hopps

Hey all, I've been dealing with no A/C for a little over 2 years now, and I thought i could stand the Georgia heat...but it's starting to get to me now. With a big road rally coming ahead (Rally Appalachia 2011), I really want to get the A/C to work again. I might kill myself if I have no A/C for that trip (spoiled much? haha)

So here's the deal, I got the A/C looked at a while ago, after I replaced the dryer and the compressor (dryer was brand new and A/C compressor was a rebuilt known to work). The guys I took it to said that he couldn't complete the A/C charge because there was a block in the firewall or something like that. Basically, I wanted to know what you guys know about this, and how I could go about solving this problem. Is this something I have to take the dash out for? Or is there a possible way to fix it with the dash still in. Either way, I'll probably have to take the dash out...speedo went out on my way to work. Everything else works fine though.

Thanks guys

944Ross

Sounds like the expansion valve is what he thinks is blocking flow. Is your car early or late? I'm pretty sure you can get to the exp valve on either from the cowl area.

max_boost951

+1 on expansion valve. i believe on an '86 you have to take the dash semi-out.

hopps

Ouch. Sorry, forgot to say it was an '86 N/A lol. Just my luck.

PorscheDoc

Shouldn't have to pull the dash, you can pull the blower motor and come in from the top.

I was just ripping the HVAC out of my 86 the other day, and the valve looked pretty accessible. I know for a fact it can be done from the top on later cars (88 for example), and I don't know what would have changed between 86 and 88.

PorscheDoc

Here is a link to a kcws member that did it on his 88

http://www.kcws.org/index.php?showtopic=3972&hl=

944Ross

Here's a good thread on RL

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...ve-access.html

tkrtape12

Thanks guys... having the same issue..this helps a great deal...

hopps

Woo! Well, I went ahead and ordered the expansion valve. Hopefully it gets here this weekend. I'm really surprised at how simple the job looks. But with my luck, I'll probably have everything else go wrong and the job will go from easy to PITA.

Thanks for all the links and help! I'll let you guys know how it goes this weekend

John_AZ

Keep the old expansion valve for a spare.

Some pro AC techs will try to backflush the expansion valve before buying a new one.

Make sure you have the correct "O" rings for the valve, it may not come with any.

I bought an expansion valve locally (AutohausAZ) and needed to return it. Wrong part listed in vendor catalog.

Flush your AC lines/condensor before installing the new expansion valve or you may clog the new one.

GL
John