hi i have a te magna 96 3.0L and i have noticed to day standing out side the car when a idle that its cutting in and out quite frequent and that when im driving along it will be cold cause it hits my hand on the stering wheel then i will noice that it gets warm and then cold again , had it regassed like 3 weeks ago thought it was low on gas because of what it was doing, but is still doing it ?

are the radiator fans working?
is the evaporator drain pipe blocked?
are the condensor fins clean? try running a hose over the condensor with the a/c on
you may have a blockage in the system or the system is over-charged... check your sight glass

To check the refrigerant level, clean the sight glass and start the vehicle engine and hold engine speed at 1500 rpm. Push the A/C button to operate the compressor, place the blower switch to high and move the temperature control lever to max cool. After operating for a few minutes in this manner, check the sight glass.

1. If bubbles are visible occasionally in the sight glass and disappear when engine speed is raised, the magnetic clutch is engaged, the compressor discharge line is warm and the compressor inlet line is cool; the system may be overcharged.

2. If the sight glass is clear, the magnetic clutch is engaged and there is no significant temperature difference between compressor inlet and discharge lines; the system has most of its refrigerant charge.

3. If the sight glass shows foam or bubbles, the system could be low on refrigerant or the receiver drier is restricted.

Where is the evaporator drain pipe?

Thanks in advance..

hey when you say clear, mine is just black, is that normal. cheers, oh and would a blocked drain line prevent cooling?

Where is the evaporator drain pipe?

Thanks in advance..

on the firewall down low left hand side IIRC

hey when you say clear, mine is just black, is that normal. cheers, oh and would a blocked drain line prevent cooling?

get a torch and look into the sight glass if the gas/oil is black then you may have a contaminated system, but you should see flow with slight bubbles or just flowing liquid gas

if the evap drain is blocked then the water trapped in the core can ice up and kick the system out while it thaws

cheers mate

Thank you Sir

get a torch and look into the sight glass if the gas/oil is black then you may have a contaminated system, but you should see flow with slight bubbles or just flowing liquid gas

if the evap drain is blocked then the water trapped in the core can ice up and kick the system out while it thaws


this doesnt give you a good indication of what level of refrigerant is in the system.
also with r134a systems the reciever dryers dont necasserally have sight class on them. the best way to check the system level is with a set of gauges.

this doesnt give you a good indication of what level of refrigerant is in the system.
also with r134a systems the reciever dryers dont necasserally have sight class on them. the best way to check the system level is with a set of gauges.

you and i know know about guages...
the magnas do have a sight glass and it can be used to get a basic idea of whats going on, ie is there gas in the system, is it flowing, is it contaminated...
a good example is if the high side is reading low and the low side is reading high one may state that the compressor is naffed
if the sight glass is clear and the compressor discharge hose is warm then the above would be true
but if the sight glass has bubbles and the discharge hose is bitchingly hot then one would be advised to first check the TX valve/orifice Tube before throwing $800 at a new compressor

also if most of the gas in the system has leaked out then one can get a false reading on the guages due to there being sufficent pressure in the system, a quick check of the sight glass would indicate low liquified gas charge
this is more common than one would think, ive already had 3 of these this summer

also many late models toyotas state to recharge the system until the bubbles disapear from the sight glass then add 50-100g