$22 at Walmart, and my wife's Lincoln was blowing cool but not always cold, so I did some quick checks on the net, saw no negative comments, and bought a can. What you get is a tall 12 oz can of "stuff" with an attached pressure gauge and connector for the low side of your AC.
Engine warmed up, just after a short drive to the store and back, and AC set on max, I hooked up the stuff and the gauge showed a steady reading of just barely in the add freon portion. I flipped up the safety cap on the can, and did my best at following the directions piercing the can and adding freon until the gauge was in the middle of the OK range. Shaking the can it "sounds" like some, but not much is left in it.
Car is now noticeably blowing cold cold, but after a short drive with no incidents I parked the car for about an hour, and the next time I started the car the idle rpm seemed a bit down and I got a "power steering assist check" message and it was indeed much harder to turn the wheel than normal. I drove it a mile or so down to Carls for an Angus Artery clogger, and back home with cold air and more messages and increased, but not heavy heavy steering force required.
It was dark and not too convenient to check anything when I got home. Next day it seemed "more or less" ok, and since then its been mostly fine, but sometimes, maybe a couple times in a week it might stall when first starting, or idle a bit low like the AC was a higher than normal load. Still blowing cold though.
Engine warmed up, just after a short drive to the store and back, and AC set on max, I hooked up the stuff and the gauge showed a steady reading of just barely in the add freon portion. I flipped up the safety cap on the can, and did my best at following the directions piercing the can and adding freon until the gauge was in the middle of the OK range. Shaking the can it "sounds" like some, but not much is left in it.
Car is now noticeably blowing cold cold, but after a short drive with no incidents I parked the car for about an hour, and the next time I started the car the idle rpm seemed a bit down and I got a "power steering assist check" message and it was indeed much harder to turn the wheel than normal. I drove it a mile or so down to Carls for an Angus Artery clogger, and back home with cold air and more messages and increased, but not heavy heavy steering force required.
It was dark and not too convenient to check anything when I got home. Next day it seemed "more or less" ok, and since then its been mostly fine, but sometimes, maybe a couple times in a week it might stall when first starting, or idle a bit low like the AC was a higher than normal load. Still blowing cold though.
