Bummed with AC overhaul

[gmachinz]

Good luck, man. I put in the headlight harness that goes straight to the battery when I took mine off - I had that laying around for a while, the new LED headlights are nice. Didn’t go HID, but could still - curious to see how long the LED’s last.

And, since I had to pull the dash and some seats, put in the rubber floor to replace the carpet... painted my sub enclosure... instead of installing an new amp I’m dealing with this...

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That blackout style grill looks good!

 

[rook]

... The freon pressure is too low to allow the compressor to turn on is the most likely fault...

… Blockages arent rare...

How about you both win! But, +1 or hell +100 to Knuckle - temporarily got it blowing cold!

So, my blockage, errr, probably just torn up grommets, made my manifold gauge quite working yesterday and probably wasn't allowing refrigerant to charge. Today, took Knuckle's approach and dumpted 4-5 cans of refrigerant with a manual fill tube I've got. Boom, pump starts kicking in. Turn it off, hear a hiss, damn IT! I have a damn leak, and it's the one damn bolt I swear it would happen on.

BTW, can't find any good manifold gauge sets locally - the first one I got two years ago leaked from the gauges right off the bat, this new set leaks after about a day of use. lame. I guess I should have expected to just invest in a legit set.

Down below I took a picture of my leak:

This bolt, like most of the larger ones, is corroded, rusted, or both. So much, that it will not tighten down - really, I could wrench it but the other side is the aluminum expansion valve tube and it begins to strip out... So, after about an hour of trying to get to this BS spot in the back, I triple down on grommets just to see if it'll get cold. Sure enough it gets cold, but only kind of holds.

So, I'm in the market for some custom AC lines. I think I'm going to build an extension down off the expansion valve tube about 4-5 inches down so that I can really torque down the one I'm pointing to below. I'll have to get a little wire brush and clean out the threads or something. Or, could go all out and cut off the rubber hose and rebuild an end that'll hook up better. Haven't done this before but willing to give it a shot.

if anyone knows of any good websites for the tools to order, request specific hoses, or make some lines please let me know.

Thanks. I'm happy just to know i'm not crazy, and this thing is going to happen!

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[df2x4]

Not sure about custom stuff, but there are a few people on eBay who sell soft line kits for the rear A/C in Suburbans. Which it looks like someone has already converted yours to. The factory lines are hard aluminum. I have one of the eBay kits on my Suburban, something like this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Rear-A...uburban-Rear-A-C-lines-Auxilary/180553515261?

I'm sure one of these guys could probably put some different ends on a set for you if you wanted.

 

[PeteyG708]

How about you both win! But, +1 or hell +100 to Knuckle - temporarily got it blowing cold!

So, my blockage, errr, probably just torn up grommets, made my manifold gauge quite working yesterday and probably wasn't allowing refrigerant to charge. Today, took Knuckle's approach and dumpted 4-5 cans of refrigerant with a manual fill tube I've got. Boom, pump starts kicking in. Turn it off, hear a hiss, damn IT! I have a damn leak, and it's the one damn bolt I swear it would happen on.

BTW, can't find any good manifold gauge sets locally - the first one I got two years ago leaked from the gauges right off the bat, this new set leaks after about a day of use. lame. I guess I should have expected to just invest in a legit set.

Down below I took a picture of my leak:

This bolt, like most of the larger ones, is corroded, rusted, or both. So much, that it will not tighten down - really, I could wrench it but the other side is the aluminum expansion valve tube and it begins to strip out... So, after about an hour of trying to get to this BS spot in the back, I triple down on grommets just to see if it'll get cold. Sure enough it gets cold, but only kind of holds.

So, I'm in the market for some custom AC lines. I think I'm going to build an extension down off the expansion valve tube about 4-5 inches down so that I can really torque down the one I'm pointing to below. I'll have to get a little wire brush and clean out the threads or something. Or, could go all out and cut off the rubber hose and rebuild an end that'll hook up better. Haven't done this before but willing to give it a shot.

if anyone knows of any good websites for the tools to order, request specific hoses, or make some lines please let me know.

Thanks. I'm happy just to know i'm not crazy, and this thing is going to happen!

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As far as a gage set, I just got a set from Harbor Freight. Yes, everyone rips on them, but the set I got is pretty good, and I only got it because I used the example of many YT mechanics, including ETCG, ChrisFix, and FordTechMakuLoco.

I used these to fix a Ford Taurus we had that had the compressor sieze. Long story short, gages worked as they needed to, but there was more junk inside the lines and it even took out a second compressor. Even longer story short, the car had an underlying problem with the cooling system, and ended up blowing the head gasket, chocolate milk oil, etc... and the car was scrapped. It was my wife’s car and we decided it wasnt worth fixing, so we got her a more reliable vehicle.

They sit in my toolkit now for when I need them again, but I never had any issues and they worked as I needed them to.

https://m.harborfreight.com/ac-r134a-manifold-gauge-set-62707.html

 

[rook]

As far as a gage set, I just got a set from Harbor Freight. Yes, everyone rips on them, but the set I got is pretty good, and I only got it because I used the example of many YT mechanics, including ETCG, ChrisFix, and FordTechMakuLoco.

I used these to fix a Ford Taurus we had that had the compressor sieze. Long story short, gages worked as they needed to, but there was more junk inside the lines and it even took out a second compressor.

https://m.harborfreight.com/ac-r134a-manifold-gauge-set-62707.html

I had that very set from HF, and it leaked from the aluminum block right off the bat. I’ve got a HF store not even three blocks away.

The better set I got some weeks ago worked ok initially, but started leaking from the yellow hose unless I tightened it down pretty good, then it was a matter of tearing up the rubber grommets - I can replace those, but they aren’t the same kind that are in the AC lines, they’re more like a cylinder shape - not in the multi-box set I have of varying size.

I only mention it because at this point, if I would have known, I probably would have gotten the top notch Yellow Jacket set I see online.

Either way, glad to know what’s wrong and how to make it right. The whole system is new except for the two long straight lines running under. One of the four ends on just had to be corroded, wouldn’t be fair if it just all worked out.


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[rook]

Cleaned out the low side AC bolt with wire drill bit as best as possible (tedious)... out some extra grommets, tightened down as best as possible without stripping the evaporator aluminum side. Looks like it’s holding.

If I get through this summer without it leaking out, I may replace the long run next summer and have 100% new stuff.

Blows cold now. Happy (until it leaks out[emoji51]).


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