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2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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Speedy Racer
New User
Jun 7, 2010, 6:42 PM
Post #1 of 6
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2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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My wife's 2001 PT Cruiser has had a refrigerant leak for a couple years, so I just add a few cans over the course of the summer to keep things cool. However, this year, it's acting a little odd. It will cool well (about a 40 - 50 degree temp drop) for a couple weeks with virtually no drop in performance (I keep a thermometer in one of the outlet vents to monitor this). Then one day, nothing - just warm air. What kind of a leak would cause such a sudden and complete loss? I would think a slow leak would give gradually deteriorating performance, but this will work fine for a couple weeks, then poof - all gone. I add another 1.5 cans and the cycle starts over. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Tom
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jun 7, 2010, 6:49 PM
Post #2 of 6
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Re: 2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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Well, what you have likely done now is trashed the compressor. You can't continually run the system low and recharge it or it eventually takes out the compressor from lack of lubrication and when that happens, all the metal particles go into the condenser. So now you have turned a bad evaporator into an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser. I guess you weren't saving any money after all.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Speedy Racer
New User
Jun 7, 2010, 7:06 PM
Post #3 of 6
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Re: 2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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With all due respect, I don't agree. If what you say is true, why would it start cooling well again once I add more refrigerant? I just wonder what kind of leak would be so 'spontaneous' and cause such a large leak after working fine for weeks, then start all over again when refilled.
Thanks for the response.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jun 7, 2010, 7:10 PM
Post #4 of 6
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Re: 2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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OK, whatever you say.....
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Sidom
Veteran
/ Moderator
Jun 7, 2010, 8:59 PM
Post #5 of 6
(6298 views)
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Re: 2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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Well, with out being able to see the system, the most likely scenario is the small leak has now turned into a big leak, if adding 134a gets it to work again.
What HT is pointing out is what you are doing is extremely hard on the a/c system. The freon is what carries the oil to lube the compressor. So everytime the system is run low, you are depriving the comp of lube.
It would be similar to waiting until your oil light came on to add oil to engine with an oil leak. Is doing this one time or even a few times going to blow your engine up? Probably not, you probably wouldn't even notice the damage that was being done to the drive train. But there would be life taken off that engine.
You might of noticed HT mention a evap out of the blue.....It wasn't a wild guess, that's just a common problem on Chry's.
So lets run with that scenario....Say that was the only small leak in the system that turned into a big one. It's a big job to replace an evap so you have a local a/c shop replace it & recharge the system. 1 or 2 months later the compressor locks up. You may mistakenly believe "it had to be something they did, it worked fine until they worked on it!!!!" when in reality, the compressor had be abused for so long it was already at the end of it's rope.
I'm not sure where your leak is but if it's not the compressor, you may want to consider putting one on in addition to fixing the leak..... There no guaranntee the compressor will go out but running it low like you have for so long has really increased the odds of this happening now.....
(This post was edited by Sidom on Jun 7, 2010, 9:00 PM)
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jun 7, 2010, 10:36 PM
Post #6 of 6
(6295 views)
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Re: 2001 PT Cruiser refrigerant leakage
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Frigging thing lasted that long!
Google "Death Kits" and you'll see what you've done,
Game over,
T
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