My AC stopped blowing cold air. It seems like the air conditioner engages but just does not cool at all. I was going to take it into the shop tomorrow to have them take a look. Any ideas anyone? Could it just be that it needs a freon charge?

Anyone know how to check freon and the location of the valve where I would charge it?

What freon do we use?
Mine is an '03 996 C2.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Under front hood, remove cover on the right, below windshield. There is a fill port there. Buy a recharge kit at your local autoparts store, $20-$25 normally. The cheapest one available will work terrific. Read instructions and fill. May tak 30 minutes start to finish. You can only buy one type of refrigerant, R134A, earlier versions are outlawed.

 

if the compressor kicks on and is constantly running, its not low of freon. if it was low the low pressure switch wouldnt allow the compressor to turn on. it would be a problem of the air flowing incorrectly and not allowing the cold to blow into the car.

 

Your problem sounds like what happens every summer with my wife's Boxster. It blows on the AC but it's not cold. A thorough recharge every year and it will blow very cold for 6-8 months. My 996, after 11 years never needed a recharge, nor has my '99 Jeep.

Not saying this will fix it, but dealer here told me about $225 for an A/C service. (Recharge) Friend works at dealer as a tech and told me what to do. When a $8 can of R134a will get it blowing cold for months, I can't see spending hundreds of dollars to possibly have A/C fixed and something else broken or damaged during the repair, which always seems to occur when I let someone work on my stuff.

 

I have this same problem on my 04' C2. At times it'll blow cold air initially and then warm up after a few minutes. Have been meaning to make an appointment at the dealer as I have a CPO, but if it's an easy fix then I'll likely just do it myself.

Curious to see what you find.

 

Yeah it's $260 for AC service even if all it needed was just a freon charge. They do a full inspection and all that BS. Sucks... but if something is wrong like say the compressor, then it is covered under my warranty. I am also having that moisture dripping issue on the inside of the car by my right leg. I think they will fix that as well.

So took it in today and just waiting to hear what the deal is. I needed them to look at something else also.

 

I had a very similar problem with my 03 911 and it turned out the expansion valve was leaking and needed to be rebuilt (new orings). Under the front trunk on the passenger side near the particle cabin air filter is the expansion valve. Mine was covered in a film from expelling freon.

 

Yup it was the o-ring. it was leaking, they replaced it and charged the freon and its back to normal.

 

It was a $280 total but my warranty covers orings so only have pay the deductible..

 

Glad you got it fixed. The $280 was also about my cost, but alas I don't have a warranty!!!

 

I had another repair too, the driver window was not automatically rolling down\up when opening the door. It needed a new window regulator and some other components as well. I already had the driver's side replaced. Total was over $900 and my warranty deductible was $100 but had to pay $160 because there was some part that wasn't covered by the warranty. Yeah when I got this car a few years ago I bought a warranty with it because I knew down the stretch I may need it. It's been worth it and saved me a couple of grand already..fortunately or unfortunately.

The warranty I bought from a warranty distributor so it was a lot cheaper and would last twice as long as the dealer warranty. The only catch is that they are really picky on what they cover. They have a list of parts they cover...

 

My AC is not blowing cold anymore as well. I checked in the front and on the left of the battery I saw two spots that I can connect to. Which one am I supposed to check? The one on the left or right?

 

only one is the right size

 

Mine did. And a diy recharge made it blow cold

 

Finally tried putting a refill can on and found that the little built in gauge said there may be mechanical issues.