[DMCForum] Re: 25 hour a/c airathon is over (long)

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wouldn't it have been faster and easier simply to tell JoAnn that
you're the Man, and as such you'll decide what the interior
temperature of the vehicle will be?

Welcome to the land of the air conditioned. Makes you weak, but what
the hey -- some things aren't worth dying for.

I have an adapter to connect an R134 charging hose to a 1/4" manifold
vacuum nipple if the system starts to leak again...

Bill Robertson
#5939

>--- In DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, billsfanmd@xxxx wrote:
> After 25 hours over a 3 day period I now have cold air conditioning.
Walt, 
> who was up visiting his sister before the show had agreed to help
Rich and 
> myself overhaul and convert our a/c systems to r134. After promising
my wife a/c 
> for the 10 hour trip to PF I had to admit defeat in not succeeding.
Despite our 
> best efforts, replacing all the hoses and only one day to work we
could not 
> get the system to hold a vacuum and we ran out of time. You donâ??t
realize until 
> you begin how much work it actually involves. First, special thanks
to Walt 
> for doing this for at least the fifth time on other cars, Dave
Stragand for 
> talking me down from the ledge on the phone and for Travis whoâ??s
endless optimism 
> makes every repair on this car seem like changing a lite bulb :-)
>  
> On day one we replaced all my a/c hoses on the car. What makes this
tricky is 
> in order to get the hoses on the car it requires the final 2 crimps
to be 
> made at the compressor as the hoses will not fit through the frame
with them on. 
> Walt brought an expensive crimper and did these perfectly. He
meticulously 
> went through my entire system and after about 8 hours of detailed
cleaning, 
> replacing o rings and reconnecting everything we were ready to pull
a vacuum. What 
> I quickly learned is that pulling a vacuum is easyâ?¦.what your car
needs to do 
> is HOLD a vacuum When Walt turned the pump off (which is the
equivalent of a/c 
> life support) I watched in horror as the needle went from -30 and
fell back 
> to 0 in about a minute. In a/c terms that might as well be a crater
size leak. 
> Undaunted Walt informed me that it was time to remove the evaporator as 
> several signs pointed us in that direction. I notified my wife and
kiddies and next 
> of kin that I would not be seen for a while. I now know how much
work that is 
> especially when Walt decided to drive 800 miles to go jet skiing in New 
> Hampshire till the parts arrived :-)
>  
> To make a long story short it took the better part of 2 days to
remove, label 
> and carefully organize the pile of car parts, screws, nuts and bolts in 
> baggies. One task that I can say is the most frustrating is removing
the *&^% 
> orifice tube. For whatever reason they will not come out! Even with
all of Waltâ??s 
> removal tools they can require up to 2-3 hours to get out if they
break into 
> pieces. We ended up using a corkscrew which pulled the final section
safely from 
> the evaporator. We even had a hard time getting the new one in
because of a 
> slight indentation in the evap pipe.
>  
> Once at the evaporator I told Walt that I always smelled a trace of
coolant 
> when my heat was on and that I also felt heat under the drivers side
footwell. 
> Sure enough there was a pinhole leak in my heater core that was
draining 
> coolant out my a/c drain hose. Also that foam piece that seals the
back of the core 
> had come unglued.
>  
> After taking out the old evaporator and pressurizing it we found 3
pinhole 
> leaks that were the culprit. There were no evaporators at Pigeon
Forge so I 
> ordered the replacement parts from Josh and must give him hats off
for getting the 
> core and evaporator tested and to my door 4 days after the DCS ended.
>  
> It took about 8 more hours to put both back in and get the whole
system back 
> together. This included Walt making 4 or 5 repairs along the way
including my 
> mode switch. I learned you need to patience to not have any left
over parts or 
> break anything during re-entry. We broke nothing and it went together 
> perfectly with no leftover parts.
>  
> The moment of truth had arrived. I give Walt the go ahead to pull
vacuum. The 
> pump kicks on and the gauge quickly drops to -30 and we are all
smiles. I 
> then give him thego ahead to take her off life supportâ?¦He flips
off the switch 
> and we watch in horror as the gauge sinks back down -28, -25, -20
etc. etc. I 
> have lived in my garage for 3 days, I am tired, and I feel all is
lost. Walt on 
> the other hand is all smiles as it yet another chance to find and
fix yet 
> another problem. He throws some 134 in the system so he can use his
sniffer to 
> look for leaks. It did not take long to hear the hissing under the
front right 
> tire. The culprits were a missing o ring on the high pressure
switch, a bent 
> Schrader valve and the wrong size o ring on another plug. Walt
quickly fixed and 
> kept sniffing for more leaks. None were found so we tried again.....
â??Pull 
> vacuum!â?? I ordered. Okay, the moment of truth. Turn the pump off.
I watch as the 
> guage stays at -30. 15 minutes later we come back outside and the
reading is 
> still perfect. So we draw a vac for an hour while we finish putting
the dash 
> back together. There are a lot of other obstacles we had to correct
or work 
> though but that would take too long to mention. I must say I have a
new respect 
> for anyone that has a working a/c system. There are so many steps
involved and 
> places for it to leak from and if you have had to replace your
evaporator you 
> know how much work it is. 
>  
> I accomplished about 10-15 repairs while doing this including a
corroded 3rd 
> speed fan socket. It was green. Walt fixed each of these as we went
and now I 
> have nice cold A/C. Who knows how long it will last but for now its
perfect. 
> Again, thanks to Walt for all his persistence. He really knows his
a/c stuff.
>  
> Hope I did not bore anyone but after living out of my garage and
having my 
> wife wait on us for 3 days and take care of the kiddies this is my
first contact 
> with the outside world :-)
> 
> The problem now is the weather forecast is for the mid 80s this week
so now I 
> donâ??t need a/c :-)
>  
> Mike C
> 2109 with cold a/c
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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