04 Saturn Vue AC blows cool air for about one minute then hot air

I highly recommend that you get it checked by a professional. You may have a restriction in your system, or the system is way overcharged. In either of these cases, the possibility of high pressure causing lines or hoses to burst and possible severe damage to your vehicle, like a destroyed compressor, is very likely.

Also, check the can that you added freon from. Many of the small cans of freon sold at the local parts retailers have several ounces of "oil charge" in them. Many times, when these cans are used to fill the system, the system ends up saturated with too much oil, which can also cause dangerously high head pressures, which can result in severe damage to your vehicle. In these cases, the system must be evacuated and flushed out to reduce the amount of oil in the system before it will cool properly.

Well, If you want to do the job correctly, you need to properly recover the freon and then evacuate the system before recharging. Failure to do so is ILLEGAL for the recovery part. EPA laws forbid knowingly releasing freon into the atmosphere. There are some hefty fines to pay if the authorities were to find out. Not to mention that I really don't appreciate people who knowingly and willingly pollute the air that I breath. - take that as you will.

For the evacuation part, failure to properly evacuate your system before recharging will leave moisture in the system that can destroy your new compressor. If that happens, you won't be saving any money!The air that is left in the system will take up room in the system that is needed for a proper freon charge and can adversely affect how well your system cools when you are finished.

Here is a possible alternative. Take it to a shop just for recovery and evacuation. The labor charges will not be that much. In fact, some shops will do the recovery for free if you tell them they can just keep any freon that is recovered. You need to do a recovery to remove the freon from the system anyway so nothing blows up in your face when you disconnect system components. Then you can return to the shop after replacing the compressor and drier fo an evacuation. This is a good idea also because the system can be checked for leaks by evacuating and seing if the system holds vacuum. That way you won't be wasting any freon dumping it into a leaking system.
Then you can recharge the system yourself using one of the kits available at your local parts store.

with a/c you usually have to replace the part that is leaking.hose,condensor,evaporator.or if its a seal,seal replacement,schrader valve etc.this needs to be done at a shop that does a/c work as the system will need to be evacuated,repaired,vacumed,recharged,proper oil installed and rechecked for leaks,and checked for proper operation.

This job requires special tools and special training. If you lack either, you risk SERIOUS personal injury. Injury comes VERY EASILY!

You need to address oil levels, proper and legal refrigerant recovery, system evacuation, and recharge.

You were planning to also replace the receiver/dryer, correct? It also needs the oil in it measured and incorporated into the amount of oil (in %) that would need to be added. FAILURE to address these and other issues will guarantee premature system failure and likely compressor damage.

Take this job to a qualified shop.

Sorry

No sight glass on the Saturn system. to know if it's low you would have to install a gage set and connect to the suction and high side of AC to determine if it is low on refrigerant or not. If the suction side has 30 PSI and pressure side is 285 PSI would indicate slightly low. So if it was about right like I mentioned You could have a plugged receiver dryer. You need the tools to do this job because of the expense of the tools to test the system.

Most likely the freon has leaked from the system. Replacing it is a fairly simple process, but finding and repairing the leak is expensive (labor wise). Plus, in the States, federal law prohibits non-licensed personnel from working with freon and it's descendants. Find a good AC service shop and get an estimate--you may not need that AC air as much as you thought! Good luck!

You may have created an over charged condition and at this point the a/c compressor will cut off on high head pressures. This can be verified by installing gauges to the systems high and low side service taps and reading the pressures.An overcharged system will start the compressor briefly but soon cuts off once pressure goes to 350 - 400 lbs on the high side. Acceptable pressures for this system should be no greater than 250 high and low suction should drop to 40-50 psi.You might recover the charge and evacuate the system,then try bringing the charge back to proper level.A sight glass in the reciever drier really helps determining proper fill.Once all bubbles have dissipated from the sight glass during charging ,one should stop at that point to avoid overfilling.Too much freon is worse than a low charge especially in hot ambient conditions....

If Freon was "added", the system may have moisture in it and that causes blockage of the expansion valveand makes the soamolies hijack oil tankers. Just kidding. Figured this would be all foreign to you anyway, no offence.
Ok, Adding freon is not really a good fix. The system should be evacuated with a vacuum pump to remove any moisture in the system which will freeze and block the expansion valve, Hence, no cooling.Having the signs of this problem already should have called for evacuation. Adding freon from a kit increases the possibility of introducing more moisture into the system. You will need to have it properly service at this point. The drier will also let go of any moistue it has trapped when evacuated for 30 minutes @ 29 in. of vacuum - good luck

Take it to a garage and have them evacuate the system and refill with refrigerant. you have air and non condensibles in the refrigerant system.

well you cant just put refrigerant into a system. 1st you had a broken line . so the compressor probally pumped all its oil out and you lost the gas. 2 after such an incident you have to have the system evacuated to remove all the air out of the lines and system. if there is any air or moisture in there it will not run right due to freezing and without oil in there you will destry your pump . i suggest that you take it to a garage and get it evacuated be fore you proceed. then you can refill it. also on your vechile it should tell you how much goes in there like 1lb 6oz and there is an amount written on the can so go by that. putting more in there will do more harm then good and cause alot of headaches and sweating. good luck have a good day