A/C Experts chime in
A/C Experts chime in Got semi-cool air coming through the vents and I live in Vegas, not good. Here's the specs and I'd like to try to diagnose the problem rather than throw parts at it.
Car-90 oldsmobile 88
Ambient temp-100
low side at idle-40psi
high side at idle-190psi
refrigerant-super freeze(r-12 alternative hydrocarbon)
suction line and accumulator are semi-cool
New orifice tube and accumulator.
Flushed lines and vacuumed for over an hour
Condenser is the original aged 22 years. The fins don't look as pretty as they used to but I really dont want to drop money on a new one if it still works. Being old doesn't always mean its bad.
Evaporator is original. I flushed and blew compressed air through it and it doesnt seem clogged at all but still might be the culprit.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Im thinking condenser but if there's a way I can test it Id rather do that first. thanks
Car-90 oldsmobile 88
Ambient temp-100
low side at idle-40psi
high side at idle-190psi
refrigerant-super freeze(r-12 alternative hydrocarbon)
suction line and accumulator are semi-cool
New orifice tube and accumulator.
Flushed lines and vacuumed for over an hour
Condenser is the original aged 22 years. The fins don't look as pretty as they used to but I really dont want to drop money on a new one if it still works. Being old doesn't always mean its bad.
Evaporator is original. I flushed and blew compressed air through it and it doesnt seem clogged at all but still might be the culprit.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Im thinking condenser but if there's a way I can test it Id rather do that first. thanks
I think a lot of your problem has to do with it being 100 degrees outside. Also, depending on how much (or how little) air is getting through the condenser could be contributing to your problem.
Ill get the temps coming out the vents tomorrow but whatever temp it is its for sure not right. The suction line/accumulator is not getting cold and sweating like its suppose to and I get zero water drippage. All the other vehicles I drive, my 99 camaro, 99 taurus, and the kodiak 5500 all freeze me out. The system blew cold before, years ago and I finally decided to fix it this year because I got a new baby. The condenser truthfully looks pretty much the same as the one from my 99 taurus which works fine. Im probably going to recover all the super freeze, double check the orifice tube, and try some r-134. Ive read bad things about hydrocarbons but I dont believe its my problem.
Im just curious if it is the condenser how could I check? Normally it be with the guages but the readings are where they are suppose to be!
Im just curious if it is the condenser how could I check? Normally it be with the guages but the readings are where they are suppose to be!
i don't know r12 pressures off the top of my head, but for ambient temp of 100F and low side 40 high side 190 that would be way low on the high side for r134a. If the accumulator is not sweating and you are not getting cold air that could be the system is low on refrigerant. You don't have enough refrigerant in the system where the evaporator is completely full of boiling liquid refrigerant. Instead only a little bit of the evaporator has boiling refrigerant and the rest of the tubing it has turned to gas and cannot perform any heat transfer, the result is not cold air out the vents. The other common thing is you did not pull a good enough vacuum and you still have moisture and air in the system. How did you pull a vacuum and did you use a micron gauge?
for the condenser, it's a radiator. with the fans running and pulling air through it, the outlet liquid line from the condenser should be cooler than the inlet line coming from the compressor which will be quite hot. if you have a multimeter or an IR temp gun you can take a measurement, I believe you should see around 20-40F difference. also feel the lines from the condenser to evap, if any place other than at the orifice tube location has a temperature change then that's where a blockage is.
for the condenser, it's a radiator. with the fans running and pulling air through it, the outlet liquid line from the condenser should be cooler than the inlet line coming from the compressor which will be quite hot. if you have a multimeter or an IR temp gun you can take a measurement, I believe you should see around 20-40F difference. also feel the lines from the condenser to evap, if any place other than at the orifice tube location has a temperature change then that's where a blockage is.
Last edited by 1 FMF; Aug 30, 2012 at 09:49 PM.
