Cycle your A/C.

[Mike76251]

Next time you get in your truck............turn on your AC for a few miles or minutes.
Gotta lube the ole' compressor.

BTW........if you don't have AC in your truck, don't do this!! LOL

[Blue Beard]

In the dead of winter.........?

[swervin ervin]

Mike,

you do come up with decent ideas every once in a while.

[Mike76251]

Yes BlueBeard even now.
I work on AC systems and can tell you one thing........people that do make alot of money at the start of the summer because people don't do this.
The front seal don't get lube unless you cycle it on and if it dries out then bye-bye freon.

If you ever notice that oil stain on the inside of the hood right above the compressor...........that's the oil lost through the front compressor seal. It is a "oil loss" type lube setup.
If that oil stain on the hood is heavy it also wouldn't be a bad idea to add a little oil to your system every year or two.

[N2TRUX]

Originally posted by Mike76251
Next time you get in your truck............turn on your AC for a few miles or minutes.

I never turn mine off. It stays on year round on all my trucks. If I want heat I adjust the temp, but the a/c stays on...

[Mike76251]

I don't doubt it N2Trux,
(I spent some time in Houston not long back)...........I DO NOT miss 100 degrees and 100% humidity!!!!!!!

[Grim Reaper]

Thanks for the reminder. I knew you were supose to do that but it had not crossed my mind to do so. I'll run it today.

Here is another reminder. Beat your fire extingushers!


Yep the vibrations from being in a vehicle in particular will cause the powder to pack. If you pull it out and turn it upside down and feel a light thud that is a extinguisher that the powder has packed. Shake it and spank it to get hte powder broken up.

My buddy is the head maintance guy at a local hospital and the monthly go and turn over all the fire extinguishers in the building to make sure they have not packed.

[rage'nrat638]

well if you turn on the defroster i hear the a/c comp. clicking in and out....is this not the same thing?

[Grim Reaper]

Originally posted by rage'nrat638
well if you turn on the defroster i hear the a/c comp. clicking in and out....is this not the same thing?

Yep that will do it. I have had mine on Heat for the past 2 months and no A/C in that posistion.

[BladeX]

not to steal the post or anything but say you deystroyed your compressor whats the chances of finding one at a junk yard?

I know at my work they are like 300 dollars so.. yeh.

[Lynx]

Excelent idea! I know from personal experiance that this is the thing to do!

My mom never used her A/C on her 1997 caravan, but when we did use it we notice that it was not cold and running low, well it started getting cool outside so she decided to wait till the summer to fix, well big mistake! We were cruizing down the highway at 120km/h and all of a suden we get this HUGE grinding awful sound so we pull over and smoke pours out from under the hood. I thought somthing major happend and since we were about 100km from any town i was pretty pissed. But after fiddling with it and noticing that the sound cut on and off with the copressor i figure out that if you just turn off the airfan we were good to go. just without heat....

Also it was not a cheapfix.... needless to say we use the a/c alot more often now!

[1985K10]

I guess having the belt off for the winter won't help!

[Mike76251]

Originally posted by BladeX
not to steal the post or anything but say you deystroyed your compressor whats the chances of finding one at a junk yard?

I know at my work they are like 300 dollars so.. yeh.

I would not EVER advise anyone to buy a junk-yard compressor because they would probably be full of acid that would destroy the rest of the system.
Where does the acid come from? When you mix freon with air it creates Sulfuric acid. Simple chemistry.

Never buy one from a cheap parts house either.........I once got a AutoZone compressor and it took 4 before I got one that wasn't locked up. Try filling your R12 system 4 times because of bad compressors................14 cans at (now) $50 a can! Good thing Freon was cheap then and I have a license to buy it.

[Mike76251]

Originally posted by rage'nrat638
well if you turn on the defroster i hear the a/c comp. clicking in and out....is this not the same thing?

Be sure you don't try to run the compressor if it's cycling like that.........the low pressure switch cuts it out like that to keep you from burning the compressor up.
No pressure in the system means no Freon and no Freon means no oil to lube that compressor.

How long would a engine last with no oil? That's all a compressor is........a small engine.

[apstguy]

Where would you reccomend getting a new (or rebuilt) compressor? A new one from the dealer is $700!!!!

[rage'nrat638]

i have the one off my 85 c-10...if there's any interest...p.m. me

[jimfulco]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Grim Reaper

Here is another reminder. Beat your fire extingushers!

Yep, it's a sick feeling when you try to use your fire extinguisher & it just belches & farts a couple of times and then dies. I was lucky, there was a ditch full of water ten feet away, & it was not a gas or oil fire.

[Grim Reaper]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jimfulco

Originally posted by Grim Reaper

Here is another reminder. Beat your fire extingushers!

Yep, it's a sick feeling when you try to use your fire extinguisher & it just belches & farts a couple of times and then dies. I was lucky, there was a ditch full of water ten feet away, & it was not a gas or oil fire.

I bet!

It's actually better to mount them laying down or upside down. That way the powder doesn't pack around the inlet tube (as bad) and when you shand them up the get a little shake. The hope is that it's enough to break it up so it works.