GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

anyone know much about aircon (4x4 saff)
mine's not that cold anymore, was going to get a regass, but i
think its still on the old type of gas.
been quoted £120 to convert & regass it, but the guy said it will
probably need a new accumulator, looked on microcat & it seems
the accumulator comes as part of the condensor, which is nearly
£500.
i just want to know how much it will cost me in the end, so if anyone
can help me out (or do a good quote in the Heathrow area) then
thankyou

cfoster

which bits the accumulator matey as i have some cossie aircon parts at home... I 100% deffo have the big thing which is about the size of an alternator??

Chris

GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

apparantly its the canister in front of the aircon rad,
but the guy said it dosn't deffo need changing, but he advises fitting
a (brand) new one. said they get clogged up?
i think the big thing you have Chris is the A/C compressor.
if i need any other bits & secondhand is ok, i will give you a shout.
thanks anyway

wimwerf

changing to other gas for the airco meens you will need to replace all the rubber hoses to. because the new gas reacts with the old gas and will eat your rubber hoses. why not getting the aircon out and place it with an rs500 IC.

GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

i sold my 500 cooler (unused) because we have a couple of young kids
(2 weeks & 20 months) so i thought it would be better to keep the aircon,
then try to get an alloy rad & 500 cooler made up to fit behind the aircon rad.
i want the car to be quick, but at the same time i want the comforts
a lot to ask i know, but i hate sweating my knackers off in the car, even worse
if there are 2 hot kids wining in your ear

wimwerf

hahahaha.....your got a point there.

but switching to other gas can be an expensive plan

but good luck

GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

thats what i was thinking
a full set of pipes is not going to be cheap.
there was a guy near me who had loads of the old gas, he was going to do it for £50. when i got round to phoning him he had sold all the gas off.

now he only has the new stuff.

foreigneRS

i'm a test engineer working for an aircon compressor maker for over 8 years mate, so can tell you all you need to know.

the manufacturers put out a lot of stuff about you must change this and that to cover themselves.

all that you really need to do to change from r12 to r134a is firstly remove the old gas, but also you have to remove the old oil which is not compatible with r143a. to do this, just take off the compressor and drain the oil out of it. refill it with the full amount (about 150cc) of new PAG oil, and then evacuate the system and then fill the system with r134a. the more of the old oil that you can get out, the better. you coud even flush through system components like evaporator and condenser with something like brake cleaner or other solvent tat will completely dissolve.

you don't have to bother changing the receiver/drier (an accumulator is another thing used on systems that have a fixed orifice tube rather than a thermal expansion valve (TXV) system as fitted to sierra's). an accumulator is a big tank in the suction line, a receiver/drier is in the high pressure liquid line. it's function is as a storage device to take account of the different amount of refrigerant needed at high and low loads, a filter, and a drier (collects any moisture in the oil in silica crystal things that would otherwise turn the oil acidic and corrode the compressor parts). just give the system a long deep vacuum to let any existing moisture in there evaporate.

120 quid is a small price to pay for a working system that keeps you cool in hottest summer, but watch out as there are a lot of cowboys out there.

before having any work done, ask them what they will do to see if they know what they are talking about.

and be aware that there are many alternatives to genuine parts

any other questions or problems on a/c, post up again or pm me.

foreigneRS

oh yeah, and you will loose a bit of the gas through the hoses, but you will with whatever hoses you use to an extent. it's just a question of how often you'll have to have it topped up. once every 2 years you'll probably need a couple of 100g of r134a added to bring the cooling performance back up, but that's an easy job to let it be sucked in (you don't have to go through the rigmarol of emptying it, vacing it and completely refilling if you find a service guy who knows what he is doing.

wimwerf

learnt something today.

FoSiCo

i've had the gas in my Saph Cosworth changed 2 months ago to R413A which is a mixture of 88% R134a, 9% R218 and 3% R600a.

Because one of the mixed in compononents absorbs the old type oil there's no need for a full cleaning of the old oil out of the system.

Cost me 130,- euros....

foreigneRS

i wouldn't use anything other than proper r12 or r134a with the correct corresponding oil.

the pressures with other gases can vary significantly from the correct gases, and as the components have different molecular sizses they will elak at different rates leaving you with some other mixture. not good.

i hope that your compressor remains durable.

FoSiCo

I've heard/read all those stories too......thought i'd take the chance and find out for myself......hope for the best aswell

But if you have to believe everything then you might better throw out the whole aircon system.....R134a can cause immediate heart failure was the most incredible story

If it goes wrong i've always got a backup compressor lying around

foreigneRS

good attitude

GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

cheers for the advise chaps, most helpful, now i shall find someone local
to me who is worthy of working on the old pram!

there is a company round the corner called 'stiff nipples'
with a name like that, they must be worth a call.