PT:3 How to correctly top off your AC (!! NOT!!)

By now maybe you notice I’m making fun of the YouTube channels who tell people to top off their AC because for all the successful top off‘s that are happy with cold dash Air there is the other half of the crowd who try to top off and burn up their compressor or end up with costly repairs. There is not one single manufacture of compressors or automobiles who sends their technicians to classes and teach them the top off refrigerant. Nowhere in any quality educational manual and air-conditioning for Automotive since the introduction of R134A Will you see recommendations for topping off refrigerant or using site glass looking at bubbles to get the glass clear indicating that you have a full AC charge. Unfortunately the majority of shops that are supposedly so-called professionals who will take your money will perform this task because the customers want a cheap way out and the guy with the cheapest price is usually the right guy. The modern compressors are more fragile than there past ancestors from the 60s and 70s and early 80s with large iron compressors Wane, 35 pounds rotating at slow speed‘s in big V-8‘s that were nearly indestructible. But that mentality from mechanics from decades ago has been passed down to backyard mechanics and mechanics and shop that have no education or formal education strictly for automotive engineer in. Many have learned the hard way by breaking things unfortunately of course at the customers expense draining the customers wallet not at the shops expense it’s amazing what a little creative work order writing stories can hide failures. My daily routine is excepting work from other shops that have damaged the customers air-conditioning system and repairing it or giving the correct advice and procedures to correctly repair it after several failed attempts.

 

The other two were earlier in this thread By a day. Or on the you tube channel.
The idea to get across to people is that incorrect Repeatedly topping off is what causes compressor failure. Topping is not a accepted or approved professional practice because it is so well known to cause damage. Problem is that most automotive technician are uneducated with no formal education in the very few who do have usually the institution they went for education Air conditioning trade has a very difficult time finding anybody competent to teach. Topping off is sumwhat consider a ripoff crime against customers but they don’t know that. Backyard DIY would not know that.
The automotive manufacturers and the manufactures of the actual compressors all strictly teach it is absolutely unapproved and will void warranty if you top off because it causes so much damage to compressors. technicians burn up the compressors and think they are defective and try to turn them in under warranty . The only thing defective is the technicians thinking. Most technicians or people are one of three things that are either cheap or lazy or uneducated and in a technical field with components that could be easily damaged you get the distraction of components. But they’re so uneducated and clueless they don’t even realize they’re the ones that are at fault causing the failure of the compressors .

 

Finding a good shop for air-conditioning is extremely difficult because the shop could be good at everything else great at tuneups excellent at doing brakes perform perfect preventive maintenance. Unfortunately most shops especially if they are large chain stores or franchise are driven strictly by profit not by proficiency. And they often find by throwing parts at a problem is more profitable because you sell more parts and the customer doesn’t know that is it because of the technicians mistakes. I’m constantly asked to come into shops for second opinions that even the dealerships tell a customer of the compressor is bad and it’s not the compressor’s problem . I actually go through all the procedures and not take shortcuts to put the system back in operation to prove it is not a bad compressor that in a dealership may cost 1000 or more dollars to replace. But that is often the big easy expensive ticket item that everybody can make their bonus numbers and if they made a mistake they can replace a $60 expansion valve or any other cheaper component without telling The customer. It’s a combination of profit driven and ignorance driven market.
As for the condenser fans dissolving away in oxidizing sometimes that’s a regional problem . If somebody lives by a salty ocean or if they live in land where in the winter time when the roads are ice road maintenance spread salt crystals on the road to melt the ice the salt spray goes up underneath the car and into the condenser. Another problem is certain types of cleaning soaps or solvents sprayed on the car during a washing procedure when they are left on, not completely rinsed will actually damage aluminum because it’s highly reactive metal. Sometimes the original condenser is replaced with a cheaper lower quality aftermarket condenser that does not have a good protective coating on the aluminum fins with just a little exposure to the atmosphere through time they start to break down rapidly compared to the original equipment manufacturer’s condenser.