Signs That You Recharged Your Car's A/C System with Too Much Refrigerant

Your vehicle's A/C system can only work effectively if it has the right amount of refrigerant or oil. If your car doesn't have a manifold gauge to monitor the situation of refrigerant in your A/C system, you can notice that you are low on refrigerant when the A/C system is only blowing hot air. When this happens, it is essential to recharge the system with a refrigerant to restore its functionality. Nonetheless, sometimes your A/C system may be overcharged with the refrigerant, and having too much of it is just as bad as not having enough. Therefore, you need to check with auto service if you notice some of the following signs:

Intermittent/Inefficient Cooling

Poor cooling of your A/C system may be sign that you used too much refrigerant.  This is because with no room for the refrigerant to be depressurized, the system will simply stop functioning effectively. You may still get a cool breeze from the vents but expect hot or room temperature air just as often.

Engine Struggle

Your vehicle's A/C compressor can draw a lot of power from your engine, especially when trying to push excess refrigerant. The excessive amount of power drawn can lead to slipping of the drive belt of your compressor, which may eventually fail. In the event that the belt doesn't fail, it may sap a lot of power from your engine, meaning you are likely to end up with a fluctuating or low idle, excessive fuel consumption, and sluggish acceleration when your A/C is running.

Unusual Sounds

If you hear excessive noise from your compressor, it may be a sign that you overcharged your system with refrigerant. The excessive sounds would be caused by your compressor struggling to shove large volumes of liquid refrigerant through a tiny nozzle that is made for gas molecules. However, if your vehicle's A/C compressor was designed with a bypass that reduces the strain of excess internal pressure on the pump, you might not hear the noise.

Unusual Pressure and Temperature Readings

If your vehicle's A/C system was recharged with too much refrigerant, you are likely to observe higher than normal readings of temperature as well as pressure. This is because your compressor will be forced to work even harder to balance out your A/C system. As a result, more pressure will be used, which in turn means higher temperatures. Continued build-up of pressure may eventually cause the failure of your system's cooling capacity.

If you've noticed any of these signs, take your car into the shop for car air conditioning repairs. They can make sure you have the right level of coolant and make sure the extra pressure hasn't caused serious damage.