Thanks for the clarification. Tomorrow I will add a few ounces of R134A and hope it helps. BTW several months ago I sprayed and then rinsed the condenser several minutes with a product used to clean outside AC home units. It did improve cooling somewhat.
Thanks
**
Standard exhaust gaskets will do, Francois. And, unless inspections show otherwise, you don’t really need to change the gasket on the other branch - unless it is removed…
As an aside; I don’t see any particular reason to install a lightweight compressor to save weight on a 2 ton car…
Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
It’s not a 2 ton car… but makes installation negligibly easier. Just has to be one with the right bracket, connections and pulleys…
Today temperatures outdoors were mild for mid July, mid seventies, but high humidity. I figured that’s good weather for the task ahead. I still have a large can of R134A which came with a recharge hose as well as a gauge to check pressure. I started up the engine, turned on the a/c, then attached the gauge to check the reading. To my surprise, the gauge which obviously gets its reading from the low pressure side of the system, showed only 36 PSI, which is strange since just two weeks ago the folks at the shop claimed they got a reading close to 60. I’m guessing that might be because it was a much warmer weather that day at the shop, hence, perhaps the higher pressure reading. Anyhow, I hooked up the can of R134A to the low pressure side of the system and gave several short squirts as the engine and a/c were running. I know the system took the R134A because the gauge was now up to 50 PSI, and the can felt nice and cold in my hand, which I’d assume means some refrigerant was indeed fed in to the system. I then drove 10 miles on the highway to an intended destination. I felt the air was cooler coming from the vents, and I know it was not wishful thinking, because after driving several miles, the a/c system on auto actually lowered the fan speed of air coming out of the vents. On the drive home, outside air temperatures were warmer than earlier, the sun was burning brightly, and outside air temperatures were close to 80 and very humid. Fortunately, my vents were still blowing cold air, but now with warmer outside temperatures as well as a warm leather interior having baked in the sun for a time, the system did not switch to a lower fan setting, which is ok, since I wanted cold air blowing in my face. It would seem your theory about a/c shops undercharging systems makes sense. What are our thoughts on this latest development?
Thanks
Mel R.
You effectively confirmed your system was undercharged. What you don’t know is whether it’s still undercharged. You added some, it got better, but you don’t know if you added enough to achieve optimum performance. I suppose you could add a tad more, see if it gets better yet. Like I said, a little overcharged is no problem, although overcharging a lot would cause performance to drop off dramatically.
I went back down to the garage. Engine still warm from drive earlier today. I hooked up 134A started up the engine turned on AC and looked at gauge which looked like 46. Moving the can from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock I squeezed the trigger several times till the gauge hit 57 at which time I stopped since at 60 the gauge was marked WARNING . I decided to quit while I’m ahead. Today is a very humid day and I do believe thanks to your advice AC performance is significantly improved. Thanks again.
Mel R