hupp

I am in the process of removing and replacing the expansion valve on my 79 and have run into a road block. Three of the four fittings are loose and one just does not want to budge (one of the fittings on the evaporator.) I felt the edges of the nut begin to round slightly as I was pulling on the wrench so I decided that it would be a good idea to quit and let the PB blaster soak in a little longer. I'm using a flare nut wrench that I had to grind down a bit, so I could slip it over the fitting (the wrench was too thick).

I have a feeling that this fitting is not going to cooperate and the last thing I want to do is strip it, especially an evaporator fitting. Has anyone out there had to use any creative methods to remove the expansion valve? I'm thinking about cutting the housing rather than risk rounding the fittting. I'm open to ideas.....

Mrmerlin

try using heat and PB blaster have a fire extinguisher ready make sure the lines are empty. if the nut absolutly wont budge then the next best thing is to cut off the nut and replace the part that the nut was attached to, otherwise the nut may be galled onto the other part

hupp

Problem with cuting off the nut is that this would require the removal of the evaporator for repair.

I'll continue to be patient and use some heat if necessary. The lines are empty. My system has been in pieces for some time now.

Tampa 928s

Don't cut anything
It took me three people to get mine off:
One very large slip pliers holding the expension valve body
One kind of large pliers holding the fitting
One person to grap the body and using a wrench on the Expansion valve.
It will come off !!

hupp

I was able to get the valve off this afternoon. What a pain. The fitting got punished a bit but not too rounded. No cutting or heat necessary -- just plenty of PB blaster and patience. This thing was really cranked down. I'm suspecting that this fitting may have leaked in the past and the PO tightened too much to remedy the leak. The o-ring was toast.

Mrmerlin

when you reinstall these parts clean the threads very well and use a bit of anti seize on the threads of the connection only a little bit you dont want to contaminate the system goodluck on your refit also a good time to fluh out the sytem parts before installing them

hupp

I've got a small thread cleaning file I was planning on putting to work before the install of the new valve. BTW - the old valve was packed full of hard oil residue.

My flush kit is in route to the house. I've temporarily installed lengths of hose in the place of the valve to facilitate flushing. My condensor and compressor are out of the car, so I plan on flushing from the condensor outlet hose (up by the radiator) through the evaporator back up the compressor inlet hose fitting and into a bucket under the shark. I'll flush the condensor seperately. All other parts are new in a box and don't require flush.