Harbor Freight R134A Refrigerant Gauge - Opinions?

[kymatt]

Anybody used this?
http://www.harborfreight.com/r-134a-refrigerant-gauge-95808.html

My A/C in my 98 Ram needs recharging. I've never done this before, so I bought one of those all in one kits from Wal-Mart. But I'm hearing now the gauges on those kits are VERY poor, so I'm thinking of getting a dedicated gauge and buying a few small bottles of R134A at AAP or Autozone and returning what I don't need.

 

[yiranhu]

I assume when you say all in one kit, you mean it has couple of cans of R134a and a tap hose right? There's a few ways of going about this recharging business. If you still have some AC and you just want a boost, you don't need a gauge. Tap one can of R134a and connect the hose to the low pressure suction port on your car. Start the car and let it do the work. Add 1 can should solve your problem.

If you have NO AC and you want to do this properly, then you need a manifold gauge set. The harbor freight set works and is cheap and complete. They are selling it for $30 right now on the website. So print out the price and your store will match it. You may still be able to use a 20% on top of that. With that set, you can monitor pressure, pull vaccum, do refills (though you do need to buy a can tap... autozone and such will have it for like 6 bucks). To properly fill, you should first pull a vaccum and see if the system holds the vaccum for at least 30 minutes. Then continuously pulling the vaccum for 1 hour to remove moisture. Then fill. At this point, you can even just use the tap that came with your kit to do the fill. Just leave the high pressure port connection on to see the reading.

 

[kymatt]

Thanks for the detailed response. The air still gets slightly cooler on the vents than ambient, but not by much. I felt the inlet tube and it was ice cold, but the outlet hose was ambient temperature. Based on my limited knowledge, that just means I need a recharge, right? I don't think this truck has a history of leaking coolant. Should I just start with one of those small cans and see if it works? I don't want to overcharge my system either, that's why I was looking into the HF gauge.

 

[yiranhu]

I would try 1 can and see what happens.

As far as the gauge is concerned, I didn't look at it carefully enough. It connects to the low pressure port not high pressure port. So you can't use it WHILE you are recharging. You can only use it before or after. For 10 bucks, I wouldn't get that. If you want a servicable gauge set, get the manifold gauge set for 30 bucks right now while it is on sale. That's as cheap as you can get. Mine works great. Using this thing, you can monitor both low and pressures while you recharge. You probably don't need it for this job since I believe 1 can of boost would solve your problem. But for other stuff it may become very useful.

 

[arkangel06]

I know it ***** like the rest of the **** they sell at hf does.

 

[Mike83]

My AC clutch will not engage and the clutch is not faulty. There is no battery power at the clutch. Is the pressure switch keeping it from engaging because the R134a is low? I would buy this set to correct the problem but obviously the compressor needs to be engaged. Any advice?

Not to mention Wisconsin won't allow the sale of R134a to the public so I need to order it or go to Illinois...

 

[pearl_dude]

Try this website, it has good information, http://www.aa1car.com/air_conditioning.htm

 

[ourkid2000]

I bet it ***** like the rest of the **** they sell at hf does.

Are you trying to get banned or something? Many of your recent posts contribute nothing to the thread.....just pure HF & China bashing

 

[arkangel06]

Are you trying to get banned or something? Many of your recent posts contribute nothing to the thread.....just pure HF & China bashing

Just stating facts

 

[kymatt]

I bet it ***** like the rest of the **** they sell at hf does.

Just stating facts

You're right! Most facts begin with "I bet...""

 

[arkangel06]

You're right! Most facts begin with "I bet...""

sorry Ill edit it and make it proper

 

[yiranhu]

My AC clutch will not engage and the clutch is not faulty. There is no battery power at the clutch. Is the pressure switch keeping it from engaging because the R134a is low? I would buy this set to correct the problem but obviously the compressor needs to be engaged. Any advice?

Not to mention Wisconsin won't allow the sale of R134a to the public so I need to order it or go to Illinois...

You can always short circuit the pressure switch to see if the compressor turns on. This is actually the way to diagnose a bad pressure switch.

 

[djb2]

I have both the R12 and R134a manifold gauge sets from H-F.

Both work exactly as you would expect a gauge set to work. No problems, and no leaks.

An earlier batch of R134a gauges reportedly leaked, but those are likely out of all of the stores.

I was initially pleased that the R134a set came with a case, but the case turns out to be too small to use with the hoses hooked up. Also, use a thread sealant on the gauge set knob screws -- they loosen easily.

AutoZone has both manifold sets and vacuum pumps in their tool loaner program. That's a good choice if this is a one-time project. You'll need their $6.99 can tap (that's a good price for it) to use individual cans.

 

[Mike83]

You can always short circuit the pressure switch to see if the compressor turns on. This is actually the way to diagnose a bad pressure switch.

If the pressure switch works, though, isn't it just doing its job to keep the compressor from running on low refrigerant?

 

[MattT]

If the pressure switch works, though, isn't it just doing its job to keep the compressor from running on low refrigerant?

Shorting the switch is just a quick way to see whether the problem is low pressure/bad switch or something else. If the clutch engages you'll need to hook up gauges. If not troubleshoot the clutch control circuit.

 

[devilphrog]

I bought the HF manifold gauge set, as well as the 2.5 CFM vacuum pump to fix my 1997 Saturn's Air Conditioning. The gauge set did pretty well, but I found that the quick disconnects caused some leaks at the service ports. Mind you, it may not have been caused by the manifold connectors, but rather being 13-14 year old valve cores that may have not been depressed in that long. I used this as an opportunity to get the valve core tool that allows me to change the fittings without losing system pressure. No complaints over any of the tools mentioned above, especially as I got myself some new tools!

 

[mcdtommy23]

We have 2 of the 134a gauge kits. They work great. No issues and we use the heck out of them.

I just need to state, I'm sick of all the BS that has nothing to do with a given thread. If something is going to be bashed support your damn position! The general it all ***** **** needs to stop.

 

[Danglerb]

I started with a can from Interdynamics with a gauge on the hose, worked fine for a couple instances, where the car was still blowing cool, but not cold.

When the can ran out the hose and gauge I was supposed to be able to reuse only fit on the Interdynamic cans with a spray paint type fitting, not the normal 12 oz screw on cans, and nobody local sold them.

Bought some $5 cans of 134 from Big Lots with screw tops, couldn't find my HF gauge set, so I ended up at Autozone buying a $20 tap and gauge, and some other silly *** part totallying about $35 so I could use my $5 can instead of buying another $19 can/gauge combo. This last time slightly improved, but did no fix cooling.

Decided compressor was bad and ordered a new Motorcraft from Amazon for $185 shipped, with new dryer and orifice tube. Install is lots of under the car stuff, wife wanted AC now, so $400 later a local shop had it all fixed. Price is so high because the first round they missed the idler going bad, and I needed to take it back a week later to replace the idler pulley.

Lesson this HF stuff is GREAT for skipping a few expensive trips to the mechanic, but not all of them.

 

[treasureseeker]

I would either buy a good gauge set that you check the pressure against the chart which uses pressure at what ambient temp is that day or empty the system and put in what it requires. You suppose to recycle the Freon but how you get it done is up to you. One day I was at Sears and on their discount self they had a $120 Imperial manifold set marked down to $20. Not a hard decision but so far I haven’t needed the gauges as the systems were empty. You shouldn’t add without knowing how much you have in the system as overcharging does bad things. The AC not blowing cold isn’t always the AC, if the heater water valve doesn’t close or if it uses a blend door to control the system than that must close also. We had a guy on one of the repair forums couldn’t get the system to take Freon and he never answered me about if the clutch was engaging and got talked into a long electrical troubleshooting route. In the end there was no compressor clutch to engage, the shaft had snapped. There are only a few items I would get from HF . Mostly their tool boxes.

 

[junk]

I have had excellent luck with my hf Gage set and venturi vacuum pump. I have done probably 20 cars with this stuff. I'll probably grab another set at the current price. I initially bought a Gage set at a local parts store and the hoses kept blowing apart. My hf set has been good other than the high pressure side coupler doesn't hold pressure once unhooked. I'm positive it's ok when hooked up as I can hold a vacuum.

 

[Perry H]

I'm resurrecting this one to say that from personal experience I can tell you that (at least my set of) the Harbor Freight gauges and hoses are not worth owning if you are planning on pulling a vacuum on them.

Maybe they work under pressure, but under a vacuum they are terrible.

I was using one of the hoses as a part of my set up for pulling a vacuum on my home AC unit. I had a yellow jacket hose from my yellow jacket manifold to my vacuum gauge and the HF hose from the vacuum gauge to the pump.

After about 3 hours I could only get the vacuum down to 1200 microns.... so I started looking for the problem...starting with the hose connections. The first thing I did was to connect the HF hose directly from my pump to my gauge. It look about 30 minutes to pull down to 450 microns and that was as far as it was going. I hooked up the yellow jacket hose in its place and that pulled down to 200 microns in about 30-45 seconds and kept pulling lower before I disconnected it. Then I put the harbor freight manifold in the circuit and tried to use it to seal off the vacuum pump from the gauge to see if the manifold + hose could maintain a vacuum. Within 10 seconds the vacuum was lost and off the scale of my vacuum gauge.

Bottom line... (at least if you want to work with vacuums) you are wasting your time with these.

 

[WVBrady]

I'm resurrecting this one to say that from personal experience I can tell you that (at least my set of) the Harbor Freight gauges and hoses are not worth owning if you are planning on pulling a vacuum on them.

Maybe they work under pressure, but under a vacuum they are terrible.

I was using one of the hoses as a part of my set up for pulling a vacuum on my home AC unit. I had a yellow jacket hose from my yellow jacket manifold to my vacuum gauge and the HF hose from the vacuum gauge to the pump.

After about 3 hours I could only get the vacuum down to 1200 microns.... so I started looking for the problem...starting with the hose connections. The first thing I did was to connect the HF hose directly from my pump to my gauge. It look about 30 minutes to pull down to 450 microns and that was as far as it was going. I hooked up the yellow jacket hose in its place and that pulled down to 200 microns in about 30-45 seconds and kept pulling lower before I disconnected it. Then I put the harbor freight manifold in the circuit and tried to use it to seal off the vacuum pump from the gauge to see if the manifold + hose could maintain a vacuum. Within 10 seconds the vacuum was lost and off the scale of my vacuum gauge.

Bottom line... (at least if you want to work with vacuums) you are wasting your time with these.

Are you using your micron gauge on R410A systems, perhaps? I doubt that many people who own a micron gauge would be buying a manifold set from HF. I hooked mine up with a good vacuum pump and it read as close to zero as I could tell and held it for 30 minutes without moving. I think mine, at least, is perfectly adequate for a DIY'er. I would always use a face shield when working with the refrigerant and even use safety glasses while pulling a vacuum.

 

[fordcragar]

Maybe they work under pressure, but under a vacuum they are terrible.

................

I have the same set and it worked great. I pulled a vacuum and held it for three hours without any problems. I did this about six months ago, so I really don't remember what the values were.

 

[Perry H]

Oh ... you can pull "a" vacuum and hold it for a long time, but you can't pull a 400 micron vacuum ever, and you can't hold anything under 1000 microns for more than 10 seconds.

If all you ever do is vacuum until you peg the negative side of your low side gauge then you aren't pulling a very deep vacuum. It might work, but you aren't getting all of the moisture out of the lines. If that is what you are used to doing then maybe these gauges/hoses are fine.

All I know is that I found a distinct and clearly measurable (with a precision instrument) difference between the Harbor Freight manifold/hoses and Yellow Jacket manifold/hoses. I'm not here to argue with anyone about their tools. If they are good enough for you, then fine (and they might work just fine under pressure - I don't know, I didn't try). I AM here to provide a data point to anyone that is interested in knowing whether or not you can use these to pull a deep vacuum - you can't. I tried both 1/4 hoses in my set and got the same results (the yellow hose has larger fittings so I didn't try it). That leads me to believe that it's systematic and not just a bad hose.

 

[shifterkart]

Thats good info. Thanks Perry. I needed specific measured info like this which helps a lot.

 

[wingerr]

However, it might be good to test it again since the things could have changed in quality over 4 years.