sharknoob

Right next to the sight glass is that a shut off valve ... well was that a shut off valve or a fitting to charge the system its leaking oil from there

dr bob

There's a pressure relief valve there. If it's leaking, it's likely that you had a critical overpressure event. Chernobyl had one, yours not quite so bad. Hopefully. You'll replace the drier and the expansion valve(s), replace lost oil in the system, evacuate and recharge. You'll want to make sure the cooling fans are functioning perfectly, since the cause of high-side overpressure is lack of airflow or obstruction to condenseed-liquid flow. Later GTS cars from mid'93 MY came with a cute little dual-pressure safety switch that cuts off the compressor before the safety valve is needed. It takes a little bit of work on the electrical conector to get it to work in earlier cars, but it will save you if there's a fan or other failure that subjects you to excessive pressure there.

sharknoob

Thanks DR.
I am thinking that it rotted or just gave out... It was a week ago that I saw a little oil as I walked up to the car, and I wasn't using the AC. I cut the belt off to drive it home. I looked at it today and it leaked a lot more. The system has not been worked on for at least 15 years, So I know its R12. The damn thing was still blowing cold air last month too.

If I feel like fixing it my only choice seems to be a change over.... Does a vendor have a "kit" with the drier, O-rings and such yet?

dr bob

Jeff-

10 years or more ago, DR put together a care package with o-rings, expansion valves and a new drier for me. I resealed and converted to 134 at the same time and never looked back. I suspect that any of the regular suppliers can do that for you today.

---BUT---

R-134a is a lot fussier about cooling fan performance, especially when ambients are greater than 90-95º or so. The condensing pressure goes up very steeply as temps get higher than that, compared with R-12. For your split mechanical-plus-electric fan setup, it would be hard to recommend a conversion without some serious looking at the fans. Since the overpressure protection device popped with R-12, changing to R-134a might not be the best move until you first figure out why it released with R-12 in the system.

You can still find R-12. You'll need to have a current EPA 609 license to buy it, but you can do an online train & test for that pretty easily. There's usually some om e-bay, and at least one of our vendors will likely PM you with info on stuff he has.

WallyP

If I opened the system, I would change every accessible O-ring to the new coumpound. The old hardened O-rings are very common leak sources.

Any yes, Jeannie still furnishes complete O-ring and drier kits. You can call her at (828) 766-9280.