A/C comp rebuilder

About not seeing the oil in the sight glass, it has the dye in it and I always was able to see streaks or obvious flow in the sight glass at the gauge manifold when charging the refrigerant and the same in the sight glass at the filter/dryer with other cars. This is the first time that this 360 A/C has ever given me a problem and when it went, it went all at once. When running the pressures are flat dead. No fluctuation at all so gas is not moving in the system.

About checking an alternate high pressure port. There is a port on the new filter/drier so I will hook up the gauge to that.

The price of compressors is in the range that you found Sergio. Lower to have the compressor rebuilt and I will consult the shop that Brian Crall suggested as it is "relatively" close to me.

Next step, pull expansion valve.

Like you Jaymac, I have always frequently checked the coolant tank and gearbox oil and have never ever seen a hint of HE failure but tiny oil droplets are now in the overflow tank. I will again check the gearbox oil. I probably could have had the new HE installed in the time I have spent with this A/C problem.

 

The old drier had no debris in it and a new filter/drier is installed now so not drier. Have not yet pulled the expansion valve but my gut tells me the compressor is not pumping.

 

"Bridge the trip"? Not sure what that means.

 

The 360 compressors are a different type and never cut off. it is a variable clutchless compressor. Seems like I read that somewhere and it does not cycle on and off. Someone will correct me if I am wrong I am sure.

 

The clutch is always engaged. It only stops when the "Stop" button is engaged. And, there is no circulation at all in the system. Pressures are dead steady and never vary whether the clutch is engaged or not. It is either something very simple or very complicated. Apparently, no one has experienced a goofy set of symptoms like this before before.

 

Correction. I should have said "Variable Displacement" Compressor. I could be dead wrong about this but either way, the compressor is not moving refrigerant.

 

If so, it is not "squashing". A am close to pulling it out and shooting it. Maybe I will first bang it with a big hammer. That works on stuck starters.

 

An update on my A/C problem. I was wrong about no debris in the evaporator/filter. No debris in the mesh filter but the outlet side had a coating of very fine rust dust in it. Next down the line is the expansion valve so I pulled the expansion valve with the help of an old post by Jetson and PM with him. Thanks Jetson! The exp valve was gunked up with a goo of oil and brown/black stuff which must be the rust dust from the 20+year-old filter/dryer. Using an endoscope, I discovered that some/a lot of the same gunk was in the inlet pipe of the evaporator but not much in the outlet. The expansion valve was apparently totally plugged and blocking all flow in the system which explains the low high pressure and high low pressure at the gauges.

The lines must be flushed and either the evaporator is flushed or replaced because that stuff will surely destroy the compressor if it gets to it. The compressor seems OK now and runs with no noise and the clutch engages properly. Is it feasible or advisable to flush the evaporator or would it be wise to just get a new evaporator since I already have the dash off? And, can a compressor be opened up and checked for damage and rebuilt if necessary? If the compressor fails, then fresh debris will end up in the condenser and it seems that some advise just installing a new condenser but they are talking about common cheap condensers. 360 condensers are not cheap. So, the question is, can our 360 evaporators and condensers be flushed effectively?

I started out not fully understanding how A/C systems work but I do now. Wish I still knew nothing and that my 360 and H1 A/Cs were still blowing cold needing no repairs.

 

Wish I had done that before getting where I am now but I was still in the fog about how the A/C system works. Things are not as foggy now. I may have to use that after the obvious things are fixed.

 

So lots of flushing will be done for sure.

 

For those of you rare DIY guys that might do your own A/C repairs, flushing the lines from the filter/dryer to the compressor, as well as the evaporator, resulted in an orange, but relatively clear, flushing fluid and a couple of ounces of PAG oil from the evaporator, but essentially nothing else. The very fine reddish rust in the dryer/evaporator combined with the yellow dye must have been the reason for the orange color. The expansion valve was apparently totally blocked and the gook luckily did not go much further.

New orings were put in on all the lines, except for those at the condenser, and a vac was pulled and held so all seems to be good. A new dryer/filter and expansion valve, many, many scrunched up hours, several more to put the dash back in and recharge it and it should be done. The dash did not have to be removed by the way. It might have helped a bit when fitting hoses on the evaporator pipes for flushing the evaporator. Everything to do with the expansion valve had to be done with the endoscope, mirror, pen light, and then feeling the pipes working blind when slipping in the valve and the pipes and retaining bolts.

Thanks to all of you who offered help and advice.

 

My "new" A/C compressor is dead. China knock off.

Have things changed in the last year as far as A/C compressors are concerned. Can reliable compressors be bought now without the risk of ending up with Chinese junk? Which vendor would those of you that have had to deal with this in the last year or two? I sent my old compressor to a rebuilder recommended by Rifledriver and was told that it was not rebuildable.