AC woes...

[White80]

Haven’t been around much lately. Between work that never ends and remodeling the house in what spare time I have, my poor Land Cruiser has only been hosed off a couple of times and fuel put in it the last several months.

The AC died in the early spring and I’ve just been sucking it up as there’s been zero time to mess with it. Made plans to tackle it today and got off to a rather easy start. Cleaned the evap core, new expansion valve, new condenser (I believe my problem), and new drier. Vacuumed down the system, all held fine and then on my 2nd can of Freon - kaboom. Freon everywhere. I can see where the line going from the condenser to the drier line backed out, o ring split and showing.

So woe is me... I guess I’ll start back on it tomorrow, but I’m concerned that I have no idea how much, if any oil came out. Also worried that something else s*** the bed besides that one fitting/o ring.

If anybody is bored tomorrow and knows AC systems I would greatly appreciate the knowledge.

 

[excessive]

So the threads in your dryer allowed the bolt to back itself out? What high side press was showing when this happened ?

 

[White80]

The more I thought about this last night, I’m starting to think I didn’t tighten that line coming off the condenser down. I can remember going over every other connection, but I can’t recall going back to that one 100%. I’m hoping that’s all it is. About to go back out and mess with it some more.

 

[Pacer]

Subbed, I like AC work.
Sounds like you know enough to....

Yes, what were your pressures?

 

[White80]

Update...

Pulled the grill and driver's side headlight to get a better look. I'm almost certain I didn't tighten that fitting down as there's no damage other than the fitting separated ~1/8" and the o ring is exposed. My amateur AC knowledge leads me to believe the fitting held fine to vacuum it down, but once the pressure rose from the freon, said fitting broke free. Replaced the o ring, tightened the fitting and checked the other ones again. Hooked the vacuum up and ran it for 45 minutes, checked after 30 minutes and no change. Letting the pump run for a few more hours before proceeding.

As to the pressure questions - when it let lose I had my back to it so I don't know what they were. Shortly before that, low side was around 30 and high side was around 200 if I recall correctly.

 

[dbenke]

I would probably add a can of oil to it first, just to be sure...its only like 5 ozs.

 

[White80]

All seems to be well now. I only have 24 ounces of Freon in as I had an appointment for work at 7 this evening so didn’t get time to top it off. That being said, it blows cold now. Took a loooong time for the Freon to find its way into the system. Was worried at first but it finally started to work it’s magic. While waiting I read more than one person say the rental manifold gauges are garbage and they can be slow to fill the system.

Hoping to top it off tomorrow morning so I can enjoy some ice cold AC this winter...

 

[White80]

I would probably add a can of oil to it first, just to be sure...its only like 5 ozs.

I put in a little to be safe, just over 3 ounces. I’ve got a new Denso compressor ready to go should this one grenade on me.

 

[Beau Diddly]

Though its been over a year since our last HAMOM, and they're still permitted in our bylaws. Standing a parking lot staring at Cruisers is fine, but collective wrenching is better.

 

[White80]

Ugh, jumped in this morning and AC was not as cold as it’s been. I gambled on the evaporator as for whatever reason it’s the only part that I didn’t order before I started this process. Nobody had one in stock locally over the weekend so I cleaned it up and proceeded. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I suspect I should have stopped once I realized I forgot to order one.

Anywho, Amazon has a new Denso on its way to me now. Should be here Friday so I can get back in there this weekend. Good news is I’ll be able to take the evaporator housing pretty fast as I know exactly what to do now.

Pic of the old one before I cleaned it up. I had a feeling it would be an issue as the bottom is in pretty bad shape.

 

[White80]

Well that went much faster than last weekend. Had the new evaporator installed in less than 30 minutes Friday after work and charged back up this morning. If this doesn’t solve my problems I’ll be showing up to somebody’s house in the area that knows our AC systems with a case of their favorite beer and I’m not leaving till it’s fixed

Fingers crossed I don’t have any more issues with this thing. I’ve got to get back to running trim in the house today or my wife may lose her cool. Get it... AC joke?