Ok, on my 2003 Lancer ES, I have a couple of issues....


I was just looking around my engine bay today, and for some reason, decided to take off the plastic cap on my High side of the AC. When opened, it released a hiss, and pushed the plastic cap off with a good bit of force. With the plastic cap off, I can hear and feel gas escaping through the valve, or around it, like a bad or loose valve core.


I tried to tighten it with a regular tire valve core tool, but all I ended up doing was depressing the valve and spraying gooey green stuff at me.... I have put the cover back on, but something isn't right.... What can I do?






And for my Vent selector, it sits where it sits, if I try to move it nywhere, it is very tight and does not want to move, if I let go, it returns to about where it was before I even touched it. Currently is stuck between Floor and Dash, which isn't so bad... But still a concern


And lastly, does anyone recharge their own R134A? I have seen quite a few kits these days for doing it yourself However, I don't know if these are actual recharge kits with the refrigerant, or if they are a lube type system booster

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...uestid=1646756

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...1783&ppt=C0050

 

You may have a bit of a leak in the high side valve, as long as it doesn't leak with the cap on it I would think it'll be fine. As far as the selector issue, interior stuff really isn't my thing so I really couldn't point you in the right direction there. With refrigerant, they should have oil combined with the refrigerant for compressor lubrication. As long as the system doesn't have any air in it recharging should work fine, just make sure you have the pressure gauge so you know the system pressure in relation to ambient temperature so you don't over pressurize the system.

 

I got some new AC valves, a valve tool, and some caps.... haven't used the valves as the system must be evacuated first.... so.....

I did use the tool and hit the valves, didn't seem to move much if at all, but..... the pressure that was there before wasn't there anymore... so.... sweet



as far as the selection knob, it seems that this is a common problem, as I have heard it as being a cable failure, and a new switch will be needed......


I can recharge my own system, but it still blows cold, so I will wait for awhile.... I think that green gooey stuff that sprayed me might have been leak detection dye in the system or compressor lube

 

The green dye is leak detection. It's good that the car still blows cold, but it's bad that there was any pressure hissing out of the high side when you removed the cap, and not horrible, but worse that the hiss is not still there. The caps are to prevent foreign objects from coming in contact with the valves, they are not for retaining pressure, so with the cap on or off it's still leaking. Your cold air won't last at this rate. I'd suggest replacing the gasket under the high side valve, but if it's a leak and the car is still blowing cold, I'd wait until it's not blowing cold any more before removing the valve. Also when it does come time to replace the valve and O-ring, make sure you bleed the system by depressing that valve before you unscreew the valve, or it's will shoot off too.