I have a 2005 Grand Prix (base model). At the end of last summer, the a/c started warming up a tad (still working fairly decent, but not quite as cold as it had been prior) so, despite having a gauge set, I just grabbed a bottle of the quick charge/do it yourself stuff at auto zone and went to add some more refrigerant to the system. When I started adding, the compressor started to act like it was struggling. I stopped adding and waited a few minutes while I tried to see what was going on. I suspected that I added too much and decided to put my manifold gauge set on to see what kind of pressures I had. They weren't too off the chart, but I let some more freon out anyway. The air coming out after that was considerably warmer now. I was "cool", but not cool like it should be. I put a thermometer on it and the system would only blow cool air around 58 degrees at best (occasionally dipping to 56)when outside temps were around 90. There was only a few weeks left of warm weather so I just left it and figured I would do a full empty/recharge the next year when it got hot again. It kept me comfortable enough.
So here it is, about 10 months later. I vacuumed out the system and recharged it to factor spec and the air is only marginally cooler. Definitely not as cool as it should be.
Some questions/thoughts:
1. Did I damage the compressor? Any thoughts on how to check?
2. Any fuses, sensors, etc to check?
3. Is it possible I have too much oil in the system? I ask this because a few forums I read mentioned the possibility of recharging with too much PAG oil. I used 2 14 oz cans that had oil and 1 of the smaller 12 oz cans that don't have any dies, oils, stop leaks etc. That gave me the 2.3lb factory spec for the system.
4. Should I go to a shop and see what they tell me?
Thanks guys