87 Fifth A/C Conversion to R134a

[Justwondering]

Great news!
Took the car into the mechanic so he could find the leak in the Air conditioner.

THERE IS NO LEAK !!! HAPPY DANCE....

The plan is:
-- compressor is ordered and on the way (nothing like confusing the issue
the new compressor is for the suburban )---
-- already installed the new ports and schrader valves --
1. pull the expansion valve.
2. pull the drier
3. pull the compressor
4. Flush, flush, flush
5. Install the new expansion valve
6. install the new drier
7. replace oil in old compressor
8. install old compressor
9. have mechanic pull another vacuum and charge the system

Officially, its t-minus 6 days and counting until compressor gets here...(again, why I suddenly had a brain fart and mixed my suburban compressor issue with the fifth...
There is no wait... I just need to flush the fifth system and put in the expansion valve and drier, then charge the system.

Pictures and process as it unfolds

 

[BudW]

Great news about no A/C leaks. If system is full, then I doubt you have an A/C compressor failure (might have but I doubt it). The C171 Compressor is a fairly good compressor compared to a lot of other ones out there.

I suspect your heater might be stuck on, sense you do have ATC. The heater will overpower the A/C, no matter how good the A/C works. Before spending time/money on parts, you might want to disable the heater circuit first, and perform a test.

They make an official tool for this, but if you have a large pair of vice grips you can use it.
Clamp down on one of the heater hoses to roughly 1/4th the size . Any more and you might damage a hose. It doesn’t matter which hose.

Run A/C and see if it is blowing cold/cool.
If cold/cool, then I’d leave the A/C hydraulic system alone and work on the heater/ATC problem.
If still warm, then I’d go for the above mentioned plan.

BudW

 

[Justwondering]

Bud --
I'll give it a try tomorrow if all goes well.
Today was a bust -- front tractor tire went flat, in the mud waller and I had to change it - off, fixed, back on. My clean shirt and jeans were covered in mud before I was done.
Then went to wash up and the water pressure was gone.
Checked the pump house and filter was kablooey.
Changed the filter and the 2 inch line coming in had the come aparts.
Fixed the line and waited 2 hours to pressure test, first two filters are fine but the carbon filter now has no pressure.
Shut it all down and have to troubleshoot that in the morning.
Then if all goes well ... I can test the car heat & a/c.

Definitely an uphill battle today.

 

[BudW]

Sigh.

I was coming home from getting parts off of the '80 Aspen wagon today (see another thread), and wife called saying minivan is making weird noise and smoke is coming out from under hood. She went on to say the noise stops when A/C was turned off (at least she didn’t try to drive home with it still on).

I looked and the A/C compressor had locked up on it. It has been making a lot of noise and it was in our budget to fix later in the summer (I guess it will be earlier in the summer . . .).

Sorry to hear about your troubles. It seams to come in spurts.

 

[Justwondering]

Heck I woke up on the green side of the grass. It's all good

 

[BudW]

Grins, aye!

 

[David Clark]

It's all good, we woke up to a Farrowing Sow today. 3 Piglets so far. Heck, I still haven't checked to see if the Dippy or the 5th has AC in them LOL. I keep forgetting. We don't usually use the stuff anyway unless it gets over 80 degrees out here.

Tractors suck. My ol JD 3010 keeps loosing Battery voltage somewhere. Gotta hunt that shit down now, Batteries go from 13 volts to 5 Volts just sitting overnight. UGH

 

[Justwondering]

Do what my dad does on the backhoe. Take the lead off the battery post after you finish using it.

 

[David Clark]

Well, I would, but, it's such a pain in the ass where the battery's are mounted, one on each side in tipping boxes and barely enough room to get a wrench in there let along the Clamps for the damn battery charger. Might put on a Disconnect Switch though, soon as I can get back into town and pick up a couple.

 

[Justwondering]

alright, I have everything off the car (almost) getting ready to flush the system.

How in the heck do you remove the last bolt on the a/c compressor. Standing at the front of the car, looking at the compressor, its the driver's side rear bolt.

I swear I would be done 30 minutes ago if I wasn't fighting access to that bolt.

 

[BudW]

There are six bolts that hold the compressor in place. Two each from front and rear going towards the middle, top center and rear bracket to intake.
The two rear bolts get removed once A/C compressor is removed from vehicle and is on a “bench” (or whatever). The trick is to remove the rear downward facing bolt that attaches rear bracket to intake manifold, first.

That bracket makes installing the compressor a lot easier & faster (if bracket it attached to compressor, first).

Does your replacement compressor come with clutch attached? If so, great. If not, then that is another can of worms to work with.

BudW

 

[Justwondering]

clutch is attached.
I'm just frustrated by all the hoses in my way. Its difficult to get to the nut to back it off.
And yes, I am completely baffled by the 5 different sizes of sockets needed to remove the various fasteners.

It took a long time, but I finally got the compressor off. It is sitting and draining oil before I reinstall it. All the lines have been flushed, the condenser flushed and the evaporator flushed.

Now I am trying to remove the low pressure cutoff switch from the expansion valve. (tell me you are so very impressed with that sentence.... even more so because I've correctly named the items and I know where they go in the car....this is just toooo cool for words)

Got to go look for a wrench large enough to remove this switch without busting it since I didn't buy a new one.

 

[BudW]

Now I am trying to remove the low pressure cutoff switch from the expansion valve. (tell me you are so very impressed with that sentence.... even more so because I've correctly named the items and I know where they go in the car....this is just toooo cool for words)

Thumbs up.

You can re-attach the expansion valve and then have spare hand to remove the sensor (so to speak),
Hanging onto the expansion valve/block and removing/re-installing the sensor is hard to do without damaging it (or yourself).

You might want to clean the valve again, after sensor replacement – just to make sure no dirt got into the parts.

We will have another ASE certified Master Technician, in no time (less the certificating part . . .).

 

[Justwondering]

Alright - everything is back in the vehicle. But it took me all day probably 6 hours. Easily another hour putting tools out and putting the tools up.

I definitely need help with two things:
1. organization of tools
2. what the heck do you do when you drop a nut and it doesn't go all the way to the ground/cardboard? I swear I spent an extra 40 minutes (20 once on the way out, 20 once on the way in) with compressor nuts that I dropped. Damn.

My biggest frustrations:
1. 5 different sizes of nuts or bolts within metric and standard... no wonder folks get frustrated working on this... I am pitiful when it comes to estimating the size, so I keep searching for the right socket.
2. The extra bolt and washer I had left over when this was all done. I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out where I screwed up. Looking over everything. Talked it through to husband, talked it through to brother. I was horrified. Then I looked at my sheet and realized the new expansion valve came with a new bolt. So I should be one up on the bolts. Big relief.

Got the belts back on and car started up. Taking it in to the mechanic to have him review all my work and see where I goofed up. I put ester oil with dye in it so it will show up easier for him.

Will post pictures and the final results after I hear back from him.

Thanks to BudW for your advice and to Darth-Car for the mid-afternoon pep talk.

 

[BudW]

It may have taken 6 hours, but you earned a dozen on experience.

Organization of tools - um, still working on that one.

Knowing what bolts go where, plenty of pictures.

Dropping your nuts (finding a nut house willing to take me . . .) - still working on that one, but I have discovered working on grass or leaves is a NO NO!
Having a kid around helps (pick up that nut, pick up that tool, etc.) - if you can keep their attention long enough.

I have 3 pair of extendable claws and 3 pair of magnets on a two foot flex stick (one pair for both garages and one for front porch) - and still can’t find one when needed.

After a while, you can look at a bolt and pretty much guess its size.
Most metric bolts have numbers on them (ie: 8.9, etc.) and most standard bolts have lines in them (look at first chapter in your service manual for more details) - which helps you know what series of sockets to pick up.

The ‘80's series of Chrysler vehicles - were about half Metric and half Standard. They changed things over as items got updated (example was A/C compressor (C171) was Metric when it changed from RV2 in ‘78 or 79).

 

[Master M]

I am impressed with your determination to finish and not give up. NICE JOB.... To keep parts from falling where I don't want them I will cradle a piece of newspaper right under where I am working so I don't have to be concerned with where a small part would fall.

 

[Justwondering]

Thanks Master M..
You know that newspaper trick would have worked fine. The compressor sits on top and there were two different levels that tiny bits could fall to before getting to the ground. I finally gave up with the flashlights and just closed my eyes while I felt through all the grim, grit, and tiny areas til I felt something move.

I was very motivated to finish mechanicals yesterday (ugly weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow) and the new a/c compressor for the suburban came today. So my next chore is already waiting on me.

 

[BudW]

They advised us to be “Weather Aware” again, today.
Most of it will be South of me (in your neck of the woods), tonight and tomorrow, but it might brush by us.

BudW

 

[Justwondering]

I've got the a/c compressor for the suburban but am waiting for a full day of good weather before I start that project. Got the Fifth down at the mechanics and he's going to go over every thing I've done and make sure it is good to go as well as charge the system.

So I'm doing regular chores today in case bad weather hits. This has been a very odd spring.

 

[Justwondering]

BudW,
Humidity is thick right now. Clouds are building. Pressure is way up... Lots of heat.
Wind is gone. Deathly still out there....