Wife has taken pity on me with no A/C in the hot Florida sun. She says "do whatever it takes to get that A/C working". Hehe - carte blanche baby!
I thought I would document the project here. Partially hoping to save someone else some time if they want to tackle this and partially to elicit feedback from those who have "been here / done this".
After a couple weeks of research this is what I have come up with so far:
I thought I would document the project here. Partially hoping to save someone else some time if they want to tackle this and partially to elicit feedback from those who have "been here / done this".
After a couple weeks of research this is what I have come up with so far:
1. My 1990 uses R12 and nobody works on these systems any more. They all want to do cheapo conversions that appear to have limited success and then usually don't last more than a year if the R4 compressor is maintained.
2. A proper R134 conversion requires using an evaporator from a 1994-1998 NBS that came from factory with R134.
3. To get optimal results (needed here in muggy Florida) I need a parallel-flow condenser, R134 orifice, new lines | accumulator and a Sanden compressor with special adapter brackets to fit in the R4 mount.
4. Even if all the above is done properly, all the cold air isn't going to make it to my sweaty face if the air box behind the dash (blower | actuators | doors | resistor) aren't working properly.
I decided to get started with the air box after watching this YouTube video and thinking - this looks like an easy way to get started on what could be a big project. Famous last words LOL. This is what my blower box looked like.
By the way, if you decide to follow the YouTube video, don't use Purple power for evaporator cleaning. It is caustic to aluminum. Use Simple Green or something milder like it. My evaporator was thoroughly mucked up. Worse, while running through some diagnostics from the service manual
I discovered my recirc actuator was completely non-functional and the blower motor was weak (lots of resistance) and noisy. Knowing that I had some dash and electric issues anyway. I decided to pull the dash so I could check the other actuators and pull the AC box to remove the evaporator. Here is the cooling mode actuator and door levers. All gummed up.
The actuator still works but with all the resistance seemed pretty sluggish even disconnected from the doors. The only actuator still working is the one controlling the heater door mix.
Down the rabbit hole we go... I have more to share but need to get back out to work before I lose daylight.
BTW, this is my first post at GMT400.com. Although my images above are set to 'public shared' from my Google docs account they appear to be broken in this thread. Does anyone know why and how to get the images to appear?
2. A proper R134 conversion requires using an evaporator from a 1994-1998 NBS that came from factory with R134.
3. To get optimal results (needed here in muggy Florida) I need a parallel-flow condenser, R134 orifice, new lines | accumulator and a Sanden compressor with special adapter brackets to fit in the R4 mount.
4. Even if all the above is done properly, all the cold air isn't going to make it to my sweaty face if the air box behind the dash (blower | actuators | doors | resistor) aren't working properly.
I decided to get started with the air box after watching this YouTube video and thinking - this looks like an easy way to get started on what could be a big project. Famous last words LOL. This is what my blower box looked like.
You must be registered for see images
By the way, if you decide to follow the YouTube video, don't use Purple power for evaporator cleaning. It is caustic to aluminum. Use Simple Green or something milder like it. My evaporator was thoroughly mucked up. Worse, while running through some diagnostics from the service manual
You must be registered for see images
I discovered my recirc actuator was completely non-functional and the blower motor was weak (lots of resistance) and noisy. Knowing that I had some dash and electric issues anyway. I decided to pull the dash so I could check the other actuators and pull the AC box to remove the evaporator. Here is the cooling mode actuator and door levers. All gummed up.
You must be registered for see images
The actuator still works but with all the resistance seemed pretty sluggish even disconnected from the doors. The only actuator still working is the one controlling the heater door mix.
Down the rabbit hole we go... I have more to share but need to get back out to work before I lose daylight.
BTW, this is my first post at GMT400.com. Although my images above are set to 'public shared' from my Google docs account they appear to be broken in this thread. Does anyone know why and how to get the images to appear?
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