hey guys, great forum. i have run out of hope of holding freon in this old AC system, & the 100 degree days of summer are coming fast! it held a charge for a year, then a few months, then a week or so. the leak stoppers are just not doing it. i am going to start by getting new hoses for it. can i pull the hoses & drive the truck without them, or can this cause damage to the compressor say? any advice greatly appreciated.

 

Wait until you get the new hoses (if that's what you really want to do) to pull the old hoses off.

Personally I'd put some leak detector in it rather than just throwing parts at it. The leak detector will tell you where the leak is coming from with a UV light. Try charging it and put a bottle of leak detector in it and see if you can't find out where it's leaking out at.

Advance Auto Parts sells the leak detector bottles that are already premixed with R134a and ready to use.

 

Go to an AC shop and have them find the leak with a sniffer. No point in throwing parts at it blindly. Your problem is likely to be something as simple as a bad 50 cent O-ring.

Chances your hoses are bad are miniscule unless you've had a collision and damaged them.

 

well, pep boys claim the whole thing needs to be replaced (for $1100) i am sceptical... they could have just parked it in the bay for a little while & come up with that diagnosis. actually, they said the compressor was leaking. i have seen some similar blazers driving around this summer with the windows down! is this a common issue? can you rebuild these compressors? google didn't come up with much. thanks guys.

 

I think the cluch will not engage if it is low on pressure,and save your compesser

 

I too am having troubles with my AC. I've had it diagnosed at my trusty neighborhood mechanic. They evacuated the system, then pressurized it and it held pressure for a couple weeks, AC worked OK, blew cool air, but then gradually it stated to fail (no cold air). I am perplexed why the system will pass a pressure check but then not continue to hold a charge. I went ahead and put in the flourescent dye to try to find the leak (which must be somewhere). Couldn't find any leaks. I pressure tested the system the other day, and even though it says it's pressurized, the AC clutch will not cycle and I did noticed that there is a slight smattering of dye around the compressor body itself. I think either my clutch is shot or the compressore has STB. I have electrical power to the connectors, so it's not electric. A new compressore is less than $200.00 on the Internet and you should also replace the Accululator and the Orifice tube as well. I am contemplating this repair myself. Good Luck.

PS: Don't run with the system open. This will only introduce impurities into the system and you'll need to do a full evac and flush if/when you change out any old parts. Should do that anyway though if you're swapping parts.

 

I had the exact same thing happen with the exact same symptoms and since I am not very good with a/c systems I took it to the dealer and they check and said the compressor case was leaking slowly with the a/c on and faster with it off. They fixed it with a brand new compressor and it has worked with out any further issues and is ice cold. They also said it was a common GM defect and that the compressor up to when they started making the Trailblazer and
upgraded the regular S-10 and S-10 only would generally last about 10 yearsor less but the new compressor made after 2001will last alot longer. Hope this helps.

 

thanks guys, this kind of confirms my suspicions. good luck with yours.