[neofitou]

Hello All,

My wife took the car to get the air con re-gassed and they said it needed to be re-oiled first or it will just leak out again, a new dryer, gas and then about $300 of labor, I expect I should be able to do all of it except the gas, but knowing how to do it is something I currently don't know to do..

My Aircon Skills all relate to commercial buildings and refrigerant systems. All the car aircon I've done is move the hole system aside intact when changing engines, never pulled one apart before and it has the new challenge voodoo on it.

little help? Anybody got the Jimny Air conditioner FSM Sup 99520-02130?

Cheers,

Neo.

[ajsr]

yes to do it properly it really shoud have a reciver drier.
you really want to find out where it leaked first , or else you will just end up changing every seal in the system.

we gased one the other day that a mate didn't want to put a reciver/dry on that had been opened abot 2 months ago and just tape over the pipes and its running fine. if it were my money though I'd put a drier in.

$300 bucks is pretty cheap for comfort of your family though,and there is a fine line between over and under charged system both of which will produce less than ideal results.

[mattybish]

automotive air con systems are quite easy, but as ajsr has said make sure they find out where the leak is from first up, a lack of oil will not cause a leak, only the result of a leak. the replacement of the reciever drier is ment to occur every time you open the system but if it is vaccuumed down correctly should be ok. remember that it is illegal for anyone who is not qualified to work on any component of the gas system

[neofitou]

Thanks guys,

mattybish wrote:

remember that it is illegal for anyone who is not qualified to work on any component of the gas system

Not here it's not...
In fact I very much doubt that the guys here are qualified or that they vacuum out the system, they probably just vent it. The other day I saw what looked like a bottle of refrigerant gas being used to blow out a drainage hose.. I convinced myself it was butane and ignored it....
Hence the preference to do the job myself.
But if I'm better off getting them to do it then I should probably at least get the parts from au as pretty much everything is half the price.
In fact it might be worth me buying a whole compressor and sending it here than getting them to service it here...?

I will go and have a chat to them this week and see if they are qualified at all, and about me bringing in the parts myself etc.

[mattybish]

ah i just saw where you were from, in that case go for it, it really isnt that hard! however you may need to get some specialist tools like scales, a refrigerant sniffer, guages and a vaccuum pump, because the biggest killer of refrigeration systems is moisture, and being in vanauatu there wont be any shortage of it around, if you need any help with the process just pm me, ive been qualified for about three years

[strop]

Proper place would just use a sniffer machine and run it around the air con system till they find it. Or soapy water spray around flare joins, any leak should be visible then.

[TZAR]

Shep got some do it yourself cans of refrigerant but I don't think they could be air freighted. and sea freight could take to the end of summer. especially on "Vanuatu" time

Maybe charge the system with nitrogen check for leaks using soapy water fix leaks, purge with nitrogen again, then recharge using said cans that shep had.

[neofitou]

Ok, staring to get there..

A mate that coming back is bringing a can or two of Tetrafluoroethane (R134a) from Jaycar, and a set of hoses with the right fittings to refill it.
$17 instead of $70 for the local gas up.

I've ordered a leak detector from eBay for $20.
The local price of the dryer is $160 eBay they are about $50.

Last thing to figure out is how to oil the compressor.

[TZAR]

depends are you converting from R12 to r-134a.

If so then you need to convert the fittings and change all the oil.

I beleive ( i am no a/c expert) that if you are doing a straight top up on r-134a then you can just add some oil rather than change it all. Dependingg on how long the system has been open and if there is any moisture mixed in with the oil.

[shakes]

TZAR wrote:

depends are you converting from R12 to r-134a.

If so then you need to convert the fittings and change all the oil.

I beleive ( i am no a/c expert) that if you are doing a straight top up on r-134a then you can just add some oil rather than change it all. Dependingg on how long the system has been open and if there is any moisture mixed in with the oil.

If the system has been open it needs to be vacced out before regassing.

ANY moisture will effect the system, at best it will get trapped somewhere and corrode stuff. You can get gas with a dye in it too which helps with finding leaks in tricky spots.

shep has a thread somewhere with lots of info in it. Google is your friend to.

[neofitou]

It's not been opened, but if there is a leak I might have to open it to reseal it properly.

I found this on oiling the compressor
http://www.ehow.com/how_4762765_add-oil ... essor.html
Next time I'm on the pc I will look for sheps ac thread

Thanks guys

[daisy]

nitrogen is what we use to find leaks.