Hello I have3 questions, sorry if should be posting them seporatly.

First off i have a 2000 bonneville se with 125000 miles on it itt has had most of the common issues listed on this board such as trunk leak, both rear regulators, 4th gear, oil sending unit, pcs solenoid etc.

First question is my air conditioning has been working great the last year, now it seems to only blow cool air. i looked on this forum but could not find much info for my car with the manual a/c. The clutch does engage and the low side line is cold when running, i am not sure if an actuator could be my problem, but i just tested the 134a pressure with a gauge that comes on the can and it said "45-65 psi do not add seek professional help". The temp outside was about 90 when i ran this test, so i am not sure if i should try again in the morning, but does anyone have any ideas what else to check for?

Second question, i just changed my oil and replaced my oil sending unit as it has been at 120psi since i bought the car over a year ago, (i just figured out it was a problem after reading this forum). The oil pressure at ilde now is just a few ticksunder the 80? psi mark or almost halfway between 40 and 120. This is after running the car and getting it up to 195 degrees. The oil i am using is quaker state 10w30 and a pureolator filter, so they should be ok products. Unfortunatly i am not sure if the car has always been at this pressure since it was a bad sending unit for the last year. Should i be worried by this, or is it normal in a high mileage car?

Third question after having my tranny looked at for making a whirring noise and spending a bunch of money on getting my pcs solenoid replaced the tranny shop figured ou that the problem was also my 4th gear splines were sheared off. The shop said they could rebuild it, but that if i did not care about the gas mileage it should be fine to run in 3rd gear as there was not much metal in the pan when he changed the fluid and filter. This car is my 3rd vehichle just to save miles on my truck, so i would prefer not to do a rebuild, but does anyone have any opinions on if i can keep driving this car in 3rd, or will it definetly need a rebuild soon.


thanks,

JPAMP

Q#1 => It shouldn't matter if you have the manual A/C, because the pressure in your system seems to be reading too high.

Q#2 => I have an SE with 135,000 miles and my oil pressure reads the same as yours.

Jbmark33, dont' jump to conclusions regarding the refrigerant pressure. Many of our cars actually require a higher pressure than what others consider "normal". Add to that, the fact that those so-called pressure gauges they put on the refrigerant cans are notoriously all over the place.

Additionally, consider the question of just how would his pressure have gone unexplainably up in a year'* use. Not a likely scenario is it?

Jpamp, let'* work some more on your cooling symptoms before jumping to any conclusions. I'm not sure of the mix actuator issue is the same for the 2000 SE, but it wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. Especially since you appear to have a working A/C system and plenty of refrigerant.

Well, my first thought was to add more refrigerant if the system was not blowing cold air, but this does not look to be the case. I have never read anything about the A/C system needing to be at a higher-than recomended pressure. My apologies.

The can says not to add from 45 - 65 psi...what reading do you get? Can you adjust between hot and cold (or cool) or does it pretty much stay at the same temperature, regardless of your setting?

No apology needed. And my caution was really just that, a caution. Also, I'm not saying that he might have to use higher than "recommended" pressures. What we've found, is that some systems have a higher recommended refrigerant pressure than what many might see as "normal". The best way to know what your recommended pressure is, is to consult your FSM. Or someone else'* if you don't own one.

Also, an answer to Archon'* question will help in the diagnosis.

thanks for the info so far everyone, when i checked the pressure on the ac it was just in the yellow or right around 45 psi. One thing i am not sure of though is i did this right after turning the car on and the ac on max. do i need to wait al little while or have the recirc on as i have seen some people discuss that topic in another forum.

thanks,

Jpamp