Air Condition Repair

[92SC400man]

I have a 92SC400 with 99,xxx miles, bought new and we have loved it. The A/C stopped blowing cold air, only regular air. Took it to the dealer for normal oil change and their diagnosis is new compressor, clutch and freon for about $1200. In 11+ years nothing has ever been done to the A/C and it would freeze you out. Is this a reasonable charge? Are there other weak points inthe system to look out for? We plan on keeping the car, so just want to be prepared.

Thanks for the opinions!

[AWJ]

Hmmm..I'm not real strong with HVAC, but - get another opinion. Your car being a 92 chances are simply the freon has leaked out over time. This happens. Refrigerant chemical was changed in 95 to a different type in automobiles due to EPA or something. I can't recall what it is though. So chances are the original type of freon from that system is no longer legally available. I think the newer type can be run instead but it just isn't as cold.

If everything is working correctly, I can't see how you would need a new compressor and all that. Simply a recharge should be fine. They can do this at most auto shops. I don't like car dealer service. Get at least one other opinion - preferably not a dealership. I like to find quality independent mechanics for any work I can't or don't have time to do. AC recharging can be done effectively by most oil change and general auto service shops.

Oh and 1200$ for a clutch and recharge is way too high. You can buy the clutch online and change that yourself fairly easily. Have the freon recharged at one of those local shops. Or bring the clutch to a good independent mechanic, and he will do it for a great deal less. I can guarantee it.

[92SC400man]

Thanks for the info. I have had great results with the dealer but they are 1)very conservative and replace things early and 2) are expensive in labor and parts. I'll post what I find.

[Steve]

mine stops blowing cold air every year as i do have a leak... but it is cheaper for me to just recharge it.

They have a new replacement for Freon now which is alot cheaper.

I would go and have the air con tested at a specialist.. they will pressure test it and change it for you in 30 mins.

[kvh73]

I had a similar situation with my '93 SC400. Following this past winter the A/C stopped blowing cold air. In your owner's manual it tells you that if there's a problem with the compressor, the A/C light on the dashboard will blink. If it's not blinking, that means the compressor is still working. I took mine to a standard Good Year service center. They ran their A/C check for $49.99 which includes looking for freon leaks (didn't find any). They then recharged my system with the required refrigerant (R-12, I believe) which is the same stuff it was orginally charged with. Cost is $60/lb. - pretty expensive. Total bill was about $120. Blows cold as ever now, just waiting to see if there's a leak they didn't find.

KVH

[AWJ]

Strange, my 95 has r134a stickers all over the hood on the inside.

[kvh73]

I think the Good Year guy said the change to the new refrigerant was made in '95 - not sure if he's an expert, but the change was probably made in the same year for virtually all cars due to the environmental restrictions.

KVH

[DJBBIZ]

I was recently told that I needed a new compressor as well, but my light is not coming on...can I assume the repair station did not know what they were doing? I have a 92sc400 120000 miles and never a repair for the first 100000 miles! Has anyone coverted over their a/c to the new systems, if so what does it cost and are you happy with it?

AWJ its been a month or so, did you find a solution? Was it the compressor or were you able to recharge...or did you convert?

[AWJ]

I converted the last model I had. Just changed the old type out for the new type in the same old system. 92SC400man was the one with the weak AC. In fact I have not run the ac in the current ride. It is always cheaper to just do a release of the old refrigerant and refill the new kind. If the AC still performs poorly, then other things can be done from there. But $1200 is still to high of a price for AC compressor/clutch. Find a good independant mechanic and they will do it for much less and still make their money and do a good job. A good general purpose shop will be able to tell you what refrigerant is supposed to be used - the goodyear guy is most probably right.

[json79]

HI everyeone... I tried to recharge my friends 92 Sc400 and i converted the R-12 to the R-134a (retrofit) and i had no luck. First of all.. IS the Low Service port right at the compressor for this car? or is it the one towards the front. It seem to be the one right on the compressor which is the one i tried to Recharge the R-134a to. I had the car running and A/c at full blast. I dont know why it wasnt suckin the recharge bottle. Did i do something wrong? ONe thing that stop me from continueing is that after a while. the A/c light started to blink then all of a sudden the engine shut off. If anyone has experience rechargin 134a or anything related please reply..

thanks all

[jzz30]

ok you probablu dont need a new compressor like in most cases. try and look on the bottom side of you compressor ( if your facing the car i think its on the bottom right side) in any case you need to get under your car. look to see if the bottom of your compressor has a dark oily patch of road dust. that usualy indicats a leak from the compressor shaft seal. what you need is the rebuild kit and copressor shaft seal for your compressor and all of the new o rings for the system about$200 the reason why every one just sais you need to get a new compressor is that its about 8-900 bucks and about 40% or more if not less is profit. now you probably need another compressor clutch to quiet your a/c when it engages and thats another$200 but its not needed at this point because it can always be changed later as youu do not need to open the a/c system to change it. so change all the seals and get a freshfill of r12 because it is just so much better.

[JPI]

Where do they sell the seals for the compressor? I see a lot of compressor seal leaks after a while. My clients would be really happy If I save them some money.

JPI

[jzz30]

you just go down to the dealer and ask for the kit and seal, you state the car model and year and they usually have it in stock,usually. when you take appart the compressor you need to be very careful that you dont not get anything inside the compressor cause its like a ten cylinder machining marvel

[lexsc3]

its pretty easy to recharge/retrofit the new freon into our cars...the low serve port is on the passengers side like 10-12 inch below the hood line and its towards the middle of the fender, you will see a black cap on it with a L to the top(you cant see the L until you take it off cause the cap is facing sideways)...if the it has leaked out freon dont waste your time and money like i did just filling up bottle after bottle, get a rubber sealant and metal sealant kit thing, you can get it at walmart, just put that in first and then put in the freon, also if the freon says it has a sealant in it that BS cause it doesnt do anything....also make sure you get a long hose or you will burn the F@ck out of you hand on the manifold...if you do it right the first time it should only cost you $40 at most

[jzz30]

you didnt get the cold stuff on your hand did you? did your a/c hold??

[lexsc3]

i did get the freon on my hand once and it did burn like a !Removed!....its has held for the last 2.5 weeks so i think its fine...before it would leak out with in a day or so

[jzz30]

thats good maybe ill do that to one of my cars if the system goes out and i feel lazy

[KBSC300]

I have a 93 SC300, and the $1,200.00 for the A/C repair is about right, had the samething repair job about 2 + years ago and that's about what it cost me. :o

[JAKnudson]

I had my A/C quit working over the winter so I did a R12 to R134A conversion. I already had the fill kit for the 134 so I bought the fittings to convert the high and low service ports to the 134. All went well but I was told to make sure that I removed all of the R12 from the system before I filled it or I could damage the compressor. I did not add any oil at the time I filled it and then I was uncertain about adding any later because I didn't want to overfill the system. Well to make a long story short, my A/C worked great for about 3 weeks and then one day it quit and the A/C light was blinking. I open my hood and turned on the A/C and sparks jumped from the compressor clutch. Now my compressor is locked up and I will need to replace it. So my advice is that if you do it yourself, evacuate the system and add oil before you add the 134.

[jzz30]

oh yea vacuming the system is always a good idea and a fresh bottle or PAG oil never hurts

[harippa]

cool... reading for a while about the AC conversion thing, thanks for lot of information. but i have just one more question,. I wanna do it myself. now the question i have is that, how do i evacuate the old r12 gas? i was told from Autozone that i have to drain it first... how do i do it? anyone?

thanks in advance :)

on a different note, any SC owners in CT ( Connecticu )? would be nice if i new someone. i saw a nevada SC400. would be nice to keep in touch, so that we can help each other on atleast repair questions, good mechanic infos and other stuff. please email at harippa@hotmail.com

[blueviol]

I get noise from the AC when I turn it on, and I feel some loss in power.

It sounds similar to the power streering when there is low fluid.

Is this possibly due to bad compressor or bad clutch?

Some says it is bad ac belt or something.

The AC is blowing cold air though there is some leak that I need to recharge the gas every year.

Can someone direct me what the cause for the noise?

[2XLexV8]

Good Evening,

The conversion process has some quirks.

R12 and it's lube oil is not compatible with R134a and it's lube oil.

A do-it-yourselfer that gets air in the lines will blow the compressor because "air doesn't compress".

On a '92, the low port is on the compressor, the high port is in front of the radiator, sitcking up through the plastic shroud. Get the angled adapter for the high port. The receiver/drier is by the driver's side headlight.

Often, the conversion to R134a will seal small leaks in the system. Part of this is the conversion itself, another is the chemical mix that some kits contain.

The original receiver/drier probably needs replaced anyway, and it's a place compressor oil hangs out. The original drier media may disintegrate with R134a. This can clog the expansion valve and cause other problems. Consider replacing it if you want to keep the car a while.

Some shops will do the conversion with adapters and a receiver/drier for around $200-300. For a legal evacuation (not to the atmosphere), purge, new drier, and an oil and gas charge, including normally a guarantee, it seems a bargain.

It's also not even close to $1200.

I did my conversion at a dealership, with a receiver/drier, spent around $200, and it's worked for six months without any problems. Periodic checks during other servicing for leaks (dye in the conversion kit) have found nothing.

Stay Cool

[doodle]

hi everyone

I have some problems with my AC, too. since my sc400 was rebuilt, parts of the ac system wasn't put together correctly. There was too much work to it, the mechanic didn't finish the entire job. i am looking around for parts to rebuilt the ac system. I have majority of the parts. My mechanic said I need the lines or wires for the ac system. the most imporrtant ones i need is the two wires that connects to the sysglass. i am not sure is that way to spell the word sysglass(cycglass). does anyone knows where i could get these parts even is used. anywhere is the US is OK with me, i just need their information to contact them. thanks is advance.

[bobsvilla]

I just posted this on another thread, thought it might help. "Duracool" is a direct replacement for both R12 and R134a, cools better than R12 and is cheaper than R134a.

"One of the problems that gets overlooked when converting R12 to R134a is that the molecules of R134a are a lot smaller than R12 and will eventually leak thru the rubber hoses meant for R12. R134a systems use neoprene hoses. There is a product called "Duracool" do a search on google to find a supplier. Duracool is based on a propane derivative, similar to whats been used in Europe for many years. It is heavier than R12, cools better than R12 and only costs about $7 a can and most systems will only need 2 cans. You don't have to change anything (unless parts defective) it is compatible with both R12 & R134a. ....bob"