jsborn

Thanks again, guys.

For the benefit of the community, a nearly fully charged 944 battery (I had it hooked up to a 6 amp for ~90 mins before driving) lasted me 70-75 minutes and four starts. The starts are what killed me...I had to start the car twice more than I'd planned.

In any case, I made it to Parts Heaven, bought a reman'd compressor (he matched partsgeek.com @ $340 because he felt sorry for me), and made it nearly home. The S2 died ~300 yards from my garage after much heavier than expected traffic on the return trip. A good Samaritan helped me push the car to my driveway. Given that it was ~20 miles each way, I consider myself very lucky.

But Parts Heaven didn't have the correct bolts with the reman'd compressor, so now I'm stuck waiting for those. Then I'll need someone to recharge the a/c system. Hey, at least experiences like this build character...right?

And I'm now looking at a battery replacement since this is the second time I've discharged mine. I'm going to switch to an Optima--no harsh weather here in NorCal.

$500-$600 mistake, all in. Yikes.

tempest411

I'd recommend getting another vehicle as backup, or better yet primary transportation. Relying on an unrestored 944 to get you where you need to go is really playing Russian Roulette!

Jfrahm

For what it's worth I am running R152A "aero duster" refrigerant in my 1992 968, last year of R12 from the factory, and it's working great, very cheap and so environmentally friendly you can spray a koala bear right in the face and he'll thank you for it (note: I have not actually tried this nor should you).

There are some youtube vids on the process.

-Joel.

lart951

And some of these guys recommend Parts heaven over me LOL because supposedly i'm too expensive , I offered you a 30 days money back used ac compressor for $ 135.00 shipped next day with bolts and you passed. Parts heaven doesn't even have 1/2 of my inventory when it comes to 944's good luck for your next parts.

Tiger03447

Or, you can take the broken compressor totally off and go to a welding shop and get the ear Tigged back on...when they do the repair, be certain to run a shaft through BOTH ears to get the alignment correct. If the guy is a REAL welder, he may be able to do the job without discharging the system...The nose of the car will have to be jacked up real high to accomplish this?

tempest411

Hello Lart,

Different subject...If you have a complete set of lines for an early car I can rebuild, I'm interested.

JacRyann

I've repaired those ears with aluminium brazing rods, AlumiWeld or some such. It's low-temp stuff that can be applied with an acetylene torch. There's sufficient surface-area and those ears are actually quite beefy for the loads they experience... under normal usage. Forcing them with the adjuster before loosening the attachment bolts is quite a lot more load than normal.

jsborn

Thanks again, Joel and others, for the constructive tips.

I feel good about the remanufactured unit, but I'll find a welder to try to fix my existing one, whether as a backup or to sell for a low price.

Now, time to look up how to a) prep the system (purge?) for the new compressor installation, and b) possibly refill on my own. There were also oil level directions with the compressor that I need to dig into deeper.

Fun odyssey. Live & learn!

Jfrahm

If your system was working well before and you do not leave it open/unpressurized the dryer should be OK to reuse. You do not add much oil for a compressor swap, there is not a lot of oil in the compressor and not a lot should blow out when you recover your existing refrigerant. I'd say 2oz max. You do not want to pour a lot of oil into the compressor and slug it. If it's rebuilt there should be some clean oil in it now.

I purge and leak test with propane, it's cheap and gets vented all the time. Some people use it as a refrigerant but I believe the head pressure is too high for the Porsche systems, you can address this but IMO with R152A there is no point.

What AC oil are you running and what was in the rebuilt compressor? I have never tried to identify a mystery AC oil but there are probably instructions on the web somewhere.

jsborn

Yup

This is very helpful, thank you. The system is open/unpressurized while I wait to install the new compressor (hopefully tomorrow evening)--I just figured I would need to recharge it anyway so I didn't do anything apart from disconnect the old compressor.

As for oil, the reman'd compressor is prefilled with the correct type, according to the manual it came with. I'm not sure which type, or which type was in my old compressor.

At this point, I'm trying to find out whether it's okay to hook up the new compressor - as it arrived - to my old hoses using the connector off my old compressor, as the new manual specifies. The manual specifies checking oil level, but I don't know how much was in my old compressor.

I'm not too stubborn to take this to a local indy, but I need to use the car this coming weekend - I don't care about working a/c - so I'm hoping to connect the reman'd compressor and be able to drive while I figure out how to refill/repressurize the system.

Thanks for the help so far. I'm climbing a steep learning curve. Fortunately I can commute on public transit in a pinch, and my girlfriend has a car.

Tiger03447

To repressurize the system, you'll need to pull a vacuum on it first. If you left the system unplugged and open to the air for over about 20 minutes, the receiver dryer is shot. It is the last thing to install prior to pulling the vacuum. You might get lucky and pull all the moisture out of it with the vacuum operation, but it's kinda doubtful. Griffiths can help you as to which kind of PAG oil you'll need..depends on what kind of refrigerant you'll be running. there's 3 or 4 different kinds. In the old days, we used a dipstick in the compressor oil reservoir, before installing the compressor. Now, they recommend using a product called "first charge" prior to starting to fill the system. A Haynes tech manual on A/C will be a good purchase and keep you on the straight and narrow to success. Just my .02 cents..

jsborn

Thanks for all the help, from you and others.

I installed the rebuilt compressor tensioned the belt, tightened everything, and will tackle recharging the a/c - with a new dryer I bought - this week. There are several threads on a/c charging, though I might just have a shop do the a/c and the ICV, since I'm short of time the next few weeks.