2003 Ls Air Conditioning Dead After Hissing

[NorthLS]

Hi there, could use some help,

I just came back from holidays (two weeks) and drove my 2003 LS430. Bad news (well, not driving it but the sound).

I heard a hissing sound in the cabin when I turned on the A/C. I went outside but the sound was not coming from the engine bay.

Came back in and turned off the A/C. Had a sinking feeling it was the gas in the A/C system. It was.

The next day I went to use it and there was no longer any hissing sound but also no cold air.

The seats own cooler still works but no cold air out of the climate system.

Anyone else had this on an LS430 (I have seen the posts on the LS400s)? If so, what was your issue?

Easy fix or am I looking at mucho dinero? Is this a fix I can do or am I crazy?

For background, I live on the West Coast of Canada and so the A/C system doesn't get a lot of use but it is used regularly.

I thank anyone in advance for any help they might have.

[1990LS400]

I guess the first thing to check is to see if there is adequate refrigerant in the system. The 134a A/C system in my 00 LS400 blows hot air if the refrigerant level is only slightly low. A safety feature on the compressor should prevent it from running if the refrigerant level gets too low to lube the compressor.

The repair manual set for my 00 LS has about 40 pages of instructions for diagnosing A/C problems. Don't know if it works the same on your LS430 but my 00 LS400 can be put into A/C self diagnosis mode ... "Turn the ignition switch ON while pressing the A/C control AUTO switch and REC switch simultaneously." If a code is displayed on the A/C LCD, that is only the beginning. Most of the codes listed in my manual can represent several different potential problems that have to be diagnosed separately. Let's hope it is a simple leak from a fitting somewhere ... it's often something simple.