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09-21-2009, 10:00 AM | #1 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Glendora, CA
Posts: 85
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AC resurrect - costly mistake
My truck has a dealer installed ARA aftermarket AC in it. Recently I decided to replace everything under the hood but keep the rest. Purchased all necessary parts including all the tools necessary to crimp, vacuum and charge the system. In the process I installed the new sanden compressor and ran the hoses through the firewall but did not attach them to the evaporator yet. I drove the truck to help someone move and it was very rainy. I was getting, what I thought at the time was water, leaking out the bottom of the drain on the evaporator casing.
A couple of days later I completed all the connections, belts, pulleys etc and decided to vacuum and charge the system. Knowing the compressor wouldn't charge with the hi-lo pressure switch hooked up I bypassed it and proceeded to charge it. Everything was going fine. It took about a pound and a half of freon and I paused in the charging to go check temps at the vents. Then it all went downhill. My compressor stopped turning and my belts started screaming at me. I immediately shut everything down and went to look at my setup inside the cab. I noticed the watermarks from the drain were still there and it finally dawned on me that perhaps they weren't water marks. Sure enough, it was oil. Apparently my compressor oil had gravitated in through the hoses, into the evaporator and out the drain. I had just charged my system with no oil in it and apparently fried my compressor. I played with it again on Saturday because I could take the belts off, engage the compressor through the switch and turn it by hand. However, as soon as it gets under about 25lbs of pressure in the system, it stops again. Am I correct that my compressor is fried? Could I have damaged anything else that I need to replace prior to attempting this again? I spent so much time reading, watching videos, purchasing the tools, etc that I really want to learn how to do this properly but now I am a little gun shy to attempt again. I really want to because I have a couple of other vehicles that I want to put AC in and don't want to pay someone else. Any good pointers for me at this point? |
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