my ac does not blow as cold as it used to, does this mean its low on refrigerant ?. i bought a can of pag oil refrigerant and want to know how i add it to the system.

You mean refrigerant. Coolant is what goes into your radiator; the terms are not interchangeable.

If you've never played with an A/C system before, I'd recommend letting a shop do the work. It may have a low refrigerant charge, or it may be something else; no way to know without some diagnosis. Attempting to add refrigerant to a system that might not need any can easily damage components.

cant i check with a gauge? id rather do it myself, it does dot seem hard.

Without using proper gauges it's just guessing all is ok.

Like these:

checking your refrigerant level is fairly easy, all you need is a specific gauge you can get at kragen/auto zone or even walmart. in a lot of cases if you buy a can of high end refrigerant for your a/c, some cans will come with a gauge. this gauge is also required to fill your system with refrigerant when your level is low. the gauge is 100% reusable for future system refills.

here's the gauge i have, along with probably a lot of other cvn'ers. this particular one came with a can of A/C refrigerant i bought at wally world for $29.99



locate the device circled in red. it's to the passenger's side of the engine bay... the gold port is where you plug in the gauge to test your A/C charge.



turn your car on (crank the engine) and turn your A/C all the way to max and coldest. than inspect to see if the A/C clutch is engaging in at all. if it is not at all, you probably have no charge in your A/C system. (either that or your clutch has an issue) if it kicks on and off intermittently, than your system may need more refrigerant than what it currently has in it. if it's on continuously without stopping and your A/C is blowing warm, it could be the old depleted refrigerant that no longer has any charge left. because as long as your A/C system has a charge (old or new refrigerant) the clutch will engage. either that or there is more than likely another issue somewhere in the A/C system. here's a picture of the A/C clutch. its behind the radiator on the main engine belt below the alternator.



after inspecting your A/C clutch with the A/C system up all the way, plug your gauge into the gold port on the device mentioned earlier. keep your A/C on and up all the way while you do this!



see what your charge is. if you have a "charge" in your system, (gauge says it's at the correct PSI) but your air doesn't blow cold, you may need to have some old depleted refrigerant extracted out of your system before you inject new refrigerant.

here's my system charge. up as high as i can safely go, and air blows nice and cold!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

May I ask how you read the high pressure side ?? The high pressure readings are just as important as the lows.

Out of sight out of mind I guess.

meh, well i didn't think of that. i was just under the impression he was trying to check the level of lows.

The lack of high-side pressure readings are what I was getting at, and also why I did not post a description of how to add refrigerant (though you were very thorough, Drac ).

There may be more going on here than simply needing refrigerant added, and a full set of manifold gauges is needed to properly read system pressures and diagnose, along with decent knowledge of how to troubleshoot automotive A/C systems. If there's a bit of air or other contaminants in the system, or the orifice tube is plugged and the system can't operate because of pressure that's too high, adding refrigerant will only make things worse.

I'll recommend again, have a shop check this out.

Exactly

I really didn't feel like typing all that out

THANK YOU DRAC THIS WAS HELPFUL TO ME.

glad i can "kind of" help. taking your car to get a diagnostic would probably be best.




sarcasm much?

Not my car pictured in this thread, but I had the same problem and was able to fix it. Here's my thread which also shows you where to add the a/c refrigerant.



http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2030527&fpart=1

Now my A/C is freezing when set on Max A/C and Lvl 4. And that's with 80-90 degrees of heat outside. So, yeah, check it out.