jwlester

bump

jwlester

I know a lot of people just delete the AC on these cars but dang. No one has any advice/experience to share about what you did? Has anyone rebuilt their compressor themselves? I'm thinking about going this direction with the kit on Griffith's site.

cheers, Josh

danny951

Here is a question for the thread..


I just had my compressor replaced with a rebuilt stock unit. I'm having overheating problems now with my cooling system, and I assumed it was unrelated, but others have chimed in saying it may be due to a possible overcharged a/c system. Can anyone shed any further light on this possibility? I don't have the means to check the pressure myself so I'd have to have the shop do it (which I will certainly do if this is a viable possibility).

dacula951

If the A/C is working good, the likely cause of your overheating problem is not overcharge. Assuming your A/C system was poorly functional or non functional before the rebuilt compressor, the A/C condenser was not releasing heat. Now that the condenser is releasing heat (A/C is a transfer of heat from the evaporator to the condenser), more strain is being placed on the radiator because now it is getting air somewhat heated by the condenser. You may have an issue with coolant flow through the radiator.

If the A/C system is not working good when the car overheats, you then likely have an issue with the radiator fan.

jwlester

That would be my first guess....radiator fan. Is the second radiator fan kicking on when you switch the AC on? I actually had one loose one time and didn't realize it. It kicked on but wasn't ever getting up to full speed. It may be too simple to ask but you have checked the normal cooling system stuff right? Like make sure the system is bled properly etc. Goodluck.

Cheers, Josh

danny951

The mech at Zim's has been over everything he can come up with. He pressure tested the coolling system, replaced the thermostat, says the fans are ok and I visually checked that both fans are blowing. He did note that he thinks I have a lower temp thermoswitch in my radiator because my fans go to high speed much sooner than he is used to seeing.

However, I was not aware that both fans are not usually running at high speed -- you are saying that one of the fans is usually only kicked on when the a/c is engaged?

dacula951

On 85.5 cars and up, both fans should run at the same time and at the same speed. The fans should run with the A/C on regardless of coolant temperature. If the A/C system high pressure goes above a certain threshold (14 Bar), the fans should kick in to high speed, again regardless of coolant temperature.

How are you determining that you are having an overheating issue? If only going by the dash gauge, is it possible the gauge is incorrect?

jwlester

Damn, really? I guess now that I think about it, that makes sense. I'm not sure either was working right then....haven't thought about it since. Good bit of info non the less. Thanks.
Cheers, Josh

jwlester

Bump....anyone got any more info to share on what they did??

Cheers, Josh

marky522

I guess i dont see why you jumped all over him, he made the point that i always try to make, and I have gone back and forth with Zero10 on the same thing. Zero10 posted a very detailed explanation about a hydro-based refridgerent, and doesnt mention its illegal to use where a good portion of people on Renny live.

I understand that it may work almost as well as R12, but that doesnt cange the fact its illegal to use in the US. Peronally, R12 isnt that expesive to use, I still get it locally for about $25 a can, when/if i decide to charge my car, ill just use r12.

"Look around the net for a while and you too will find all sorts of misinformation, and speculation. The fact that the EPA has the info still doesn't seem to stop all of the crap out there. SO yes, there's a lot of sketchy info. "

All i can say about that is look at your source, if you would rather believe somone on the net, instead of the EPA, then go for it. Hey who are you to believe me, I just do this as my everyday job, but why should you believe anything i say?

Mark

ehall

I think you are both misunderstanding me. The purpose of the thread is simply to provide a good info source in one spot. I wasn't jumping all over him, at all. Zero10 is a good guy and knows a hell of a lot about these cars. It appeared to me that he was questioning why the thread existed, at all.
It exists so that folks can come to it and get all of the legit info that they need. I'm not remotely disputing the EPA info, I'm saying that even though it is there, people still use all sorts of flammable hydro carbons, as refridgerents, even though it doesn't comply with the EPA approvals or reccomendations.

Hell, porsche says we can't safely run 18" wheels on 951's, but a huge number of us do, without any problems.

So, it's good to have a thread that has an open "real world" dialog and info source, based on what folks are actually doing, rather than what it says in the book. What people take away from the thread is up to them, but I want them to have all the info that they can get, before they make a decision that could be dangerous, out of guidelines, or a gamble.

That said, we take gambles that turn out to be perfectly safe and effective, such as deleting T-Bars. Folks should be able to find as much AC knowledge as possible, from this one thread.
That is the intent.

Rob 3

I'm glad this thread was started. I've followed A/C questions for a while as mine is weak. I have seen some reports of just cleaning the system and using 134 rather than R12. Some have luck and others do not. R134 seems to work better and can generate lower temps if the system is designed for it but it may evantually leak out of an R12 system more readily that the R12, at least according to the info on the Griffiths sight. If I can get R12, I'll just recharge my system with the material it was designed to use. To switch, I'd rather go with a total system design for optimum efficency, but that appears to be about a 1K switch all told.
Bottom line, thanks ehall for starting this repository of information.

Zero10

I get it, you get really touchy if people step in to the areas that you feel you know very well. That is no reason to go bashing us. This thread's purpose is to be constructive. Let's build on this.

The replacement refrigerants I suggested MAY be illegal in parts of the US. A good number of listers are Canadian, we don't have the same laws. It is not my jobs to know the laws where you live, that is your responsibility, sorry. The laws up here say that you need to place a retrofit sticker in a conspicuous location and that you need to change the valves when you change the refrigerant in use on a vehicle. In my case that would be: Done and done. Everybody doing this, please abide by these rules if they apply to you. I don't want to promote illegal activity on Rennlist. My rule of thumb is if you can buy the stuff at a local parts store, and you are concerned about the EPA regulations and their impact on your life / car, then ASK THEM about whether it is legal and what steps you must perform to use these refrigerants. If they sell them it is their duty to know. I recall reading that you cannot legally buy R134A or R12 unless you carry certification in the USA so they may be very difficult to find at local stores. I strongly caution against buying on EBay or shipping from distributors in other countries / states as they may have different laws in place and could be aiding you in violating local laws.

I do not want to start an argument about what refrigerants are better or worse for the environment, cooling, your car's longevity, or even your ***** size, that is just like starting another oil thread and I think that just wastes both space and everybody reading this thread's time. For some comparison on EPA / government rules I offer an anecdote. A year or two ago I ordered a big bag of LEDs from China, they came with a warning tag that they were CLEANED WITH R12 and that you should not breathe any air in the bag and should wash your hands immediately after handling them. Laws are different in different places.


I have had very positive experiences with R12 replacement (hydrocarbon based refrigerants) and wanted to share these experiences with the community.

If you are installing R12 into a system that you even SUSPECT could leak you are violating the law as well, I remember reading this in part of an EPA document when I was looking to buy some R12 a couple years ago. We need to be very clear that there is to be no illegal activity on Rennlist. As far as I am aware the only legal method to replace R12 in to a R12 system would be to pressurize the system with another gas and a leak finding agent, locate and repair every POSSIBLE leak THEN charge the system with R12. Hydrocarbon refrigerants are not regulated in the same way (within Canada at least), so one can legally head to Canadian Tire / Partsource / wherever, buy a couple cans of Red Tek, charge their system and use a sniffer to find the leaks. Pretty sensible for us DIY'ers. To make it even easier, you do not have to remove all air from the system to properly charge it, although you should change the drier. Seems pretty DIY friendly to me, and again, entirely legal in Canada. A full "retrofit" kit, including sticker, fittings, charging hose and 2 cans of refrigerant typically rings in at $50, pretty good bang for buck as opposed to getting certified just to buy R12.

Sorry if I am coming off a bit rough here, but your post has left me offended and I feel the need to defend myself. This is known to frequently come off as me stomping and grunting like a rhinoceros but I've tried my best to put that into words above. Still trying to be constructive here, but if I'm just being a big *** then feel free to delete my post.


EDIT:
I just checked the RedTek website, and although what they post is rather likely entirely propaganda, they have offered one piece of evidence that looks rather believable to a person like me. This is taken verbatim from the FAQ regarding Red Tek R12a:

Do you have anything to add on this quote? Has it been updated / repealed? Does it still apply? It specifically says when replacing non-ozone depleting first generation alternatives... How does that fit in here?

ehall

Hey zero,

This was my response to your input about red tek. I'm still not sure where I created an impression that I was acting aggressively towards you.

ehall

I just realized that mark confused my reply to curt, as a reply to your post about red tek. My response was to curt, and had nothing to do with you or any of the info that you provided. It appears that curt was under the impression that I was calling yours, or for that matter, his input, "sketchy". You guys took that much differently than I intended it.

My point about sketchy info, was in relation to the info that you might find on similar sites to RL, as well as any conglomeration of DIYers., not to any of the info shared in this thread.

At no time was I implying that any of the info provided in this thread, was sketchy.
Hopefully that clears things up.

There was no harm intended here.
Curt, I apologize for seeming a bit short with you. I appreciate the input you've added to the thread. I hope there are no hard feelings.
E