It's been a long time since I've posted, but I'm hoping I could enlist your help on a problem I'm having. I'm experiencing the joy of having hot air come out one side of the car with cool air out the other, so I thought I would try to clean the duovalve in case it was stuck. I unscrewed the 5 T10 torx screws holding down the aluminum covers, and removed the yellow/orange cylinders with no problem, setting aside the pistons and springs, but I'm have particular difficulty opening the duovalve to get to the brass/plastic bits I want to clean. Has anyone had this same issue, and if so, what is the fix? I'm hesitant to use a flathead screwdriver or similar forcing tool because of the cramped space and fear that I'll break the plastic. Is there any other alternative? If necessary, I can post a photo or two of how far I was able to get before being forced to put everything back together to go to work.
So there's a little more to this story because it's peripheral to the problem I had of actually taking apart the duovalve.
Originally the problem was the cooling was anemic in general, with one side cooling poorly and the other just not cooling. Now, a few days (more like a a week and a half or so) later, one side is barely noticeably cooler, and the other feels like running the heater.
In answer to your question though, here are the values I had earlier today (keep in mind this is central Texas drought season)
inside temp value (after the sun has been beating down on a sealed car for a few hours)
118
outside temperature
103
left heater core temp
129
right heater core temp
129
evaporator temp
87
engine coolant temp
191
refrigerant pressure
14 (when I check now, it's running around 9, occasionally going up to 10)
refrigerant temperature
123
There are a few error codes, but as far as I can tell they're not terribly concerning (sun sensor, coolant recirculation pump). There was one other, which I have not yet been able to idenfiy, which is 1424. At the risk of hijacking my own thread, does anyone know what that one is?
and right side heater cores match up duo valves appear to be working properly ,punch in the values and it looks like you have a leak or blockage in the r134a lines.
ohlord
ohlord, thanks for your quick and insightful replies. I'm planning on evacuating and recharging the system this weekend to check for leaks. When I recharge, should I only use one can of refrigerant with the dye and straight 134a for the rest? or should I use only 134a with dye in it to recharge the whole system? I assume that if I recharge the system and still have the same problem it's a blockage. If that's the case, what's the best way to go about diagnosing and repairing a blockage in the lines?
I would recommend getting a dye injector and adding straight dye with no oil. You probably do not need more oil in your system.
Whatever you do, do not use one of those little cans with 2oz of 134a and 2oz of dyed oil, with an attached fitting for the service port. I used one and it made such a terrible mess that it won't happen again.
I would have a shop pull it,flush all the old oil and vacuum the system install a new drier and charge it.Before they do it they can sniff out the leak.Dye makes a mess,the electronic sniffers are more accurate and doing a whole evac yourself without pulling a vacuum and cleaning the system is just going to lead to more problems later.
Linear Mode
