130k miles, it Lived in Las Vegas and just moved to Austin, dry climates no rust under my 100 series. Never had anything done to the air conditioning, no cleaning, charging, etc. over all the years on IH8MUD I have never noticed any threads that really recommended any maintenance routine for the front and rear air conditioning. My front and rear air both work great and blow cold air, but at 130k miles if it will make the air continue to work great let me know if I am missing something or continue the if it is not broken don't mess with it.
Air conditioning maintenance?
- Thread starter SWUtah
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I haven't noticed any discussion on maintenance either - other than the threads about the cabin filter mods. My understanding has been that if you have to re-charge your AC it means you probably have a leak somewhere - otherwise it should be fine forever. I know someone who has some rattling from his AC compressor though - but hasn't replaced it yet since its still cooling.
On our hundred I have noticed that it takes quite a bit longer for the rear air to cool down than it does for the front. Also it doesn't get quite as cold either. Do you see similar behavior? I think the front and rear use the same refrigerant and condensor, but different evaporators. I have wondered if the valve for my rear AC might not be fully opening?
On our hundred I have noticed that it takes quite a bit longer for the rear air to cool down than it does for the front. Also it doesn't get quite as cold either. Do you see similar behavior? I think the front and rear use the same refrigerant and condensor, but different evaporators. I have wondered if the valve for my rear AC might not be fully opening?
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It takes a few more minutes for the rear air to get cold, but it feels just as cold as the front.
If it's working fine I wouldn't mess with it. When I got my 98, I had it evacuated and recharged, it may have taken .2lb more when recharged, so it was fine. It's less than simple to hook up a set of gauges on it if you think you have a problem in the future.
As the pinholes appear on the rear lines I would suggest you remove the brackets holding the lines tight to the body and clean them up. It is the debris and sand that get caught in these brackets that finally rub against the lines and create the pin holes. Maybe even place a sleeve of rubber around the line or spray with some liquid rubber. The two brackets where I had the problems were the front bracket under the passenger side where the lines start to travel up into the engine room, and the rear bracket which is located above the rear axle. There is a cover that has to be removed to get to the front one. There might be more brackets but these two caused my problems.
Besides the freon, there is a mineral oil lubricant in the system for the compressor that will break down after while. It's good PM to have the system evacuated and recharged with fresh freon and lubricant at least every 100k miles or 5 years.
I plan to pull the cover off the front evap coil and clean it out, but my system blows nice and cold so I havent had a reason.
Just my $0.02.
I plan to pull the cover off the front evap coil and clean it out, but my system blows nice and cold so I havent had a reason.
Just my $0.02.
Wow, good to know. I’m at 213k and everything still seems ok. Front and rear.
This may not pertain specifically to A/C system maintenance but you can always clean the condenser if you want. I did this a few days ago after reading a few threads on it. Super easy job as long as you have the door for the air filters in yours. I just used a can of the air conditioning condenser cleaner from a box store and sprayed it directly into the opening where the condensers were and then closed it up as it was filling up with foam. Just put a plastic sheet or trash bag underneath to catch any that may spill out and also a pan or something underneath the vehicle to catch the liquid as comes out the drain tube. I let it do its thing for about an hour until there was no more liquid coming out of the drain tube. I then added the cabin filters to the car after that and ran the A/C. My A/C was fine before as I'm at 84k miles but it's a 19 year old vehicle so I am sure the condenser fins have dust and dirt on them and the stuff that came out was pretty nasty. At the very least I'd imagine it would make it work more efficiently.
Usually, it is PAG oil (not mineral at all) that goes into the system, super expensive, btw. It is very durable on many points. For this alone, it would be beneficial for the system, if it is fully recharged once every 5 to 8 years. Depends on your driving pattern and climate. Your compressor will thank you. You could research this topic further..
Do nothing to the AC until it breaks. Replace the cabin air filter if there is any and clean the AC condenser fins to remove any bugs and dirt to keep air flowing, other than that, there is nothing to do in the AC . I moved from Reno and driven many times to Vegas on the current toyotas I own and so far no issues. 26 years and 21 years on both my corolla and 4runner, still got all factory AC.
I'm with you. Zero maintenance. Anyone who tells you to recharge the ac system doesn't know what they're talking about. if it needs recharging, then you have a leak.
Question for the group- while motor is out on my 2006 and I'm staring at the AC compressor, do I replace it as PM?
My gut says no, run it til it dies...but I also am fighting a severe case of "while you're in there cuz everything is 20 years old..."
My gut says no, run it til it dies...but I also am fighting a severe case of "while you're in there cuz everything is 20 years old..."
How many miles? Is it the original A/C compressor?
My truck is about to turn 190,000 miles on the original compressor, Florida truck all its life.
I have an LS400 were the original AC compressor was replaced at around 250,000 miles. Compressor was actually still good, it was the clutch that failed. I decided it was best to just replace the entire unit. The replacement Denso already has 100,000 miles on it.
I would keep your compressor. Let's say you drive 10,000 miles per year, it could still have 6+ years left of life in it.
I have an LS400 were the original AC compressor was replaced at around 250,000 miles. Compressor was actually still good, it was the clutch that failed. I decided it was best to just replace the entire unit. The replacement Denso already has 100,000 miles on it.
I would keep your compressor. Let's say you drive 10,000 miles per year, it could still have 6+ years left of life in it.
Great info thank you!
wouldn’t really replace it if it worked prior to when the motor was working. Check for clutch for any heavy resistance or physical damage/deterioration. When everything is buttoned up again perform a vacuum procedure to verify there is no leaks and to extract any air in the line. then fill up with correct amount of refrigerant and test.