The Air Conditioning thread...

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cromagmom
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My tercel:: 84 Tercel 4wd
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by cromagmom »

Has anyone tried the enviro-safe brand to recharge? Everything I'm seeing says it works fine with R12.
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

cromagmom wrote:Has anyone tried the enviro-safe brand to recharge? Everything I'm seeing says it works fine with R12.

Hey worst you can do is try and tell us how it goes! :lol:


Hey Mad_Marx, when you have time could you list the various things you use for AC work? I'm thinking of buying a vacuum pump, gauge set, etc, because it gets expensive to have a shop do the work :shock: Like what do I need to do it all?

I've never messed with any of it but I think it can't be as bad as swapping an engine out, or rebuilding one! Plus, if I get all the stuff, I can convert the last wagon I have over to 134.

How does this look?

http://smile.amazon.com/FJC-KIT4-Condit ... r+tool+kit

How many ounces of Freon did you need for a tercel?
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Mad_Marx
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My tercel:: 1986DLX (K.I.A. by a Texting Driver, currently being uses as a parts car) 1986 SR5 AC, Cruise, Sunroof a.k.a. TERC II Electric Boogaloo (restoration in progress). 1984 SR5
Location: Boise, ID

Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by Mad_Marx »

I just got the replacement pump today. Everything takes two weeks to ship here.

I'll take some pictures and make a gear list tomorrow when I start to tackle it :)
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Mad_Marx
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My tercel:: 1986DLX (K.I.A. by a Texting Driver, currently being uses as a parts car) 1986 SR5 AC, Cruise, Sunroof a.k.a. TERC II Electric Boogaloo (restoration in progress). 1984 SR5
Location: Boise, ID

Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by Mad_Marx »

Sorry it took an extra day. Life is what happens when you're making other plans... Here are the two most important tools I've used for the AC System. The Vacuum pump runs off compressed air. One end connects to the air compressor, then there's a fitting for a manifold gauge connection. When connected and on, you can watch the needles on the manifold gauges as it pulls and holds vacuum. I think I purchased this one from Harbor freight for around $10.00, they also make an electric vacuum pump if you don't have an air compressor to run things. The Manifold gauges came from the Local O'Riley and cost around $60.00, Harbor Freight sells a set almost exactly like them, I think they cost about the same too.
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Mad_Marx
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My tercel:: 1986DLX (K.I.A. by a Texting Driver, currently being uses as a parts car) 1986 SR5 AC, Cruise, Sunroof a.k.a. TERC II Electric Boogaloo (restoration in progress). 1984 SR5
Location: Boise, ID

Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by Mad_Marx »

Slight delay in the new compressor install, the rebuilt compressor showed up covered in black paint. The only reason I can think of is so that it looks like it was rebuilt (in Mexico). So I'm taking some time to strip the black paint and make it look like it belongs in a Tercel. My friends tell me I'm OCD, I tell them I'm CDO, the letters have to be in alphabetical order!
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

What color should it be? Every one I have seen was black?
Former Tercel Enthusiast (not a practical family car anymore but they still have a place in my heart)

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87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
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Mad_Marx
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My tercel:: 1986DLX (K.I.A. by a Texting Driver, currently being uses as a parts car) 1986 SR5 AC, Cruise, Sunroof a.k.a. TERC II Electric Boogaloo (restoration in progress). 1984 SR5
Location: Boise, ID

Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by Mad_Marx »

Mine was natural aluminum from the factory. Here's a picture of it (on the left) when I pulled it out of my wrecked 86 DLX. The grease covered mess on the right is the trashed compressor I pulled out of Tec II (the SR5). Under all that grime is the natural aluminum.
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

Got the drier and cooling unit out today. The drier was a pain, the FSM just says "remove drier from drier holder" so I took the entire holder off to find a weird pinch point I was supposed to release (but didn't see).

Was surprised how easy the cooling unit came out (contains the evaporator, expansion valve, thermistor).

Interesting that on the 87 they didn't want the average user adjusting the amplifier, the Hot/Cold dial is sealed off.

Will get the drier and expansion valve replaced tomorrow and then swap out the compressor if I have time. The FSM doesn't say so but I think the alternator needs to come out to get the compressor out.
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87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

Shiny new expansion valve.

Was no way to torque the big fitting (did not have a crows foot that big) so I just "best guessed" it. Also used an air compressor to blow out the fins, they were pretty loaded in dust.
IMG_20150726_153443693.jpg
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Site administrator, if something is broken, PM me!

87 Corolla FX16, 105k
94 Jamboree RV (Ford E-350), 90k
95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

Frustration! I got everything installed, evacuated the system, hooked up the freon can, low side pressure went to 50, started car, low side pressure went to 70~, high side stayed at zero. After I shut everything off and reconnected the manifold gauge, both the high side and the low side stayed the same pressure, turning on the AC makes the low side go up and the high side stay low.

Compressor is surging from the sounds of it, making the engine go vRoom vRooom. Did I end up with a bad compressor?
low compression.PNG
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Former Tercel Enthusiast (not a practical family car anymore but they still have a place in my heart)

Site administrator, if something is broken, PM me!

87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
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rer233
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by rer233 »

Paul- You didn't switch the high and low side conversion fittings did you? High side is near the dryer bottle and low side is on the compressor.

As for the pressures equalizing, that's completely normal when the system's at rest.

Also, the vroom-vroom is normal till the system's fully charged (whenever the a/c clutch is engaged the idle speed increases to prevent stalling.) If the system's not fully charged, the a/c clutch cycles rapidly.

Good luck- hope this helps.
if it aint there, there's a good chance it won't break!
83 SR5 Silver/Blue (Snowmobile/work beater)-totaled but drivable
85 SR5 Blue
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

Rich: Midas did the conversion, and I'm pretty sure the fittings can only fit on one or the other, and they put the low fitting by the drier, and the high is on the high side (Driver side) of the compressor. The original low fitting on the compressor was left alone.

Unless they really oopsed, in which case...I'll verify the routing of the line they stuck the low pressure fitting on, but they had filled it fine before the compressor decided to leak.

The thing is, it's not sucking in any more Freon, pressure on the low side keeps building, hit 90 PSI at one point, where the high side stays near whatever the ambient pressure was (zero to start, then 40 or so)

I started by following the directions, with everything off I put freon in until the low side went up to 50 pounds, then started the car, turned on the AC, and it started the surging thing. High side never went up.

The only other thing I can think of is I put too much oil.
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87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
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rer233
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by rer233 »

Paul- STOP- you're charging thru the high side- can could blow up in your hand!!!
if it aint there, there's a good chance it won't break!
83 SR5 Silver/Blue (Snowmobile/work beater)-totaled but drivable
85 SR5 Blue
88 SR5 White (the 'good' one)-not anymore-totaled
87 fwd silver wagon a/t
87 4wd dx Cream (a/t- not anymore- now m/t)
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irowiki
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by irowiki »

Green dot is where the high pressure fitting was installed by midas. Should be the low pressure fitting.
Blue dot is where the low pressure fitting was installed by midas.
The red dot is an unused, old R12 fitting. Should be the high pressure fitting.
tercel AC.png
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Site administrator, if something is broken, PM me!

87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
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Re: The Air Conditioning thread...

Post by Petros »

as I recall my a/c lessons, the red dot should be low pressure compressor input, the green dot should be high pressure out put side, blue done should be high pressure gas. It seems to me it should be filled from the comressor input valve, if I am remembering correctly.

someone with more recent experiance needs to confirm this. As I recall the A/C works by taking the cooled gaseous refrigerant from the condenser, compress it to a high pressure gas, where it goes through an expansion chamber to turn it into a low pressure liquid, than it goes though the evaporator, boiling it back into a gas (and removing the heat from the cabin air), and than it gets routed to and goes through the condenser at the front of the car to be cooled (where it releases the heat it picked up in the evaporator in the cabin). it effectively removes heat from the cabin air and deposits it in the condenser at the front of the car. so it seems to me the place to add refrigerant would be the intake side of the compressor. But it has been 30 years since I serviced an A/C, so I am not certain any more on where you add refrigerant. All I have done since than is remove the A/C from any car I own.
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