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I'm trying to get the factory AC in my 1993 Toyota pickup working. I bought a rebuilt compressor and a receiver/dryer. The system holds a vacuum. The old compressor spun freely when I removed it. I put ester oil in the compressor before I installed it. I'm trying to fill the system with R-152A because it was originally an R-12 system. The issue I'm having is that the compressor doesn't kick on and inhale the gas out of the can like other vehicles I have fixed AC on have. Does anything spring to mind as to what to look at? Yes, the AC button on the dash was turned on.
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Aug 2, 2021 18:24
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 20:01 |
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Like I said, I only know enough to be dangerous. To be honest, I replaced the compressor a long time ago (two years ago maybe). If I remember correctly: The truck didn't even have an AC belt. The previous owner was an old guy weirdo. Truck had radio and speakers removed. I assumed the AC was deactivated as a form of elderly male masochism. The system had no pressure. I put vacuum on it and it held the vacuum. I tried filling the system with the old compressor and had the same results (system did not pull gas from the can). I assumed the compressor was no good from disuse or the clutch had gone bad. The replacement compressor was not expensive so I replaced it. I know that after I swapped the compressor and it still didn't work I "topped off" the vacuum and put the caps back on the ports.
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Aug 3, 2021 00:01
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Motronic posted:Okay, so before you do anything else you need to find the low pressure cutoff switch and mash both wires on it together and see if the compressor clutch kicks on. If not you have an electrical issue first and foremost. Should I do this key-on, engine-off and just listen for clicking from the compressor clutch or is it OK to try it with the engine running?
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Aug 3, 2021 16:38
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Is the dye that easily washed off by incidental water? It is carried in the compressor oil, so it seems like it would at least take some soap or nonpolar solvent to remove it from a surface?
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Jun 20, 2022 18:37
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I had a 1991 Tracer LTS and that I still miss. The A/C didn't work and it was an R-12 system so I never put any effort into getting the systtem working. I had seats from an MX-3, Canadian manual seat belts, and suspension parts from a Ford ZX2 S/R.
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Jul 6, 2022 21:10
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I have had this 1993 Toyota Pickup (2.4L 2WD) for seven or eight years. The AC has never worked. At some point 4-5 years ago I wanted the air to work so I bought a replacement compressor and a receiver/dryer. I installed the parts and pulled vacuum on the system. It held the vacuum. I remember that I turned the compressor upside-down and rotated the guts around in an attempt to drain any factory-filled oil. I added ester oil after installing the compressor and the R/D. I pulled vacuum on the system with the goal of filling it full of R-152. Computer duster gas. For some reason the system would never actually pull in any refrigerant gas. I changed the truck's oil today and while it was up I decided to look at the AC a little more and just got myself more confused. There appear to be four different service ports on the AC system. Two of them are pretty much right on the compressor. One of the compressor-mounted service ports points kind of away from the engine block and the other one points back towards the firewall.  There is another service port on one of the metal pipes coming out of the compressor.  The fourth service port is mounted to one of the metal pipes coming through the firewall.  I don't think this is related to my AC woes, but I also noticed this wire not connected to anything under the truck. It appears to be for an oil pressure sensor/sender?  So the question is where should the retrofit adapters be attached? And which port(s) are for the high pressure side and which are for the low pressure side? This is threaded into the side of the block and looks like an oil pressure sensor/sender. The remnant of a wire connector is attached, but no wires.  Could this block the AC compressor from turning on? My truck doesn't have an oil pressure gauge and I have never seen the oil pressure dummy light illuminate while driving for whatever that is worth.
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Jul 17, 2022 02:50
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KakerMix posted:I'm not an expert but no, the refrigerant itself it diffuses out of the hoses into the environment. This is completely expected and normal behavior over a long enough timeline. Yes, this. Apparently those all-in-one sealed-loop liquid CPU coolers with a radiator and pump will lose coolant through diffusion through the rubber hoses. They can lose enough liquid this way to stop working. Some coolers have a fill port to add distilled water every few years to counteract this very slow loss of fluid. This seems doubly surprising since there isn't any pressure to speak of in those CPU coolers. Also, since the coolant is a liquid at room temperature (fairly strong intermolecular forces), one would assume it would be easier to keep contained than typical refrigerant, which is gas at room temp. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Jul 19, 2022 |
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Jul 19, 2022 23:45
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My 1995 Lexus SC400 has an AC leak. I bought some refrigerant with dye in it from Amazon. It came with a tool to dispense the gas into the fitting on the car. I attached the can to the tool and turned the knob to pierce the can as far as it would go. But it did not appear to go far enough to actually piece the can. I attached the can to another simple "AC filler" hose I had kicking around and it also did not pierce the can. I took a plain old can of refrigerant and attached it to the old "AC filler hose" and it immediately emptied its contents into the car's AC system. Cold air came out of the vents. It was confirmation that the system works at least a little. That much is wonderful. That car is not fun to drive with black paint and black leather with no air conditioning. Is there some new spec to the refrigerant cans that requires deeper penetration (lol) to pierce the can? I have real hoses but I was trying to avoid filling them full of dye. Am I going to need some kind of new tap for the end of the yellow hose on the gauge set going forward?
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Jul 26, 2022 15:53
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I Amazon'd myself some new can tapping fittings. And left a bad review for the kit that had the two cans of dyed R-134a and the tap that couldn't access the can's precious contents.
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Jul 26, 2022 23:24
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Motronic posted:The port on the line coming out of the firewall is almost definitely a low port. So trace that back to the compressor to see which side of the compressor is low and which side is high. Sorry for so much delay on this. I don't know if this really means anything, but the the pack of retrofit fittings I got has a port that fits into the connector on the blue hose of my gauge set (low side) and another fitting that fits on the connector on the red hose (high side). I tried threading what I am pretty sure is the low side retrofit fitting onto the port on the line coming out of the firewall. It does not thread on. The HIGH (edit) side retrofit fitting does thread onto the port on the pipe coming out of the firewall. How authoritative is this as an indicator of whether the pipe is on the high side or low side? Also, the low side retrofit fitting has a valve installed in it. I assume this is supposed to stay and I am supposed to remove the existing valve when I put the retrofit low side fitting and valve on (and not replace the original valve). The new valve is not supposed to actuate the old valve like in a Rube Goldberg machine, correct? PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Jul 27, 2022 |
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Jul 27, 2022 16:19
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Motronic posted:I'd say you can be sure it's low now. God drat it. I hosed up. Edit below: I tried threading what I am pretty sure is the low side retrofit fitting onto the port on the line coming out of the firewall. It does not thread on. The HIGH (edit) side retrofit fitting does thread onto the port on the pipe coming out of the firewall. How authoritative is this as an indicator of whether the pipe is on the high side or low side? Edit to add: The refrigerant I put in the Lexus the other day just to make sure my equipment was working has poofed itself out of the system enough that the AC output went from COLD to slightly-less-hot-than-ambient. When the fittings to access the elusive contents of the self-sealing bottle show up, I'm guessing it won't take long to spot the leak. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Jul 28, 2022 |
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Jul 27, 2022 23:39
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The big tell is this, right? Fatter pipe at compressor is the low side Skinnier pipe at the compressor is the high side
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Jul 28, 2022 16:08
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I inspected the lines going into the compressor. One was about 14mm on the outside, the other was about 12mm. I decided the 14mm pipe was for the low side. I pulled out the existing valve and put the retrofit fitting on. I put a new valve core and a high side retrofit fitting on the service port on the smaller pipe. I connected the gauge set. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the hot side to open up. I think maybe the plunger on the high side connector on my gauge set doesn't protrude far enough to actuate the valve lurking behind the high side retrofit fitting. I pressed on. I put vacuum on the system. I didn't have a lot of time, and computer duster is cheap, so I didn't wait to see if the system held vacuum. I added a can of computer duster using the side tap contraption, and the compressor kicked on! I have never seen the compressor on this truck spin before. It wasn't that hot out this morning but it seemed that cold air was coming out of the vents. There are two issues I noticed. First, the fan output on the truck is weak, even on max output. I usually don't notice because I have to have the windows down. I replaced the fan switch at one point. I can't remember if that included the resistor pack. I guess the place to start there is to find the fan motor and measure the voltage going to it in operation? Second, when I turned the AC off and then turned it back on, the compressor didn't kick back on. When I turned off the engine and turned it back on, the compressor started spinning again like I expected. I'm not sure what to make of that.
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Jul 28, 2022 21:11
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everdave posted:So with computer sister you can just tap the side of the can and add it that way? For r12? Tapping your sister is generally frowned upon whether she is a computer or not.
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Jul 29, 2022 02:12
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Motronic posted:Awesome. On the fan, don't worry about the resistor pack yet - typically that's going to be if the fan only runs on high. What I'd be worried about is the fan motor itself and/or the fan. I've had so many fans that didn't out out enough air volume because they are packed with insulation/carpet padding/whatever from mice. Figure this out, because it will IMPACT YOUR RUNNING PRESSURES AND MAKE KNOWING IF IT THE REST OF THE SYSTEM WORKS IMPOSSIBLE. Sorry for yelling, but seriously - air flow over the evap matters a lot. Motronic posted:I wouldn't attribute that to much of anything at this point. Still to early on in the process. Let's make sure you have proper airflow over the evap and the condenser. I assume there is an electric fan under the hood in front of it. Is that turning on when the AC is on? Something should probably be happening there. This truck has no electric fan. I checked and the only fan under the hood is the mechanical one with a clutch. It does visibly spin when the AC is on, but it spins when the AC isn't on also. Is there a safe way to verify fan clutch engagement? Found this:  file upload image My low-side retrofit fitting is on the pipe labeled Suction Hose in the diagram. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jul 29, 2022 |
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Jul 29, 2022 15:52
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cursedshitbox posted:Motronic is talking about the blower fan which supplies air to the interior vents not an auxiliary condenser fan. Read closer, he mentions both. quote:Let's make sure you have proper airflow over the evap and the condenser. I assume there is an electric fan under the hood in front of it. Is that turning on when the AC is on? Something should probably be happening there. I hosed up my quoting in the previous post. There is airflow from the fan. It is just like one notch below what I'm expecting. I will check out the fan and make sure the fan box isn't full of mouse turds and bedding.
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Jul 29, 2022 16:15
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Getting the fan out was easier than anticipated. The fan itself looks pretty clean.  Back says Denso and MADE IN JAPAN, so I'm guessing it is original. It stops after about one rotation when I spin it by hand. No weird noises or anything.  What I can see of the cavity where the fan lives looks clean.  I poked some multimeter leads into the back of the fan connector with the fan plugged in. I held the fan in one hand and went through the fan speeds with the other hand and watched the voltages change (engine not running). Speed 1: 3.7V Speed 2: 5.0V Speed 3: 7.4V Speed 4: 7.4V (uh-oh) The fan speed also didn't really seem to change between speeds three and four. I'm thinking maybe the fan speed switch is at fault. I could kind hear something that sounded like a relay "glitching" or being confused when moving between speeds three and four.
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Jul 29, 2022 18:28
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Whatever. I ordered a replacement fan switch. I have been meaning to swap out the radio anyway. Having the dash apart to kill two birds with one stone is motivation to actually get it done.
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Jul 29, 2022 19:18
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I pulled the fan speed switch and saw burn marks in it. I ordered a new on from Amazon. While the dash was apart, I might as well change the stereo head unit, right? And the new head unit has a microphone for Bluetooth calling that mounts by the sun visor. The new head unit has more RCA pre-outs, so I guess I should change the way the interior speakers are connected and add a second amplifier for the subwoofer. And if you give a mouse a cookie... You'll end up with an interior full of tools and a truck bed full of interior parts. 
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Aug 8, 2022 16:23
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I got the interior all put back together yesterday. All the fan speeds work now. I took the truck out last night to pick up a new used table saw and the air was cold as hell after driving for a few minutes. The fan blows HARD when the speed is maxed and the blend door is set to recirculate. I didn't test out the previous issue I noticed where the AC wouldn't turn back on after being turned off unless I power cycled the truck. I was upset when the Bluetooth audio said it was connected and playing, but no sound was coming out of the speakers. Somehow the media audio on my phone was set to mute for this brand-new BT device. loving Android.
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Aug 11, 2022 14:56
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 20:01 |
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Does the fact that he replaced a compressor that was locked up increase the chances of an obstruction somewhere in the system? OP with the Civic, did you flush the system when it was open?
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Aug 29, 2022 14:57
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