue here? also the psi gauge read a hair under 25 psi when charging.

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1999 Pontiac Bonneville SE- Stored -All stock, Sony CDX-GT570UP HU w/ Scosche HD 6.5"'s front/Alpine S 6x9 rear, 153,000 miles
1996 Pontiac Bonneville SE- Now a parts car - HAI, Muffler Delete, Summit Y-pipe, 250,000 miles

1997 Pontiac Firebird - DD - 3800 Series II, Cold air intake/FWI, Y87 Package, Sony DSX-S100 Digital Media Reciever, 180,000 miles

I'm assuming the psi gauge is what you have andhooked on your low pressure line of the AC to tell you how much freon is in the system. If I'm correct with my assumption, you're still very low. IIRC when I charge up my Buick (given we have 100+ degree temps where I'm at right now, but it should still be close) I have to have around 50+psi of freon reading on my gauges for my ac to blow cold. When it reads 30 or less, all it does is act as a furnace. Add some more freon or get the system accurately read (either by purchasing gauges that read off the high and low pressure lines or by a shop) and make sure your system is 100% charged and oiled first, then if your ac is still blowing warm, we can address issues from there.

Hope this helps!

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Jfridge92, thank you for your quick reply. I will try using another can of 134 refrigerant to see if I can charge it more. So according to your stats I have a half-charged system at 25psi. But I will reply when I try this and post my results. I am thinking there may be a leak as when I was pumping the refrigerant into the system it wouldn't go past 25psi.

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1999 Pontiac Bonneville SE- Stored -All stock, Sony CDX-GT570UP HU w/ Scosche HD 6.5"'s front/Alpine S 6x9 rear, 153,000 miles
1996 Pontiac Bonneville SE- Now a parts car - HAI, Muffler Delete, Summit Y-pipe, 250,000 miles

1997 Pontiac Firebird - DD - 3800 Series II, Cold air intake/FWI, Y87 Package, Sony DSX-S100 Digital Media Reciever, 180,000 miles

What kind of gauge are you using to test the pressure in the system? It also may have been the can just emptied that quickly. My ac leaks on the Buick, and usually takes around 2.5 12oz cans of freon to charge it in the summer. The gauge I have is just a cheapo walmart job, but it works for what I need it to do lol. BTW when I have to recharge my system at the beginning of the summer, I believe it usually sits at about 20psi or so on my gauge until I start filling it, so at 25 psi on yours, assuming our gauges are reading similarly, your system is very low still. Try another can, or a set of better gauges to see what the system is actually reading at. I believe Harbor Freight sells a decent set for a pretty low price.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I will definitely try another can. It seems that the gauge was working correctly but if not I will check out some different gauges of better quality. Thank you for all of your advice.

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1999 Pontiac Bonneville SE- Stored -All stock, Sony CDX-GT570UP HU w/ Scosche HD 6.5"'s front/Alpine S 6x9 rear, 153,000 miles
1996 Pontiac Bonneville SE- Now a parts car - HAI, Muffler Delete, Summit Y-pipe, 250,000 miles

1997 Pontiac Firebird - DD - 3800 Series II, Cold air intake/FWI, Y87 Package, Sony DSX-S100 Digital Media Reciever, 180,000 miles

No problem, I'm betting it's still low. The AC's on our cars can be very finicky when they aren't completely charged up. In my Lesabre if it's still a tad low, the passenger side will still blow warm while the drivers side is cold, but will even out once I charge it some more. Hopefully that's all your problem is

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

The compressor has variable displacement instead of a cycling clutch. It adjusts to pressures on the low side to react to demand. It does just what you've described while filling from a low charge.

Feel the pipes into the firewall. The inlet pipe will be the same temperature as the outlet pipe with the blower running on high when my car is up to full freon level on a warm but not hot day. Don't go over the amount of freon indicated by the tag on the system giving the weight of a full charge.