So with half the country being blanketed under a smoke screen, people are kind of becoming aware of the air quality in which they're ingesting. and uh, that that theme range true with this 2018 Buick Enclave with I don't even know how many miles 97, 880 miles on the odometer. Customer states that after driving for a little while, the AC is not as cool as it should be and sometimes they hear some noise down below in the dash compartment area. Now, this thing's been running here for a little while.

We've got a center vent temp of about 40 degrees, which tells me that the system is cooling currently so uh, it's got to be something intermittent or perhaps the system is freezing up. We're going to go ahead and get started with some visual inspections and then we'll see how this thing plays out. First things first: I'm going to go head over to the passenger side of this vehicle and I'm going to try to pop out the cabin air filter that's the filter element for inside of the vehicle. We're gonna see what that thing looks like and then plot a course of action.

from that point forward. I've busted out the R1234yf machine just in case we need it. I Don't know if I will, but if we do, it is here. It's not my machine I Had to borrow it.

It's getting kind of icy. Look at that. Windows are fogging up. See that right there? Yeah, it's cooling very efficiently right now, but it doesn't mean it's going to do it all the time.

Yeah, that's right. These fancy, new, modern vehicles have filters inside of the dash, so we're going to need to gain some access behind this. uh, glove box compartment. So I'm going to gently dig out all the goodies in here, set them down in an orderly fashion, and uh, we're gonna get into this filter canister area now.

We can see right here. way back in that hole, you see that little string right there. that is the door check device. It basically tries to.

Uh, well, it's a it's a spring-loaded cord and it's designed to pull the door that way. The door cannot flop down aggressively when you release the, uh, the latch mechanism, see how it goes down slowly. That's what that thing is for right there now. This can be kind of tricky to remove because it just sort of snaps into place, but there's really no room over here to get your fingers, so you've gotta kind of just pry it down with a flangy or a maybe even a screwdriver if you can.

You can get away with it without scratching the plastic. I Push mine down from the inside. We're gonna let it go. now.

up here and up here. there's going to be two little tabs that secure glove box into position. See what it does when you don't have that door check installed. It just falls down.

We don't like that. so we're going to push it in, push it in, and then swing the door downward. There we go. So now we have exposed the internals behind the glove box door and if we look way back in this little cutout area, we can see that there's a there's a tab and it looks like some kind of a cover.

And I do believe that that is the location of our cabin air filter filtration element. Let's get this thing unscrewed and we'll see what kind of condition this filter is in. bear with me here. It's a tight screw that's never been removed before.

come out all the way out. Save that we've got the tab here on the right. We're gonna pull that tab simultaneously. There's another tab up in the top.

We're gonna pull that tab if I can get my finger on it Premier tab and then over on the left. It's tough to see because there's not much light, but there's just a little, uh, another tab that kind of hooks into those little holes there so it swings into the tab and then you pull it back to the right and then swing the uh, the door closed and that's how it latches in. Behind said door is our filter element. Let's see what we've got here.

Uh, the greatest. Put some light behind it and we cannot see light through this filter. Now one thing that I just noticed was a change in fan speed I Don't know if you guys can hear that from here, but listen, pull it back out. that fan speed is starting to pick up.

So that tells me. And it does in fact confirm that there does happen to be a restriction here. Now with that filter removed, the pool is removed. We saw we had like 40 something degrees on our thermal meter and now with that filter gone, it's rising ever so slightly.

We were at about 44 45 degrees when I pulled it out. I'm going to put that thermal meter back in the vent right there. We're gonna let it hang out as it sits and cool without a filter in it. Meanwhile, I'm gonna go order another filter and then we can come back and check what the uh, what the temperature is I uh I Speculate that that restriction in that filter could actually be causing the evaporator to develop some ice and freeze up and cause reduced flow over the fins, thus causing reduced temperature in the cabin.

Or I'm sorry, increase the temperature in the cabin which would be reduced cooling capacity. That's what I meant reduced cooling capacity? Anyway, let's get this thing out of here. That's no bueno. Let's get a new one ordered and we'll go from there.

If we don't experience any symptoms, or if we do experience any other symptoms, we're going to go ahead and hook the machine up. We're going to weigh the charge to see what's in it. but I Think that, uh, this condition right here may be the culprit for the Situation's hand that's been in there for a while. Uh, let's see, that's a GM filter that could be the original GM Part Number One Three Five, Zero, Eight Two three.

See it right there. Made by Micron air. Yeah, not the greatest. Lots of dander and debris and pollen and dirt and everything else.

Okay, let's get a new one ordered. Let's see what happens. Okie dokes I Return I Return with some fresh new replacement components here. Let's uh, let's unbox this unit.

We'll do a compare and contrast and then, uh, see if we get any kind of changes in temp. So right now we're at 42 degrees, it's fully exactly how it should be. All right, Let's go ahead and unbox this unit right here. See what we get? Shiny? Let's see instructions.

Don't need those I make my own instructions. Okay, now these cabin filters. They're going to have an airflow. Direction 99 of the time.

the airflow inside the HVAC boxes is going to be a top down configuration. Some of them are sideways, but you want to pay attention to where those arrows are pointing that way. when you, uh, pull your oil filter out, set it down and get your new filter to put it in. you don't end up putting the new filter in backwards.

Some of these filters are HEPA filters. Some of them contain charcoal and uh, point being is they're all designed for one specific direction of airflow. kind of like the the filter in your house. If we, uh, do a side-by-side comparison, we can see that there is no comparison.

This one's clogged up and dirty and we don't need it. And this one. It's fresh and new and it's clean. So let's get this thing installed.

Moving on down, let's pull our little cover back off. It was only there for scientific purposes, but now it can be removed. Shoe you grab our new filter element. arrows down.

just kind of Wiggle that thing right on in there. There we go. snap our little Clips back in and we must not forget the screw that secures the panel. I Don't know why they decided to put a screw in there considering that it's got a clip and a clip.

but I'm not an engineered either. so I don't know I just work here. Get on there. Power tools would have been useful, but then again, I might strip the screw out with power tools also because it is just a plastic.

Okay, let's get this thing out of here. We don't need the trash. goodbye trash. We don't need the instructions, but we do need is to get our glove box back in position and we can see the hinges on this.

They're just little plastic plastic hooks so to speak. Just kind of snap those in and what we need to do is get a hold of that door. Check. See that guy right there? We need to get that thing lined up and pushed in.

There we go just like so. and then we just push the door closed, the little pegs snap back into position and this door is good to go. Sue I Very graciously, take all of our contents, place them back in the glove box as neatly as possible. For what that's worth, it's impossible to put things back the way you found them, but you can always try that goes in there that goes in there.

That all goes in there. Good to go. So now we've successfully replaced the cabin air filtration element. Let's take a step back one more time.

We're going to take note of the temperature. About 48 degrees is where it's sitting, but the door is also open. so let's back out of here. Give this a few more minutes and we'll come back and recheck it and then see what the temperature reads backing out.

Oh my. Screwdriver? Not forgiving that actually. by definition it's a bit driver, not a screwdriver. Goodbye trash, we don't need you.

Okay, it's been about 5-10 minutes. I Want to check a few things under the hood here? We've got some fan action which is good. A fan that is inoperative or uh, occasionally an operative can cause AC system pulse. We have no refrigerant dye in the service port at the low side.

Oh no I just dropped my cap. Okay I got another one. We have no die up here on this service port either. That's good to go.

Yeah, that thing's that's that's gone. Where'd it go? Oh man. I lost my cap. Oh no.

I'm just gonna try and try to find it. How Hot Hot hot? Nope. not gonna find it. getting a new one.

It's gone. Gone forever. Gone With the Wind gone like a freight train, she gone, vanished, disappeared. That's fine though.

I have extras just for uh, this sort of occasion. Let's try. You know what? I'm gonna try all of them because I don't even know which one it is. Look at that first try.

We got a winner cap. click Okie dokes don't need that in there either. All right what? I Want to do since we're not coming up with any symptoms I've yet to see a symptom where there was no. Cooling I'm gonna go ahead and take this out on the road and we'll see what it does.

You can see the windows are still fogging up. This is good. Center Vents got us at 40 degrees on the dot. This thing is performing exactly as it should be.

So let's uh, let's back out. is this: Auto Hold shifter button to shift I Did the reverse drive this car park reverse I did that I was pushing the wrong button. Okay, now we can back this thing out for safety. punch.

For safety, we're gonna go for a quick spin around the block, up and over the bridge, around the pass and we'll swing back and Shop in the meantime I'll keep checking on that uh on that gauge to make sure our cooling is cooling like it should be and if I come up with nothing. um I'm gonna have to let this ride as it is. Park All right, Safety clicks engaged. Let's get out of here.

Drive Drive Buick Drive All right. I Don't hear any noises, no compressors, squeals or sounds of that nature. Thermal meter is looking good. still hanging out in the low 40s.

We like that I turned it down the fan speed just a little bit. It was kind of just like blasting cigarette lights looking good. Okay up over the bridge. still no abnormular condition present.

We've got some throttle going here AC is still remaining cool. So this is an odd situation because the complaint stated that uh, it does not cool on occasion or it's a the cooling becomes less efficient. Um, it's a really hot day outside, so if that condition, uh, condition should present itself, we've had about 20 minutes of run time in total, a lot of idle time, a little bit of off idle time, and we've got very consistent AC measurements here. So I don't believe that the system is low on a charge.

It's making proper pressure because there's no way we're going to get 40 degrees out of this thing if it wasn't functioning as it should have been. The only thing I can really think of that could cause this thing to intermittently fail to cool is a frozen up evaporator. or perhaps the fan up front is a inoperative intermittently. but uh, we'll have to catch it in order to confirm either one of those things.

Okay, sitting here at this red light, our temp did creep up to about 50. we might be getting somewhere. Ding Text message that's at 50 degrees now. Green left-hand turn.

Let's get back to the shop and put this thing back under observation. I think since we are witnessing a uh cooling failure event here, I'm going to go ahead and plug that machine into it. Yep, here it is. it's happening I Feel it like coming up on 60? Now look at that.

So we do have something going on with this. uh, this unit I Hope to find that the Fan's not running fingers crossed. That'd be great. I mean even 50 degrees is not that bad.

I'm going to assume this is the symptom. ideally I'd like to see it come up to like 65 or 70 before I can really go? Hey yeah, we got an issue going on here because this is this is still pretty good 50 degree air in the cabin with uh, outside ambient tap of around 93 degrees? That's that's very good performance. I Hear a whistling in the dash like a hiss. You guys hear that? I hear you hiss.

We may have a sticking expansion valve in this truck, car, van, van, car truck. See now we're coming up to on the high 50s right there. 55. Okay, all right repressing the park button, we're back at the shop temperature has come down a little bit.

What I'm going to do now is just hold this at a high idle do like 1500 to 1800 RPM and I'm going to monitor that gauge for a couple minutes. Okay, a couple minutes of 1800 RPM and we are still hanging out in the 40s here. Uh I don't really have much Direction on this I have a thing text message I've um I've gone and looked at uh at bulletins on this and the only bullets in regarding the AC that I can found from GM states to check the condenser at the desiccant pack for any kind of leaks or die I've already done that visually earlier. there's there's really nothing to see, but there are no leaks that I found at the condenser as per the bulletin.

so that's kind of a dead end. but uh, or I'm still looking here and we're 40 degrees. but I'm also not hearing that hissing sound again either. I'm I'm wondering if uh, if this thing has a failing expansion valve I I think that's what I want to go with I heard that thing going? Um, but I still don't have a failure here.

There's nothing really concrete I Kind of don't don't know what to do. Well, there's really only one thing to do I suppose and that is to re-popping easy. Hood Let's go ahead and hook the machine up to it and just get a baseline reading on the pressures just to make sure that this thing is not deceiving me somehow and it's actually running at a stupid low pressure, but cooling efficiently. Let's get this thing opened up again.

We'll get our machine hooked up and then see if we get any other Clues to work with. The fan is still Fanning it's in high speed mode I Don't think we have a fan issue here. Where let's go ahead and get this thing rolled over a little closer the bust opened the Caps get her connected, get a pressure measurement, and then we'll kind of go from there. There's our low side.

Let's see. these are one, two, three four connectors. They're slightly different than the Uh 134a connectors. Let's open that guy up 30 pounds on the low side.

That's right where we should be near. you. Come off there. Let's check our high side real quick.

Mike Where are we at? 200 Yeah, right around 200. PSI That's right where we should be. This is exactly in line. Okay, you know what? I think I'm gonna go ahead and just do a recovery on This We're going to weigh the charge and uh, make sure that that's good to go.

I'll recheck for uh, any kind of evaporator noise or uh, expansion valve noise after a recharge. it could be low. maybe? It also just told me I left the keys in it. That's a GM thing.

they beep at you. weird when you leave the keys in. Let's see machine powering on begin powering on. Now there we go.

This thing might take a while. Last time I used this machine. it was a well. it was kind of slow.

I think it's kind of slow this time too. Okay, the machine is now alive. Let's select one, two, three, four. YF that's our new age, newfangled refrigerant.

uh to connect the connectors. We did that. So what are we doing? It's gonna Evacuate the machine clear the machine out of the 134a. that way we don't cross contaminate refrigerant type.

So 10 minutes later I'll be back. You stay here. Okay, Okay, okay so I kind of missed it I was off doing some Silverado work or uh GMC Sierra work and this thing went ahead and recovered and look what it got here. 2.35 pounds refrigerant.

This thing was super low on refrigerant. Okay, so according to this machine's scale, uh, this thing is actually quite low on refrigerant. So I need to get a better look at that condenser up here where the bulletin states that leaks are potentially uh present. There we go.

So I can't see much of it through the front. I've already kind of looked so I'm gonna go ahead and start pulling off some of these panels here. Come here, you little clip a little, pull this upper panel off and see if I can't get a better line of sight on that condenser to, uh, inspect it for a leak. Let's get that one out of there.

Come on you, that one's stuck. Nope. I'm off plastic and I can't really see much. Let's see here.

Okay, here's our condenser over here on this side, but I was looking for a leak at the cap on this condenser and I do not see the cap. It's got to be farther down, perhaps towards the bottom. Why can't I get a visual on this thing? It's not okay. Okay, well this is kind of getting a little scary.

I Had to order a can of liquid gold right here. that is. Uh, one, two, three, four, YF refrigerant and uh, it is. It's a 10 pound bottle.

Uh, that 10 pound bottle is over a thousand dollars. That stuff is expensive. Like it's so expensive it shouldn't even be legal anyway. I'm gonna I'm gonna change out this valve real quick here.

Let's get our new service valve reinstalled. There's our old one I Don't think it was leaking, but it was going to be replaced regardless. So here let's take that guy in there. We go.

All right. So, our machine over here is refilling the One Two Three Four YF tank inside. We had to order a new tank. so this thing is refilling right now.

Once we have enough in this tank to install it back into this car, we can get this system recharged and then we'll evaluate it one more time. In the meantime, I Busted out the ultraviolet Luminator and we're going to look around for any signs of UV dye that might be present here. Again, we're still looking for a leak. Man, this thing is slow as molasses to fill the tank.

One two, Three Four YF is the slowest processing system ever. It takes for eternity to do anything. It's not fair. It's not fair because this machine and the programming in this machine is designed so you cannot fill a system that has a leak.

So what it'll do is when I go to try to charge this. it'll check it many, many times. Like two or three times it'll pull the system back down, re-weigh the charge, put it back in, pull it back down, re-weigh it again, and it makes sure that there's no leak. And if there is a leak, uh, well.

the reason for the programming is to make sure there is no leak. That way you cannot charge it. So basically, we've had to put in more restrictions on the professional level. machines that weigh unprofessional types of people cannot operate said machines and it effectively install charges in vehicles that have no good place.

I Just I Don't understand why they do that because the majority of us actually know how to operate this stuff and we know how to handle refrigerant. Therefore, all these little safeguards and rules that they put into place with this programming is frustrating and time consuming and ultimately the end user slash consumer, they got to pay a bill. You know they put the price for the 1600 can of crap. when the reality is, we don't really need that.

You know we can go along with the 300 can of the regular stuff that we've been using for 20 years, but uh, you know I'm no bureaucrat, so what do I know? Anyway, rant over: I'm still waiting on the machine as soon as this thing says we've got 2.4 pounds in here I can go ahead and get the charge back inside of this this Buick right here and we'll take it on the road one more time to see if we can hear that expansion valve whisping noise that we had heard on our prior test drive. So I'll be back when this thing is done. It's going to take like the rest of the day so I'll see you guys at the end of the day. Be right back.

See look I'm not even kidding. It's doing some kind of pressure check procedure now as it's simply just filling this tank with that tank. So it's it's checking the tank that is brand new. I I Don't know, it's it.

just takes forever. I don't know I'll get it. Makes me angry. Okay, so while I'm waiting for the machines to do their job, let's go back down below here.

right in front of us. what we've got is the the lid to the desiccant pack that's the receiver dryer slash accumulator and I've got the UV light on it and I do not see any presence of reactive dye, uh, whatsoever. Nothing appears to be leaking here, so that's kind of a confirmation. There's no leak in reference to that service bulletin.

All right, since we confirmed that there is no condenser leak. I Guess we can put this very fancy, uh cover device back on. Let's get that thing back into its home right here and re-clipped back together. Smash that dragonfly, he won't notice.

Okay, let's get this thing back on and I'm still waiting on that machine to do its, uh, machine stuff. Uh, once that's done. like I said. I'm gonna recharge this thing.

We're gonna head back out on the road and see if we cannot recreate or listen for that uh whisping sound that we heard inside the dash. It's kind of. It's kind of what we got so far. That's the plan I Don't know if that's a good plan, but I do know that I don't find any leaks and I found the system was low which is really stumping me because I didn't realize that uh well.

it didn't appear to be underperforming while low. but again, that's also the it was low on reserve capacity as well. so I can kind of see how it would like it would cool but I wouldn't think it would make 40 degrees with an almost empty uh refrigerant. Reservoir and that's that's kind of a new one.

There we go. Okay, vacuuming in progress. We're trying to pull this thing down. it's taken multiple hours.

I'm getting frustrated but uh, nature of the machine. So when this thing is done, I'll go ahead and see if I can't get this charge reinstalled and then we can reevaluate the system performance. Okay, we're recharging, it's sending it in. We need 2.42 pounds refrigerant.

That's the conversion rate from 1.1 kilograms of refrigerant. So let's see what this thing's gonna do. Is it going to take it all or is it not better? Yep, still waiting waiting around. Come on.

AC Machine killing me here. Killing me Smalls Okay, so I had to start over again I Ended up switching this over to a low side charge and turning on the engine. That way the compressor can provide some suction on the low side to help hold the charge into it. It kept stalling out on a high side charge and it would only give like uh I think it was coming up to like uh, like 60 percent charge and that was all.

It would not give anything more past that 60. So I did a high side low side split. We're pulling it in now. let's go and uh, check the thermal meter I've still got the system running.

It's about five minutes of run time. let's see, look at that there 40 degrees. so we're back down to a level of making cold again. As soon as that thing finishes up, we can get out of here and go.

Uh, go hit the road. I'm here super duper late because uh, this particular system has done what it has done to me. It just it takes a while for this stuff for this thing to do its job. Um, kind of gotten over the Rage of the one two, three four, YF machines Protocol: I Just got to deal with it.

but uh, here's what it is. Look, it's a miracle that wants me to do something. Turn on AC Close High pressure adapter I Guess HP is for high pressure. Close that guy.

Enter: All right. we're getting somewhere purging the hoses now. Hose Purge In progress. This is good.

Absolutely fantastic. I Hear the fan running, high speed fans chooching away. Let's get our cap on and as soon as we're done searching our hose to get that low side off, we'll go out for one test drive. I Know it's super late, but I'd rather finish this than uh, make it.

uh, make it something for me to do tomorrow morning. Okay, let's go back inside. check our thermal meter. Look at that like 41 42 degrees.

That's where we should be. This is good. Fans are still going and our machine here says charge complete. 2.39 pounds of refrigerant converted from 1.1 kilograms.

That's uh, almost exact slightly. I think it won a 2.42 pounds, but hey, if it's good at 2.39 I'll take that. so let's get our low side fitting disconnected. After that.

enter let's recover whatever's left in the hoses. So we go to recovery again into our recovery mode here to miss. All right, one more cat, let's hit the road. I Want to see if I can hear that that noise that was coming from the expansion valve inside of the dash and we want to make sure that the temperature on this thing does not rise up into the 60s like what we had seen earlier.

Okay, reverse gotta push the correct button and windows are fogging up again. this is a good sign. it's making cold I Like it Park Button engaged. Let's go get that gate and we're out of here.

We go. Seat belt one more time, Pick a dirt ticket and Drive very good. So on the bright side, staying late. that means there's less traffic to deal with, right? Hope so.

All right. Same test drive, same route, roughly the same conditions, just at a different time. and as of right now I Don't hear that whisping sound at the TXV Inside of the dash appears to still be holding a steady temperature. I Think we're in good shape here.

Yep, 40 degrees, maybe even 39. it's nice now. One thing I did notice that was odd was the high side pressure. Uh, was up quite a bit more from the 250 that we found at I I think it was like 325 something like that.

So the high side pressure was a little high. Um, I'm actually a little concerned about that. It's almost high. As if this thing is overcharged.

Okay, I still have not heard any sound from that. TXV One thing is kind of poking at me though when I uh, when I disconnected the machine this last go-around the high side pressure was in the the low 300s. Um, not entirely unacceptable considering how hot it is today. I mean it is in the upper 90s, but it's almost as if it was overcharged with what the spec said which is 1.1 kilos.

Okay, so here's what we're gonna do: I'm gonna go swing this thing back in real fast and I'm gonna stick that high side line back on I Just want to confirm whether or not this thing is lingering in the upper 300s that that seems to be a little high for me. and I'm gonna have to check the chart because I'm I'm actually a little concerned that perhaps I just overcharged this AC the reason I think that is I recall Once Upon a Time some of the Buicks having gone out with uh, the wrong sticker regarding the charge level, just double check everything. one two, three four, YF 1.1 kilograms. Okay, that is the correct yeah plus that fan right there is still hanging out at Uh at high speed and I Recall earlier, we did not have a high speed fan action just with the AC running.

so let's get a real quick pressure check the other guy. we're 300 PSI right here. that's I think that's a little high. Let me go double check the refrigerant level with some other sources because I'm I'm almost wondering if this sticker is not the right one for this car.

it's it's possible I Remember some of the Buicks having gone out at the dealership that had the wrong sticker on them and uh, we had to replace the stickers as a part of a service recall show. Here's what I'm gonna do: I'm going to go ahead and copy our Vin and we're going to bring up all data and we're going to look this up in all data just to make sure that it does not give me another spec. So we're going to go to fluid types and capacities right here. and we're looking for heating and Air Conditioning.

There we go. Fluids lead to approximate fluid capacities. That's what we're looking for AC System refrigerant. Where's our refrigerant at? Nope, Here it is.

Look One, Two Three four, YF and it's asking for 2.43 pounds of refrigerant. Okay, well based on what I know we took out and what I know I put in that is the correct amount. which tells me that 300 PSI is I mean it's It's kind of on the high side, but that's where it's running right now. Alrighty, so I just checked the One Two Three Four, YF chart and it says that the high side pressure for today's temp and humidity should be like 275 280.

So I'll give it the 300 that it's running at. Come here Dorf! I mean that does seem to be a little bit high, but yeah, I tried for now. I'm gonna take this out on one more test drive tomorrow morning. Let's go ahead and get this.

Uh, we moved again. we don't need that anymore. Disconnect click. Oh, we'll cover this guy back up and I'm gonna go ahead and close this up and shut her down while I'm doing that.

I'm also going to go ahead and close up this video and shut this down too. I've been tinkering with this car all day. Like I said earlier I'm ready to roll. Time to go home.

We're still making nice cold air on our interior and I don't hear any wispy action I Didn't see it get warm as we were driving. so I think we're good to go. That being said, let's power this thing down As always like thank you guys for watching this video. Certainly hope you enjoyed this video.

If you did enjoy this video, you know the deal. Please feel free to let me know about that. Bye tapping that like button down below. Drop me a comment or two while you're down there and most importantly, beat.

Do not forget to have yourselves a great day! See you guys later in the Buick End of one, two, three four YF refrigerant end of agonizing diagnostic individual in a day in a transmission and of course shop powering down.