Low pressure Freon fill 2001 Pontiac Grand Am?

[das.frettchen]

We have been trying to add Freon to my brothers '01 Pontiac Grand Am because his a/c has lost its edge. The only fill location we can find for the air conditioning compressor is located right next to the top of the passenger side radiator fan. I don't know if this is the high or low pressure line, it has a black cap if that makes a difference. We bought a 134a Freon hose and a can of Freon but the connector on the hose is just slightly too small to fit on this fill port no matter how much force you put into it (we've tried with the engine hot and cold, didn't make a difference). I'm wondering if there isn't a problem with our Freon hose though because I popped the hood on my Jeep Wrangler and the hose wouldn't fit on mine either. I've filled the Freon in numerous other vehicles with no problems what-so-ever.. but I've also noticed that in those other vehicles the low pressure line had a green cap, not black. In the Grand Am and in my Wrangler all we could find was one port for the a/c which had a black cap.. is there something we are missing?

P.S. - We don't have an owner's manual for the Grand Am or we would have looked there already.

 

[wde3477]

The fittings for R134 are sized so that one can't put the wrong connector on. The low-side fitting is physically smaller than the high-side, so suggest you haven't found the right port yet. You should have both a low-side and a high-side fitting.

Not familiar with that vehicle, suggest to follow the A/C lines - sometimes the low-pressure port is over by the firewall, sometimes by the compressor, sometimes somewheres in between the condenser and the firewall, etc.

If you're not sure of what you're doing, recommend to find-a-friend or to have the vehicle professionally serviced. The high pressures and low temperatures involved with A/C systems can put a hurt on equipment or people in a hurry, should things go wrong. The money spent on subsequent parts or people repairs can easily offset any savings of doing it yourself.