When I got the Tahoe the previous owner, “Bear” told me he just charged up the AC and that it should last me a while. It lasted about 2 weeks or so. Weather was mild to cold so it’s hard to say, but the system definitely had a leak.
At some point the system had black light visible, greenish looking, die added to the system. I know this because it was spilled all over the compressor. Given that situation I knew that if I took it in for repair the first thing I would be told is that the compressor would need to be replaced.
Since the Tahoe has the compressor right on top of the engine and super easy to access I decided to go ahead and replace it myself. A rebuilt compressor cost me ~$200 and it only took 20 minutes to replace after seeing this good video.
It was never my intention to charge the system myself. I read that the system needed to be vacuum for a length of time to remove any water in the system prior to charging and I don’t have a vacuum pump. Plus I am a bit confused about what to do with the high side and low side of the system. Does it matter which side I vacuum and charge from? Can I mess it up if I get it wrong? Because of these challenges was not going to do this myself.
I called a company called Mr. Freon. The guy is a literal Mom & Pop company as he travels around in an amazing well organized and stocked van with his wife. They came to the house and filled the system. After they did he, Pop, detected a leak in a Schrader valve just above the compressor. This may have been the only problem with the system and so I may have replaced the compressor for nothing.
I should also mention that I bought some oil to add to the system but was going to wait till I got it charged to but it in. Mr Freon said that since the system already had oil in it and since the compressor was pre-charged with 3 ounces of oil, that this was unnecessary. Hmm. I still wonder. Mr Freon put in, and charged me for, 32 ounces of freon, which he said was a more than expected. It was however within spec, so not sure why he said that. Anyway, so far, so good. AC “blows cold.”