sojah

iTrader: (1)

every other car i've ever owned had the little a/c recharge pressure thingy right up front and in an easy to get to prominent location,, well on this vehicle it is not.

i bought a little canister of the 134.a (or whatever it is) in a kit with the hose for proper connections from the cars noozle to the canister, well on our 04-06 ls430's apparently (unless there is another one hidden somewhere i couldn't find) the a/c noozle is down towards the bottom of the fans on the left side pretty much in front of the bottom left hand corner of the left fan if you were sitting in the driver's seat able to see it. not only was it going to be a pain in the **** to access it without having to remove a whole bunch of stuff, the hose in the kit was only like 10 inches long and the directions say you have to hold the canister upright, meaning i would have needed about 1.5 feet (minimum) of said hose. this is the stupidest placement of the a/c recharge noozle in a car i've ever seen...

i really feel sometimes like the makers of this car didn't want normal people to be able to do any sort of regular maintenance stuff to this car. so now what i gotta bring it in and pay a hundred something to get this done when the kit cost only 20$ and usually can be done in about 5 minutes???

Nauticalx

Well if you're having to recharge it, that means that you have a leak. Unless you have found the leak or have installed something into the system to seal it, recharging it is not a permanent fix...

sojah

iTrader: (1)

its a 4.5 year old vehicle (05) and it just takes a couple minutes longer than a new vehicle to cool off the whole car. these things leak out over time and use as far as i was previously told. so recharging it would bring it back to new again for most likely another 3-5 years...

Nauticalx

Leak out over time? Its a sealed system. It only leaks out if you have a leak... I would suggest then that you obtain longer cords from an a/c shop to use on that bottle and then post back on here once the system is blowing warm again which I'm confident it will if you do not locate a leak...

Nauticalx

Also, if it still blows cold but you think that it takes longer to cool off then are you sure you are comparing apples to apples the weather and storage conditions of the cars from 4 years ago and today? Your coils could simply be in need of cleaning, so try that as well. It may not be low at all if its still getting cold...

sojah

iTrader: (1)

what is this coil approach? is this what is involved in an ac recharge process from the dealership, or do they just fill it up with that 134.a canister stuff, thanks. btw it still blows cold just takes a few minutes to get icy...

Nauticalx

Im just saying u should give cleaning the condenser a shot. It looks like this and is mated to the radiator:

http://www.go-part.com/0106-lexus-ls...html?year=2004

Go to home depot and get some coil cleaner and clean the condenser coils. If it is dirty it will help make the unit work MUCH more efficiently...

Nauticalx

You could say...it will make it run like new!

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

When you say next to the fan, i hope you dont mean the front of the car (high side)?

Recharging is done via LOW side, which was next to the firewall on the drivers side on my old 98LS, cant remember where it is on the 01+. Should have a little H, or L on the cap.

Did you use a pressure gauge when you added the freon? Should be in the 30 range on the low side, and 180+ on the high side if my memory serves me correctly.

AlexusAnja

Exactly. A car's AC system is sealed, it should not leak over time except when it develops a leak. Almost every car I've had, we've kept it until either the engine blew, or the AC went, whichever came first.

'95 Civic I had up to 220K before AC went. My '92 Integra AC is still running strong. The system should not need "coolant" unless it's developed a leak and as Nautical said, recharging will only be temporary.

I tried with my Civic before giving up... it only held a charge and AC for about a month, and then it was dead again.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

well my last 10 year old gs400 went icy cold until the day i sold it but this ls seems to struggle for the first 3 minutes or so until it can get cold, then another minute or two until icy. i almost think my rear works better but someone said its the same compressor running both... i may try the cleaning coils method mentioned above..

AlexusAnja

I would say, if it's not getting worse, then the unit might have been undercharged leaving the factory. Or, it's got a very very slow leak. I would say for now, either live with it, or bring to a Lexus or trusted mechanic and have then look and charge up to full and see if it makes a difference.

Also, most of those "DIY self chargers" are junk... just my $0.02.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

i bought this ls in december and noticed immediately that the heater didn't get warm in the same amount of time/distance as my gs400 did, and now that i've been using my ac for a good 2 months i think its safe to say that the ac doesn't get cold in the same short amount of time the gs did either.

i actually calculated and compared the gs to ls in the winter but have since sold the gs so can't compare the ac in the same manner. it is not getting worse just only noticeable when others get in the car to go to lunch or something (coworkers) and they are all complaining about the heat for like the first 4 minutes of riding in the car. it seems fine to me, a little slow to get cold, but fine.

bigcory

well it sounds pretty simple to me.

Either A.) The cars heat/cooling system takes long than the GS to funtion at optimal temps. You'll have to live with it or sell the car and go back to the GS.

or B.) Take your care to a qualified tech to have it inspected/repaired to get a real peace of mind.