A/C recharge, not a Comanche

[thejum57]

My 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan is blowing hot air now. There are alot of choices, small cans of freion, up to kits with pressure guages at $50.00 +. How would you guys proceede ?

Thanks in advance.

[Pete M]

I've had good success with the little recharge kits on my 00 dakota.  there's a tiny leak somewhere, but it's been really cheap to keep topping it off. 

 

do you have any pressure in the system? 

[Akula69]

There are a lot of choices, but if you could do a little diagnosis before spending you'd get a lot further, because it can get kinda expensive fast. If you already know where the problem is and don't want to fix it - so be it - just get one of the 'quick recharge' kits and done. Otherwise, it depends on whether the system is completely empty. If not, you could choose a recharge canister that has dye in it already to assist you in finding the leak and decide if you want to go further from there. If it is, at minimum you should rent a vacuum pump and evacuate the system before putting fresh Freon in there.

 

If you want to go full bore, you could buy a set of gauges (but NOT the vacuum pump as they are prone to failure). Most of your auto parts places (Autozone etc.) rent vacuum pumps and will also rent gauges for 134 as well.

 

Good Luck!