Jim Beam

Listers:
Appears to be time to deal with an A/C issue. The A/C compressor on my 1987 Carrera may have gone south. It is with the mechanic now and time will tell the tale. The Porsche OEM compressor seems to be priced off the scale and I am wondering about alternatives. There are a number of A/C upgrades advertised in the Pano - Griffiths, Zims, Retroair, etc. Anyone had experience in dealing with this issue? Comments appreciated. Also, what about rebuilt A/C compressors? My car is not a daily driver and I live in the southwest - not too hot nor humid. I am looking for something functional that will not required a second mortgage - or third mortgage - to accomplish. Suggestions appreciated.
Jim Beam

rusnak

You can get a new Nippondenso (we call them ND) compressor at a lot of places, just call around. You take your old ac clutch off, and put it on the new compressor. But first, find out if it's seized or not. If the mech says your AC compressor locked up, then be prepared to deal with even more issues. If you have to replace the receiver dryer, you might consider a ProCooler.

scottb

It's a pretty common item. No need to buy one from Porsche. Your local compressor rebuilder may have one on the shelf, or they might be able to rebuild yours. Or you can probably get one on eBay. I purchased mine, rebuilt, several years ago from a local rebuilder and it's been fine ever since.

griffiths

The best option for the 84-89 in terms of configuration (ease of installation and displacement) is the OE version (10P15C) Nippon or remanufactured Denso (their remanufactured trademark). Denso typically markets theirs with a clutch attached so you don't have to fiddle with air gap shimming and R&R time on that section of the unit.

If your ac tech said yours went south (meaning its bores and pistons are scoured and the wobble plate is worn) its not worth repairing (you'd have to jig bore or jig grind the bores, match pistons since there are no sleeves in the bores or rings on the pistons, press off the wobble plate, machine and use oversized followers...). However if its a matter of leaky nose seal or case o-ring you could open the puppy up, inspect the pistons and bores and if they are good replace the nose seal and case o-rings and get a few more years out of it.
http://www.griffiths.com/shop/index....roducts_id=190

If the compressor crashed your best to liquid flush the system (hose lines, condensers, evaporator with expansion valve removed) with ac flush solvent, replace the drier, any o-ring you opened up on a fitting, and while you are at it put a low-high pressure switch on the system (since they did not introduce them until the 964 came around) to buy some protection.

If you go the 'rebuilt' route I'd ask questions.. such as whom rebuilt it and what did they inspect and replace. As these compressors get older with the years they cannot be 'economically' rebuilt, hence
Denso has the assets (cases, pistons, wobble plates) to do the job correctly; we use to rebuild many of them years back but as time moves on we found the 'good' rebuildable units are getting harder and harder to find.

llangston1

If you are just replaceing all the hoses with new barrier hoses should you to flush the system? How woulld you flush the system in a 911? Disconnect the hoses from the evaporator and compressor and fluish through the condensers to the evaporator and then flush the evap to compressor hose?

Carlo_Carrera

I bought a NipponDenso replacement for my 85 from this guy on eBay. He has 100% positive feedback and the compressor has worked perfectly for two years now.

The part number is 10P15C, it is the same compressor used in Toyotas, Hondas and Mercedes from that time period.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-...Q5fAccessories

rusnak

Griffiths as always is the man to answer the AC questions, but I think he was referring to flushing the aftermath shrapnel from a locked compressor, which can throw enough metal into the system to plug the receiver dryer and or expansion valve, as well as damage the new compressor.

griffiths

Assuming:
A) your compressor has not crashed, its not old and worn (dump the oil out of it and look at the oil: if there is grey matter in the oil or particles of rubber hose or metal particles you have to flush), AND
B) you are going to use the same type of refrigerant oil and refrigerant (if you had R12 you had mineral oil, if the car was converted to R134a it was either 'ester' or 'PAG'.... you must determine the type of oil by looking at the refrigerant conversion sticker or old repair orders... ) THEN .. you don't have to flush. Some people like to flush, some consider it part of their constitution, however its up to you.

If you need to flush the system and you are replacing hoses, you would flush:
1) Any old hose your not replacing, and
2) All condensers, and
3) The evaporator with the expansion valve removed.
We don't flush compressors, driers or expansion valves.

You can find a/c refrigerant flushing solution in either pre-charged aerosol cans, or there are nifty little canisters that you can fill and connect an air hose to, or some a/c dedicated shops will have flushing machines that shake and bake too.

You should be replacing your receiver drier and if you car has metal flare fittings on the end of the hoses you will need the nifty copper crush washers, if you have aluminum flare fittings on your hose ends you don't use the nifty's, if you have o-ring fittings then you need to replace the o-rings when you replace the hoses. We fabricate our Kuehl brand hoses with aluminum fittings for flare versions and for our o-ring hoses we supply o-rings; and all complete hose sets include installation instructions that save you a lot of time to do the job correctly. We strongly advise you to install an automatic low-high pressure switch in your system and many of our hose sets include this switch which helps to protect the compressor.

UberXY

My 88 Landcruiser uses the same compressor as my 84 Porsche. I bought a reman on ebay for $180 and it has been cooling the old cruiser for 2 years now.

BTW I recently bought one of the better front condensors from Griffiths for my 911. while the system was open, I had it flushed and cleaned, put in a new drier, new expansion valve, new o rings, and converted it back to R12. Very comfortable now on a hot day, but the R12 amazingly expensive.