Question on 'flushing' an AC system?

[pbm]

Do you have an air compressor at your disposal for use in the flushing process?

If not, I say skip the flush idea altogether and let it ride.

I do have a compressor but I may let it ride. I'm going on vacation next week so I'll make some decisions on this project. In the meantime my daughter is driving my 2008 Corolla which blows ice cold A/C. The Corolla sat for 9 months at a time in Florida and the A/C had gotten warmer (dried out seals I assume). I added a little 'stop leak' (which many say is a no-no) and freon about 2 years ago and it's colder than it ever was.....thankfully.

After some thought....I think I'll take 'el Nuke's' advice and 'let it ride' as far as the evaporator goes and just flush the hoses when I have them disconnected.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I have used Air Brake line flush alcohol and a pressure canister from Advance Auto. Put any liquid in it and add pressure from a compressed and insert the tip of the canister in the hose and press the button. You won't believe the snot that comes out.

 

[el Nuke]

In the absence of evidence of debris in the system, it sounds like flushing the lines & evaporator is more for your peace of mind than anything. It will increase the time and effort needed to complete the job, but won’t likely return any real benefit on the finished product.

It might fall short of the definition of “scope creep”, but I would certainly treat it the same as I do tasks that were not on the initial list of TODOs but tried to worm their way on later after everything had been settled already.

Also, on the subject of using the refrigerant with sealant, that is generally considered a no-no because all the refrigerant in the system would now be considered contaminated if the vehicle was ever taken to a pro shop later on for A/C service. Their recovery/evacuation machines could be damaged by handling contaminated refrigerant, and so neglecting to tell them about it could mean you were on the hook for their machines’ damages if they then worked on your car’s A/C system with the contaminated refrigerant.

 

[repairman54]

I replaced a bad compressor on a '00 Sable. Flushed the system with flush kit per its instructions, new accumulator and orifice, vacuumed system and proper by weight recharge. Got another 100k miles out of it and sold the car with a/c functioning just fine.

 

[brages]

A/C stop leak destroyed the AC compressor on my Volvo, and nearly destroyed the engine when the serpentine belt broke and wedged into the timing belt. Not a fan!

The previous owner probably put it in to fix a problem that was due to the clutch gap being too large. When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer!!

 

[wtd]

A couple of years ago I fixed the AC in my fiancé's dad's 2007 Ford Superduty. When we pulled the orifice tube, it was totally clogged. Probably the worst one that I have ever seen. The compressor had been making noise prior to that and the system no longer cooled.

We replaced everything other than the evaporator and hard lines. We used two cans of a flush kit from O'reillys to clean those components. I vacuumed and recharged the system and it worked great and was still working fine over a year later when he sold it. This is the stuff we used to flush those components with.
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...-1992-chevrolet-cavalier?q=AC+flush+kit&pos=1