Background: Went all winter without needing AC or the radiator fan. Fan conked out. I pulled it, hotwired it to a battery, it's definitely dead. Got a new fan, it works off battery. 2007 HHR base model.
I was out driving with the AC on, working well enough, got in a traffic jam. Car started dinging, it was in "overheat protection mode" with 240'F coolant. (Car has a coolant readout on the odometer.) I pull over out of traffic, the ram air cools it down, I investigate, swap relays and fuses, can't get fan to work. I let it cool down, roll down the windows, crank the heat, it behaves itself, I get out of traffic. Going 65, I run the AC again, it works.
A few days pass, the car is parked. Fan arrives in mail. I install. Run engine with AC on for a minute to test, fan doesn't engage. Engine does not warm up fully (yet). Also the AC isn't cold and the AC clutch doesn't engage. I assume the car uses AC line pressure to "know" AC's working and to kick the fan on.
With it idling, I open the charge port, planning to charge the AC up. Green goo is oozing out the schraeder port. I assume the o-ring in the cap was mostly holding refrigerant in as a backup plan, but that over several days, enough oozed out to kill it. I thought, heck, let's put a can on and charge it, but there was significant pressure and spillage trying to get the fitting on, and the can's gauge went up to red, so I said, forget this. (Also was hoping that "teasing" the valve might get it to reseal.) Remember that the car has only been running a minute.
I pulled a mfr specific code that read along the lines of "AC pressure switch low".
I gave up on AC and let it warm up fully, the fan kicked on of natural causes at 217'F like it's supposed to. So at least the car's safe to drive.
My question is, since I ran it hot, did this screw things up? IE did I over-pressurize the condensor by not having a fan blowing over it, which stressed the whole system, which found a weak spot in the schraeder valve, causing a slow leak?
What course of action should I take?
I was out driving with the AC on, working well enough, got in a traffic jam. Car started dinging, it was in "overheat protection mode" with 240'F coolant. (Car has a coolant readout on the odometer.) I pull over out of traffic, the ram air cools it down, I investigate, swap relays and fuses, can't get fan to work. I let it cool down, roll down the windows, crank the heat, it behaves itself, I get out of traffic. Going 65, I run the AC again, it works.
A few days pass, the car is parked. Fan arrives in mail. I install. Run engine with AC on for a minute to test, fan doesn't engage. Engine does not warm up fully (yet). Also the AC isn't cold and the AC clutch doesn't engage. I assume the car uses AC line pressure to "know" AC's working and to kick the fan on.
With it idling, I open the charge port, planning to charge the AC up. Green goo is oozing out the schraeder port. I assume the o-ring in the cap was mostly holding refrigerant in as a backup plan, but that over several days, enough oozed out to kill it. I thought, heck, let's put a can on and charge it, but there was significant pressure and spillage trying to get the fitting on, and the can's gauge went up to red, so I said, forget this. (Also was hoping that "teasing" the valve might get it to reseal.) Remember that the car has only been running a minute.
I pulled a mfr specific code that read along the lines of "AC pressure switch low".
I gave up on AC and let it warm up fully, the fan kicked on of natural causes at 217'F like it's supposed to. So at least the car's safe to drive.
My question is, since I ran it hot, did this screw things up? IE did I over-pressurize the condensor by not having a fan blowing over it, which stressed the whole system, which found a weak spot in the schraeder valve, causing a slow leak?
What course of action should I take?