Finally fixed my dash A/C
Wow, been wanting to do that for a long time now. I had freon added shortly after I got it 1.5 yrs ago, but it never blew cold. I appreciate all the previous threads on here about your experiences, they helped me tremendously!
Turned out the dryer let the dessicant go and plugged the line at the TXV in the dash. I have a great friend who is also a great A/C guy who didn't want to give up either. We ended up replacing the filter/dryer and the TXV and cleaning out the line between them. The line was the fun part. Others have mentioned giving up on that, but I would encourage you that if your air isn't working because of that line, it can be cleaned.
Once we found that line was the restriction we used a small pick (kind of like a dentists tool) and cleaned as much as we could out of the end at the TXV and then we added an aerosol like WD-40 to help loosen the obstruction. We also used bailing wire to chip away at it. The aerosol was key. We put an air hose on the dryer end of the line and finally began to see the liquid begin to slowly bubble at the TXV end. After we had a small amount of flow, we moved the air hose to the TXV end and blew a decent amount of dessicant out the dryer end.
We put it back together, and charged it up, after drawing a very good vacuum to evacuate the aerosol and any fluid from the air line. Next, it proceeded to do the same thing, clogged again! We recovered the freon again, pulled the line loose and it wasn't totally plugged but close. We repeated the cleaning but with new fervor
We put our bailing wire further in and pushed a wired rope several feet into the TXV side and worked it with the aerosol too. Then when we put the air hose on either side we got equal pressure back out the same, before we didn't get quite as much pressure out the TXV side. This time it was nice and open.
We ended up putting in 8 lbs (I noticed many others had to exceed the 5.5 recommended also). My friend said we will recheck when it is hotter outside and make sure it is still happy. Now it is blowing 46 degrees out the dash and I'm a very happy driver!
I hope this helps someone else, I'm ecstatic to finally have good dash air, I thought it was a lost cause for a while.....I left off many A/C steps (pressuring with nitrogen to check for leaks at joints etc.) that are important if you aren't familiar with A/C work. Always be very careful and make sure you have the right tools or friends before you dive into your A/C.
......enjoying icicles on my knees...........
Steven