[Shop-talk] car a/c work

[David Scheidt]

On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 11:37 AM, Jorge Garcia <fortee9er at yahoo.com> wrote:

> As we say in Texas "I am fixing to do" some car a/c work and need advice.
> One of the cars involved is a 1987 Volvo 740 with the original R12 system. I
> have never touched the a/c system on this car all the 8 years that I've
> owned it. It was low on freon when I purchased it and I rolled down the
> windows and drove that way for a couple of years. Then it went into storage
> for five years. I have now revived it gotten it to pass the state emissions
> and safety inspection but I want air conditioning.
> How do I test for leaks since the system is virtually empty? I have never
> done any a/c work on my cars but I do have a/c gauges for r12 and r134 and a
> few other a/c tools are available to me from friends.
> Any advice/comments on this project will be greatly appreciated.
>

Expect to spend a bunch....

First step is to evacuate (and recover, please!) all the existing
refridgerent.  then you pull a vacuum, and see if it decays.  If it doesn't,
then you don't have a leak (or you have a leak that only exists under
pressure).  If it does leak, and hte leak is fairly small, charge the
system, icnluding a dye.  Then find the leak, evacuate the system, repair
the leak, check that it holds vacuum, charge, test for leaks.

But really, I'd take the car to a shop, have them find the leaks, and fix
them myself.  (If I decided I wanted to spend the money.  You'll likely need
a compressor and condensor.)

-- 
David Scheidt
dmscheidt at gmail.com