Dear all,

I am the new guy in this forum, and it's nice to meet you. The weather is getting heat up this week, and my A/C is not working so well, since I purchased my 8 as used car, so I went to the Autozone bought a bottle of "A/C booster" for the car, and I could not find the "A/C low side service port" of the vehicle. So here I am to seek for your help and advices, and better yet, could anyone post a picture of the location of the service port please? Thank you very much in advance.

 

Welcome new guy - nice to meet you 2 .

Low side is just to the right of the windshield washer reservoir near the firewall, high side is just to the right of the coolant reservoir. Both have screw off caps that have the letter "L" and "H" respectively.

I wonder how well and how long the booster stuff will work for you? Let us know. How much for the can?

 

I would not put something called "booster" into the system. Check the pressure. If it's low, then just put in straight refrigerant.

I don't think there's a sight glass like in the old R-12 systems. But the rack at Autozone where you bought the booster should have some kind of gauge.

Ken

 

Not sure what this "booster" stuff is, but from what I see out there, it's just a can of refrigerant plus a couple of ounces of oil, which is normal -- there is always refrigerant plus oil in the system. The "booster" adjective seems to be marketing hoopla due to the use of a synthetic oil. Maybe there's some other magic surfactant in there, but I doubt it makes much difference. Since r-134a doesn't have the heat-exchange properties of the old Freon, seems to be an attempt by marketing to promote their as not sucking as badly as "regular" r-134a.

Anyway, I'd agree you do not want to overcharge the system past the normal range, and you need to check the pressure in order to determine that. If it's low, then there is a leak and your addition may be short-lived. If it's not low you don't need to add anything.

If yours is an older RX-8 you should search for a thread on "reprogramming" the AC amplifier to see if it applies to you. That made all the difference for my AC. Some people also wrap the "frosty pipe" with insulation material.

ah....

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ol#post2362106

 

Thank you very much for the replies, you guys, I really appreciate it. As stated by the fellow members in this thread, this can of so-called "booster" thing is actually a can of refrigerant plus additive in it by the manufacture, but however, it does the job as it promised though, I do feel engine drag has been reduced when the A/c is on, or maybe it's just about time for my car to get a refill.

Thank you for your help anyway, especially to rx8cited.

 

Wankel_8,
Glad to assist .

So how much did the can cost?

Let us know if this turns out to be a short term fix.

 

Thank you soo much rx8cited! I needed to recharge my AC for my 2004 and bought AC Pro. They show how to do it on youtube and if you need to find your port...go to our website. Mazda RX8 was not listed! I listened to what you said and found it!!! Of course there are no caps on the ports but without you I would not be "as" cool as I am now!!! You saved me $100. Thanks Budddy!

 

Mind u all, a/c system is supposed to be a completely sealed system, which means if u are low on refrigerant, u have a leak somewhere. And if u dont want some supar performance or dead a/c pump, you should spend some time or let a professional to find and fix the leak.

 

I'm a ubber noob so take this with a grain of salt. The guy that sold me the Gauge / refill said that older cars that have weak AC is often old seals drying up. The oil in the refill is supposed to rehab these parts. He cautioned me that if my AC was totally dead this wasn't the right thing to do but (As you said) have the system gone over for a leak. When I did my non RX8 sled the guy I worked for said to recharge and run it all the time for a while. This was supposed to aid in getting the seals to return to normal? Anyway thanks for pointing out the proper port locations.

 

That is a very common cause of ac's in older cause having leaks. Normally that stuff to seal them just gums up the inner working's of the ac system.as MYCGPS said. Get it professionally looked at. If it's leaking and you don't stay on top of it. Then the next time you catch it you might be replacing the ac pump also.



FYI seals are just little green orings. If they're bad you won't relubricate them.

 

Well like I said I'm a noob so I'm just sharing what I'm doing and if anyone is crazy enough to think I know what I'm talking about? This will sound weird but I've done some car stuff in the past. I swapped engines in a 76 Duster a long long time ago (on a bet) but I am in NO way any kind of automotive expert or authority. I fix things for a living and I'm not afraid to try things.

So - after reading some of the other posts I talked to the ex boss who helped me when the AC on my old jeep went from good to poor. He did something and told me to drive it around at full blast for a couple weeks. I had the jeep for a couple years after that and it was still chilling really well. So - I asked him what he did and he said he bought a can of R134 that came with a gauge. I asked him about the oil or whatever it is thats supposed to rehab the system and he said that the stuff I bought is exactly the same stuff the mechanics use. So - I started the engine with the AC and Fan on Max. Then I looked at the pressure with the gauge (There is an adjustment for outside temp) There is green (for good) range, Red for too much and white for not enough. Mine was a smidge under the green so I added some 134. I did the deal where you shake it up a bit. Then you press the trigger and hold the can sideways for 3 or 4 seconds then upright 3 or 4 seconds (While holding the trigger) then release the trigger and look at the gauge to see where the system is. I added enough to get it a little over halfway into the green. I unplugged the hose and put the cap back on the system. Then I went for a ride with in on full blast and gave myself freezer burn.... Whew! That really made a difference. The can and gauge cost $39.99 (on sale at O'Reillys down the street from me) which versus $150 to have the local Gas Station guy look it over seemed like a good gamble. I probably used half the can and now I have a gauge to check things out later. I'm not ready to do stuff like run dye through the system (And I don't have a UV light handy if I did) so if this doesn't work its off to the Gas Station guy. And as I mentioned earlier this worked really well on my old Jeep (with 250,000 miles on it) The RX8 is at 128k so its almost new! Ha Ha!

The R134 itself is $20 a can. I know this sounds like I'm cheaping out on a very nice car but truth be told I'm curious about how things work and until my Cellphone Repair / refurb biz really kicks off I'm trying to minimize any work I can do myself.

Oh! One observation. It might be my imagination but it seems to idle better now with the AC on. That makes sense. Right?

 

Oops! I forgot to mention. I tried the instructions about resetting the AC computer *Press and holding buttons, ACC to ON and wait for the 3 blinks and never got it to signal it worked. Maybe my 2004 is too old for that? Anyway - that doesn't matter because I'm thrilling to the chilling.

 

in the old days, before R134a/PAG oil exist, the minieral they use actually ok to keep the "inner part" of the o ring lube, but they will still break because it's still rubber, after all these heat/cooling cycle, it gets brittle and it breaks

but PAG oil is such a joke, its highly acidic so they gotta update the o rings for it, but even HNBR o rings breaks after a while

now whenever someone wants me to completely replace/clean/charge the a/c system, I always use Ester oil, it works with anything, it doesn't absorb moisture like PAG oil so it does not turn into sludge, it last longer and lubes the pump better than PAG.

also whenever u had a leak and system has been left open (atmosphere) for more than 2-3 days, u should replace the dryer, but Rx-8's dryer is build into condenser and stock's condenser does not allow u to replace it, some aftermarket condenser allows u to replace the dryer(screws in)

 

and try to avoid UV dye stuff if u can, use the old soap + water instead. just spray it all over, it will not kill ur car, just flush it with a bit of water afterwards u be fine

reason why is the uv dye stuff sometimes might clog the expansion valve. which is a bad thing. use it only if u really have no other choice