Hi Scotty,
I have a Santafe 2013 with 179000 kms. Its over 5 years since it was checked for any refrigerant. Is it a good idea to check for and fill if needed?
If the AC is working properly you shouldn't worry about it
if it blows cold, you're fine.
Since the only way to tell if you have the correct refrigerant level is to evacuate and recharge the system I'd leave it alone if it's working OK.
Can't you just hook up gauges why would you have to evacuate and recharge your system just to check the refrigerant level
Not on a modern car with a variable-displacement compressor. The compressor will work to keep pressures up even if there is inadequate refrigerant to provide cooling on a hot day. So the system would have to be very low for it to show up on the gauges and modern AC systems require the refrigerant to be within a few ounces of specification in order to work properly.
So, there is no way to actually check the refrigerant level in a modern car except by evacuating the stuff and weighing it, which is what professional HVAC equipment does. Then you install the proper amount of fresh refrigerant.
Sorry you didn't like the answer (down vote), but that's just the way it is.