HOW TO TOP UP AIR CON.. ASTRA J

[tucpal]

This How to Covers How to Top up the Air Conditioning on the Astra J/GTC. 

You can Buy Air Con kits from Halfords or Online there Basically all the same
The Kit cost is Around £60.00 with the Charger Adapter and the Top up Canister
You can Get £10.00 Back on the Canister after use so after Purchasing the Charger Adapter
The Next Time you Top up it will only Cost £30.00 for the Canister 
The Charger Adapter will fit Most Cars also so it is well Worth Having
It Really Does only Take Ten Minutes And it is a Very Easy Job to Do.  

.................STEP ONE..............

The First Thing to Do is Read the Instructions on the Package and the Canister 
Next Turn on the Air Con and set it to Max and Run it for 3 Minutes
This will Engage the Air Con Clutch. 





....................STEP TWO..........................

THESE STEPS MUST BE DONE WHILE THE ENGINE IS RUNNING 
SO TAKE CARE NOT TO TOUCH ANY MOVING PARTS OR PARTS THAT MAY BE HOT. 

Locate the Low Port Cover and Remove the Dust Cover
This will be by the Air Filter Box Running to the Fire Wall  
Then Attach the Charger Adapter But Not the Canister just Yet 
And Take a Reading of the Air Con PSI Flow Rate.  

0,,,,,,,,,,,,Seek Help Possible Leek.
0,,, 25,,,,LOW.
25,,55,,,,NORMAL.
55,,,150,,ABNORMAL Seek Help..
    
The Turn the Air Con off and Take Another PSI Reading
And Check the back pressure look for a steady stable PSI reading.









..........STEP THREE.........

Still with the Engine Running Attach the Canister to the Charger Adapter 
And Fill the AC with in the 25 to 55 PSI Range 
Keep the Canister at 12 or The 3 o'clock Position and Shake the Canister While Filling.







...................STEP FOUR..................

Remove the Canister from the Charger Adapter 
And Run the AC and Check the PSI Again
Make sure it is correct
And put the dust cover back on.  



happy Days You now Have Nice Ice Cold Air Con....
To keep the Air con in Good Condition Run it for 3 Minutes at Least Once a Month
Change the Pollen Filter Regular when Required
and Clean the System with Disinfectant at Lest Once a Year.

LINKS HERE...

http://www.vxoc.org.uk/forum/Thread-Howt...bin-filter

http://www.vxoc.org.uk/forum/Thread-How-...ly-air-con

AS WITH ALL MECHANICAL HOW TOO,S. 
you do this at your own risk if you follow the how to correctly 
there should be no problems thank you.

[Rusty2009]

Nice one mate very helpful how-to.

Just 2 questions

I take it you mean shake not shack.

Do you empty the whole canister I don't get quite how you know how much to put in.

[Tonto]

Excellent thanks Tucpal. I did wonder what the dust cover was for ;p


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[dutton84]

So it's similar to putting air in a tyre. 55psi is full?


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[tucpal]

just keep an eye on the psi and dont go over 55 psi
quick blast and then check etc

[Lewis6317]

nice mate

[tucpal]

I ended up using most of the canister as it was very low but it is working fine now if you are not that confident Halfords will do it for you but now I have the charger adapter and the know how the next time it needs topping up it will only cost £30.00 so well worth doing and learning

[Rusty2009]

Cool thanks mate mines still pumping out nice & cold but I'll deffo buy the bits and do it when it needs it.


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[cornishtaz]

Is this the product you bought?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...16&alt=web

[tucpal]

Just got my one from Halfords but there all the same but the canister fit will most likely only fit the type you get

[Roden]

Hey just joined after reading your post, very informative. I felt my aircon was not as cold as it should be compared to other cars ive owned. so i purchased the same kit as you.
When going through the steps, i came up with a constant reading of 35psi. Which is well within the green. So i though ok strange ill top it up a bit.

So after 10 mins of trying to top up, i still get a 35psi reading?, even though i swear than can feels almost empty?

After playing for a while im getting about 40psi, which seems ok, but it does not seem to want to acccept any more than this. How did you get to almost 55 psi?

Weird thing is i swear its used the entire can, it feels empty now. But its defiantly cooler than before and running fine.

Just a question. Not tried this yet, but i was told you should bleed the system after to remove air, and stop when fluid appears. Is this true or leave as is?.

Regards J.