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Showing results for tags 'Air conditioning'.
Found 12 results
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Hi all, '98 OBW, 2.5L high compression build, 5MT After moving to Las Vegas, Nevada about two years ago, I've finally begun wanting to use my air conditioning system. Before moving down here, I had a mechanic pull vacuum on the system and charge it. I think he put in less than 2 lbs? It was a very minimal amount. Here are the symptoms that I'm experiencing. Blows cold while driving, and cool while idling. While driving, when the A/C compressor kicks on, there is a VERY noticeable decrease in performance... almost like I've instantaneously been loaded with a 700 lb 4x8 U-Haul trailer...It'll buck/shake the car slightly. I know I've read multiple times on the forum that the A/C can rob power, but this seems exceptional. The motor has good compression (in the 200s) and has lots of power when not using A/C. I am in the habit of turning the A/C off when accelerating from stops. With this amount of strain placed on the motor though, why doesn't it just stall out when idling? The motor doesn't stumble or strain when cycling the A/C on/off while idling. What's the deal? I've checked the gap on the clutch, and it seems to be within specifications. It also appears that this clutch isn't replaceable? I've looked at the different write-ups on this forum, and the videos available, but NONE of them show the type of compressor that mine has... The Triangle with the 3 circular pieces and the single bolt in the center... I've attached the pressure gauge from one of those auto-store recharge kits, and supposedly the system is topped-off. Does this have anything to do with my neutral switch? I've checked my Short Term/Long term fuel trims while idling and I think I don't have a vacuum leak, as they're in the negatives. I'm just worried that I'm going to jump timing because of the instantaneous loading that is presenting, or the A/C is going to catabolize itself while driving and having to replace EVERY part of the system. Thanks for your time, Greg -
Two electrical connectors on my factory air conditioning drier. What is their function ?
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While my A/C was turned off I noticed what sound like a noisy bearing from the A/C pulley. To finish my trip I cut the A/C belt which cured the noise. I'm considering replacing the pulley bearing, which I have, but was wondering how to remove the A/C clutch and rear pulley to replace the bearing. Also what is the clearance gap range for the A/C clutch. A/C has always cooled very well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Aaron -
Hello All, I have an issue with a 2001 Subaru Outback that I have never come across before. In the middle of moving from Albuquerque to Hawaii my Outbacks air conditioning dyed at the californai state boarder in route to Los Angeles (about 100 deg. at time). For ~ 2 months prior to this trip the check engine light would come on, but would turn off usually after I removed the gas cap then put gas cap back on... figure old cap not keeping pressure. Okay, fast forward from california boarder to three weeks later after picking up outback it now has check engine light on continuously. Week after that (~ 300 miles on car since air conditioning went out), I noticed when car was stopped at a stop light or in a parking lot still running, the temperature gage would begin to rise toward the red zone (over heating)... when I could drive the temp gage heads back toward the normal temp operating range... At this point you might be thinking, relay?, fan?, plugged radiator?, makes sense. The car is NOT over heating, infact the mechanic actually took the radiator cap off while the cars temp gage was "red lining", and of course we could hear/see that the fan is kicking on. Now stuck in traffic, you can put the car in neutral and rev the engine to "kick on" the coolant pump, and the temp gage would come back down to normal temp range, you can open the vents, crank up the hot air (do not have working ac at this time) and buy some time before the temp gage crawls up to red line.... My problem here is... what on the planet can cause a car to read like it's overheating without it overheating? Yet, causes the air conditioner to stop working, since the check engine light (read cooling problem) was cleared the car has continued to repeat the above issue without triggering the check engine light... With the age and milage I would just let this go as a unique quirck, however Hawaii is hot, I have a 2.5 year old, and AC would be nice, but why spend money on recharging etc... if this problem might just kill it again? The mechanic thinks it's electrical, but does not do electrical. Other than the temp gage reading like a perfect fan/relay/plugged poblem and the AC dying nothing else is wrong with this car. This is a tough one, any ideas my fellow subinites might have will be greatly appreciated.... Thank you! -
Ok, so had to stop driving the OBS Tuesday due to the do coolant loss, which is going out the reservoir and not the tailpipe. Yes, blown head gasket. So, starting tomorrow afternoon/evening I'm going to pull the engine and start work. I'm trying to first make sure I have everything, and second see what i should and should not do along with a few other questions. What I have for parts: Full Engine Gasket Set; Fel-Pro Head Gaskets (pair); Complete Timing Belt Kit w/ WP, Idlers, and Tensioner; TYC Radiator, Camshaft Sensor (probably don't need it but I have it); new o-ring PS Pump resevoir; new o-ring AC Low Pressure line; Separator Plate (metal); Tube of Subaru RTV I'm also picking up a used set of fans to fix the AC Fan the PO proceeded to cut and hot wire to the battery (yeah, don't ask). I know the AC Works, just leaks right there at that O-Ring (recently charged and tested, until it leaked out all the freon). Now for the questions: 1.) On the engine itself what all gaskets/seals should I replace while its out? This kit appears to have included everything. I already planned to do the head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and remove/clean and reseal the oil pan along with the Valve Seals and the Camshaft seals and the front oil pump seal. 2.) Is there any way to test the rods/bearings on a Subaru Engine without disassembly? I know I can see them after removing the pickup tube assembly, but not sure there is enough room to move them and check for a bad bearing. 3.) Based on these questions, what's the largest & smallest torque I'm going to need? I can't find my torque wrenches (moved recently) and may have to buy new. I want to try and limit cost so if I know the lower and upper variance I can try and find 1 or 2 torque wrenches to cover it all instead of the 3 I can't find right now (had 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" Pittsburgh ones). 4.) While I am in here other than cleaning out the engine bay completely (including cleaning the subframe) what else would be smart to do? -
I've been reading around and I think I've figured out my a/c issue but due to my rather novice knowledge I'd be interesting in hearing some other opinons. Oh, my car is a 2001 Subaru Legacy L with 220,000km on it. Air conditioning worked last summer, there was a warm spell early in the summer and the a/c seems to work decently enough but I only used it for five or ten minutes. Now that summer has set in I went to turn it on a couple weeks ago and nothing happened. It still blew air but nothing cold, compressor didn't turn on and clutch (?) didn't do anything. I turned to the Internet, my Hayes manual and USMB. First thing I found to do was clip the two green plugs togethor under the steering wheel. Both fans on the rad turned on and off as they should and the relay seemed to work for the a/c. Went back to do more research and came back out. Took the caps off the pressure lines for the a/c and stuck a screwdriver onto the pins. Both gave a hiss, so not completely empty. I only did each for half a second, didn't want any getting out that didn't need to. After some more reading the third thing I tried was jumping the pressure switch located near the back of the passenger side of the engine compartment. Unplugged the cord, jumped the contacts and pressed the a/c button. The compressor came on and clutch caught. I tried turning off and on the a/c by the button a few times and the compressor and clutch went off and on. I let it run for a few minutes (with the a/c on) but it just blew warmish air. From my reading if jumping that works then it could be two things, either the switch or low freon. Since jumping the pressure switch worked but it only blew warmish air even though there was still some pressure in the system I'm guessing low freon is my problem. Would anyone with more experience care to comment? Hopefully I'm on the right track. Thanks! -
After a thorough search, I can't find 'my' problem so I'm bringing it to you. 2000 obw, 212,000 miles. Will be getting new head gaskets, timing belt, and transmission at some point in the next 6 months or so (timing belt was last done at 120k the last time I had the gaskets done). Its warm here in Seattle so I turned on the A/C and it blew warm air. If that's all it did, I wouldn't be asking any questions. When I hit the gas, it blew cold. When I'd get to another red light, it blew warm. So, the A/C works awesome on the freeway when it's not rush hour, but otherwise it's kinda broken. Before I take the car in, I'm curious about what it is and, as a result, what this is going to cost me to fix in addition to the several other thousands that I need to spend to buy myself another couple hundred thousand miles. I miss my garage. -
I have a 1988 DL, excellent shape, under 67k miles (really). This car sat for nearly 10 years mostly inside, some outside, and under a carport. It was just started and driven a couple of times a month. Lots of TLC has revived this little gem into my daily driver. Just recently, the R-134 converted A/C compressor and blower cuts out and just stops working while driving. None of the selector buttons or fan speed switchs work. Ocassionally, it will turn itself back on only to stop again the next day. I checked all fuses both under the drivers side dash and the two relays and fuse behind the passenger side strut tower under the hood. All check ok per the Haynes manual I have. I've not pulled the blower resistor block yet because when it does come back on, all fan speeds function. I have disassembled the dash and glove box area and removed the stereo looking for an additional relay that is mentioned in my Haynes manual, but can not locate it. Other than this invisible relay, I'm running out of ideas. Anyone had similiar problems? Could it be the selector button switches? I hear the vacuum system moving duct levers when the buttons are pressed. Is this something simple that I am overlooking or over analyzing? Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -
I am slowly going about converting my '89 RX from R12 to R134a because the pulley bearing on my original compressor failed. I removed the evaporator today and took it apart to get the expansion valve out. The first thing I noticed was some weird rubber/tar gunk around one connection of the expansion valve and around where a piece of it touches a coolant line. What is this stuff? Is it necessary? I hope it wasn't put on to contain a leak. It wasn't tight on the parts so I don't think it was to fix a leak. The pictures below show what it looked like. I took the pictures after I peeled it off so it is just laying there as a representation in the pics. The new expansion valve I bought from RockAuto has different thread sizes than the original so it won't fit. It also won't fit over the pipes to seat against the O-ring. I will have to return it. It also has a third connector coming out of the top. I found this thread that says this was a feature of Hitachi A/C systems, but mine is Panasonic. I was going to get together with a local Subaru group on Saturday to work on this but I don't think I can get a new expansion valve by then. My thought is to use new O-rings and reuse the original expansion valve. It seems people frequently do this when switching to R134a from R12 with no adverse effects and I never noticed anything to think my original had problems. Thoughts on the weird gunk and reusing the expansion valve?
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Calling A/C techs... I had a theory about the problem, but I'd like to confer before proceeding. A/C system was working last 2 years, but now it only cycles for ~10 seconds, then shuts off until I cycle the A/C (or defrost) off/on. Does this every time, no matter how long I wait between A/C cycles. Belts are tight, no clutch slippage (that I can observe) and the engine DOES idle up when running (pulser is gapped to spec) Hooked up the R-12 gauge and there were the readings: Engine at EOT, system off: Low side: ~50 psi HIgh side: 55 psi System cycling: Low: drops to ~0 psi quickly High: raises to ~75-85 and holds After cycle: Low: raises to ~55-60 psi High: drops to ~60 psi I added less than 5oz of R12, but same result, only the high side raises slightly, but the low raises when the system is not cycling. Before I add (or maybe waste if the receiver/drier needs replaced) any more, I just wanted to confirm that it just might be low on R12 and the trinary switch is deactiviating due to low pressure.
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Trying to do an oil pump swap this weekend and worried i'm gonna lose my A/C refrigerant in the process, and won't be able to find more R12...cause it's super illegal thanks to it's unenviromental friendliness. after some googling, i see most pointing to converting it w/ a kit available at auto-zone or other automotive supply stores. have also seen the a number of "eco-safe" R12 refills out there, but not sure what the deal is with them. never really had A/C in any of my cars of the years so not really willing to give up my currently working A/C, but need to eliminate my TOD w/ the oil pump swap (hopefully, fingers crossed). thoughts? thanks, Glen
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Apologies if this has already been answered elsewhere in the forums but I did a search and couldn't find much on maintenance of my a/c unit in my 78 Wagon GL. Everything seems to kick on when I turn the A/C knob and for a second she actually pumps out some cool air but then goes luke warm. I looked on the unit for a port to recharge it with a conventional recharge kit but can't seem to see where I would even begin to think about putting anything in. Anyone familiar with recharging a unit like this? Any help would be appreciated. PS: I understand that a few folks are vehemently anti A/C in these old Soobs but down here in Southern AZ I will take a bit of power loss for the pure necessity some days of air conditioning.
