I screwed up big time. HELP

[Roxshot]

Originally Posted by tommy583

Well for starters the air conditioning condensers are in front of the radiators. So what you see is most likely refrigerant blowing out of the hole in your condenser. Was your a/c blowing cold air at all before you tried to recharge it?

It was not blowing cold at all. The pressure gauge read 0 when I started. I periodically checked the vents and I did have cold air blowing shortly before I saw the smoke.

I took a video of the puddle, it seems like green coolant.
https://youtu.be/jStatofU9BQ

[BoxsterSteve]

Originally Posted by Roxshot

It was not blowing cold at all. The pressure gauge read 0 when I started. I periodically checked the vents and I did have cold air blowing shortly before I saw the smoke.

I took a video of the puddle, it seems like green coolant.
https://youtu.be/jStatofU9BQ

It looks like you barfed up an AC condenser. Could be a rock strike or just old age. Pull the bumper cover for a peek. If you had "0" system pressure to start with, there was already a good size leak present.
As for your oily substance, there is oil in with the refrigerant charge to lubricate the compressor. Betcha that's what you're seeing there.

[Jamesp]

Originally Posted by BoxsterSteve

It looks like you barfed up an AC condenser. Could be a rock strike or just old age. Pull the bumper cover for a peek. If you had "0" system pressure to start with, there was already a good size leak present.
As for your oily substance, there is oil in with the refrigerant charge to lubricate the compressor. Betcha that's what you're seeing there.

+1 My bet is you need a new condenser, pull it apart and check. If you have the correct coolant it is pink not green. If it is the condenser you have not screwed up, your AC is just shot. Pull it apart and post pictures, we'll help you through it. No big.

[Roxshot]

I want to thank all of you who talked me off of the ledge! A number of you nailed the issue - My AC condenser is shot so when I was recharging freon leaked out all over the ground and radiator. The radiator was hot hence all the smoke. I was a bit intimidated but thanks to a great YouTube video taking the bumper off was straight forward. The AC recharge kit included a UV additive and light so it was pretty easy to spot the point of failure. Looks like I'm staying AC-less for now and I'm OK with that.

On a related note, good god there was a TON of crap stuck in there. I expected some debris but this was far beyond what I expected.

[Jamesp]

Dead birds are not uncommon. If you want to repair your AC as a DIY it is doable, but it is the pickiest repair to do. You've air and water in your AC freon loop meaning seemingly unrelated parts have to be replaced. Replacing them is easy, knowing to replace them is the trick. You will need a special tool, a vacuum pump to repair the AC. About a hundred bucks or so if you shop around.