Ok....cranked up the 2010 SS the other day and pulled it out of the garage and took it for a drive uptown as it hadn't been used in a minute. It is pushing almost 14K miles now. Warm, but not hot morning, around 70 deg. F when I pulled it out of the garage. A/C has never been touched except for a belt changout a few years back as a precautionary move.
I noticed the A/C clutch cycling on and off about 15 second intervals as I was waiting for a Sirius/XM radio reload (as it had lost connection to the mothership apparently). As a precaution, I run the A/C with the blend door two clicks up from max cold. I didn't give it much thought as the air blowing out of the vents was cool, but it wasn't hot outside at the time anyway. I did not use any thermometers to check, though.
The A/C was blowing cool sitting there. After the radio got its signal back, I took it for a drive and the A/C seemed to work just fine. When I got home I just pulled it into the garage and forgot to check if the clutch was still cycling every 15 seconds or so.
I opened the hood and checked the high port check ball, and there didn't seem to be any oil or goo or anything. No visual signs of leaks anywhere under the hood. Everything is clean and dry. I checked the low port schrader valve too, but again, no obvious signs of trouble. I didn't do a soap bubble test on them, but I plan to. There's no dirt buildup on the condenser, as it lives in the garage a lot. Everything is clean and dry under the hood.
But, since these stupid high side balls eventually leak, I was wondering a couple of things:
1. Should I just go ahead and buy the Dorman schrader valve high side port replacement as an upgrade if I find the high side port to be leaking? (Dorman 800-955). Interestingly the 2012 Ford Focus has a schrader port on both sides from the factory and no leaks on it so far.
2. Simply hook up the A/C gauges and do a pressure check on them? If slightly low just top off the 134a and keep an eye on it? (most likely)
3. Obviously, it has a super-slow leak if this is the case upon leak check results. Again, I'll do some soap bubble testing on the fittings to determine how bad, if at all.
The nice thing is that, according to the 2010 service manual, GM was kind enough to charge the system with flourescent dye from the factory so it should show yellow/green under a blacklight. But now I just need to find my little blacklight flashlight.
4. Thinking about it, it's possible there may not be a leak, but to be sure, I need to do better troubleshooting. The garage was cool and so was the outside air when it happened. Generally cooler than normal, so increased cycling MAY be normal on first start with lower outside temps. I mean, it did seem to work fine on the drive.
Not afraid to do the work of recovering/evacuating and recharging if I have to. I mean, what does this thing take as far as a charge anyway, 21 ounces or so? (0.6 kg/1.32 lbs).