Since we got the Sequoia used in 2014 it had never cooked great. But looking up about them it seems this is a common complaint since new. Ours being a 2014 was 10 years old and from the south so I was sure it was worn. I also believed everything to be factory as there was no signs of anyone being into it. I always planned on needing to replace it. A few years ago it hot really bad if you sat idle. Well that's common, less air across the condenser. It got bad and I was sure the compressor was going out and even weaker than before. So I started messing with it. Found out that the auxiliary electric can motor burned up. Replaced that and it helped a tremendous amount. Still would not get as cold as it use to sitting still. I checked freon and it was correct. Then last year it would get hot ideling and was getting bad. I checked it and the freon was low a half a pound or 3/4 pound. Topped it off and it cooled better but not perfect. That got us through the summer. When we started needing air this year it was barely cooling and not doing much at idle till one day my wife sent me a pic and told me the light was flashing and it was blowing hot air. I checked charge and it was correct. It had also been making a new under hood noise the last few months. Well I went to start it and the compressor made a weird nasty noise and I noticed the clutch was not engaged sobi was sure that the compressor locked up. Luckily last summer when it acted up I had went ahead and bought the Denso brand condenser and compressor off Amazon and had them in the shed. It s a good thing cause some stuff Amazon is deeming non essential there taking three weeks to ship to me even with prime and a prime item now with the virus. And Amazon prices killed everyone else's including Rock Auto. So I went ahead and installed it all. One issue was the o rings I had were the wrong size so I had to go buy correct kit for Toyota. Also I thought I had a leak before charging it cause I could not hold a vacuum. It turned out to be the o ring in my machine lines. I realized this after pulling them off, noting the vacuum and then after reattaching it had not moved vacuum . So I put freon in it and heard it leaking at the low side fitting, which was the machine side coupler. It's back blowing colder, probably than it ever has! I will attach some pics when I get a chance as my signal is terrible where I am right now.
You have a Sequoia Chainsaw with an AC ??? Sounds pretty cool , guess I'll read your post and see what that's all about .
Nice job!!! Our 04 84.7 liter () v8 4runner started to not cool as well as previously from it's AC 2 Summers ago. I checked the refrigerant and it was low. I topped it off and it's better, but not perfect. Something else might be going, like yours. I'm not going to need with it as this is my wife's vehicle and she'll probably be getting a newer vehicle in a year or less.
Also when u pulled the condenser out I found a 1/2" wrench that someone dropped infront of the radiator between it and the support. It was wedged against two cores of the radiator and had worn through one layer of metal and you could see a visible color change in the metal. It wasn't my wrench as I am not missing one and I don't have whatever set of cheapos that it was (I do have plenty of cheap tools, my good stuff is Pittsburgh). I was glad I could it, wasn't too much longer before it probably sprang a leak there!! I cleaned it off with some brake clean and mixed up a little JB weld and smeared on those two small spots on the cores to give an extra layer of protection.
