Rahrah

Good evening, I have a 2003 Chevy conversion van and am currently having A/C issues. The A/C is not blowing cold air at all. It's not even blowing cool air. I charged it with freon and it shows full but still nothing. I can hear the compressor but it's turning on and off every couple of seconds. I put in the UV dye but couldn't see anyplace that it is leaking.
Any input and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Triaged

In my experience turning on and off every couple seconds is a sign of low refrigerant. How much does it take and how much did you put in? Did you put a vacuum on it first?

Rahrah

I’m not sure how much I put in, probably not even quarter of a can. I was just basing it off of the gauge on the can. I’m very new to this and still trying to learn. To vacuum the system do I need to take it to a shop to do?

Triaged

Shop is expensive and I'm cheap. I bought a gage set, vacuum pump, and replaced a bunch of parts on the Saturn I'm driving for about $600 about 7 years ago and it's still working fine. Had a quote of $2000 from a shop. I also had an old ranger that had a super slow leak so I just put in a can every couple of years to keep it working.

1) What caused the refrigerant to leak out in the first place? How long did it take to leak out?

2) Was there still some pressure in there or was it so low that air could have gotten in?

3) What pressure did you get? Is it still at that same pressure with the AC running?

4) do you have rear AC? You had that on too?

Rahrah

I’m not sure what the pressure is, the van had been sitting for quite a while and then we started to use it for road-trips. I took it to a mechanic and he didn’t want to look at it.
The pressure on the gauge was low and once I charged it I heard the compressor kick on but it would shut off again. I’m not sure if the rear has ac, I seem to remember that it was only a fan.

Triaged

Sounds like you have rear AC. Make sure it's turned full cold same as the front and try to add some more. The dual system takes a lot of refrigerant! It should say how much under the hood.