Question about AC recharging...the proper technique

Today I decided to recharge my AC which I have to recharge yearly but this time I decided to do it myself. I bought the gauge kit and vacuum pump from Amazon which was recommended by a mechanic on YouTube that's been a mechanic for over 50 years. Anyway he gave step by step instructions. I pulled a vacuum on the system for 45 mins like he said. That went well but it took forever to add the required pounds of 1.06-1.28lbs! I did it by weight using a digital scale. Anyone know why it took well over an hour to add the freon? I was expecting it to take about 15 mins but boy was I wrong!!!! I had the AC on high but it did seem to speed up when I turned the fan to low...not by much though.

 

Lots of in-depth videos on youtube. Here is one I found quick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdq8JAlct6s

If you are recharging once a year you have a leak somewhere. It would be best if you fixed that first.

The AC system has to be "kicking on" while adding to pull the freon through the system. It's tricky. When I did it I needed to take some time watching videos about how the whole AC system worked to understand what I was trying to do. You're most of the way there if you have the gauge kit and vacuum.

I would also consider adding some UV dye to help pinpoint that leak.

 

About 3 years ago I was told that the leak was in the evaporator coil and since it was behind the dash the cost would be $1000. Now I bet that price has ballooned to $1500! So that's a lot of charging before I get to that kind of money!

Oh! The video you linked was one of the 2 videos I watched. The other one was by Scotty Kilmer.

 

Yup! That makes sense. Had to replace the evap in my old jeep. Full day's work. The entire dash had to come out.... good times....

 

This guy just had his evaporator out without removing the dash:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/new-to-me-2001-4x4-5spd-v6.124851/page-11

I guess Tundra owners won the evaporator lottery. I had a leak in my 4Runner (they are notorious for this). The repair estimate was ~ $1,200! I figured I could buy a lot of Freon for $1,200, so I bought it by the case and filled it ~ one a week. I got away with this for two years, until I was filling it every other day! I bought a Denso evaporator core, and my mechanic charged me $900 to disassemble/reassemble my 4Runner.

 

I get it's a lot of money, but it's also environmentally irresponsible to knowingly continue to repeatedly recharge it with a leak.

You might as well puncture the can and let the refrigerant go right into the atmosphere.

 

This is exactly what I was going to post. My first question was, "why not just fix the problem", then when I saw it was evap core, "Like, if a younger dude (maybe even a teenager?) can do it, I'm baffled why haven't you done this?"

Just fix the problem and move on, stop putting refrigerant out in the atmosphere, or in your case, into your cabin where everyone riding in your vehicle is inhaling it... They don't say what a 'high concentration' is but ... I guess it's worth saving $1k, or doing a few hours work?

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I won't be attempting to do it myself and I won't be paying anyone $1000+ to fix it at the moment. Since my reasoning gets into non truck stuff I'll just leave it at that. Thanks for the responses tho!

 

Totally fair. Especially for a 2005. Not sure how much time/money I'd want to dump in either.

 

Considering it was one of Toyota's most successful drivetrains, with several 1st Gen members on here at well-over 400k miles, one even at 600k, and knowing what garbage the latest gen of Tundras have been yet they command north of $60k-70k ... I think spending $1k on a truck that'll easy go a half million miles with basic maintenance is a very economical choice. Buying a new truck in today's market, with the ass-tastic quality that cropped up during C19 ... you'd hafta be impulsive, money-ignorant, or maybe just plain oblivious if/when you have a perfectly funcional 1st Gen IMHO.

 

I mean if he's got rust or paint issues or something else that makes him think the end of life is near or if he already has a vehicle change planned it makes sense to bandaid it.

1k is a lot of money for a lot of people.

I agree though, if he is planning to keep long term the correct fix is preferred.

 

Yup, definitely edited my post realizing I missed that point, and soften up the language about what kinda person may do such a thing.