Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

Greetings once again.

You guys helped me out back in 2019 repairing an A/C system on my family member's 2005 Honda Civic LX. I'm back looking for some help again this time on my 2004 Honda Civic LX. I had no cold air, connected my manifold gauge, the system was low on both sides when running. Added refrigerant but only the high side was increasing while the low side remained at around 40psig, still no cold air. The low side was low and the high side was high. The Internet told me these were the symptoms of a bad/clogged/stuck expansion valve. I opened the system and removed the evaporator and the expansion valve. I used a Q-tip and swabbed the inside of the high-pressure line. The Q-tip came out gray and green. I know the green is from the leak detection dye but I remember you guys telling me that the gray was a sign of the seals on the compressor going bad. Should I just replace the expansion valve? If so, would the system just fail again in the near future? What would you guys suggest?

Attached is a picture of the Q-tip.

If the photo is a true representation of the system. It looks like normal wear.

So would you recommend just replacing the expansion valve?

Also how long can the system be open before the receiver drier goes bad? I have it open right now while I try and figure out what to do.

m240b wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:48 pm So would you recommend just replacing the expansion valve?

That's going to be your judgment call. No way for me to tell from a picture of a q-tip.

As far as being open, from the professional repair view. Not more than a few hours.

So I decided to roll the dice and just replace the expansion valve. Pulling a vacuum right now.

m240b wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:52 pm So I decided to roll the dice and just replace the expansion valve. Pulling a vacuum right now.

Hopefully, you added a little oil back to the system.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I pulled a vacuum and closed the system but I did not charge it because I ran out of time and had other things to do. The replacement TXV that I purchased is aftermarket. I was not aware that they are bad quality. I have the original TXV in a ziplock bag. Can the original be cleaned/refurbished and reused by the user or is that something that only the pros can do? I need to get some DEC PAG and add it to the system though I am not sure how much I should add. I bought some from Amazon back on 2019 but now I cannot find any. I need to find an Auto AC place over here in Houston because all I see at the autoparts stores is regular PAG-46. I should probably flush the system but I don't have access to shop air, all I have is pancake compressor which runs out pretty quick.

Did you look at other places besides Amazon for the DEC PAG 46?

Checked again and found some on Amazon but I think I will check with local shops first before I place the order. Hopefully, they don't give me the deer in the headlights look when I ask for double end-capped pag 46.