Had a nasty 134a smell late last summer in my other half's '11 Focus with 118k miles. Since there is nothing about the ac system that would smell as badly inside the car as this did, I ordered an evaporator and expansion valve from rock auto.
Got around to the project today. Just a word of caution for anyone considering this: plan on 8-10 hours of pain if you haven't done it. Pulling the dash isn't easy.
The tricky part is the new evap core isn't exactly the same shape as the old one. It's close, but not exactly. Also, the new washer/o-ring combo was a totally different size on the high side. Not good! I ended up cleaning and oiling the old one.
Also, the alignment of the pipes coming out of the evap core is a little different. Again, *close*, but it required a bit of manhandling to get them to line up with the expansion valve. Which meant that getting the pipes from the car back on also had to be manhandled a little bit since the new expansion valve sits a couple degrees rotated. Those rigid pipes don't like to do that, and I couldn't see exactly what was happening since the back side of the valve is not visible.
So I got it put back together feeling reasonable sure that all the pipes were resting home and at the right torque. I vacuumed it for an hour and it seemed to hold just fine.
Here's the weird part. I was able to get about 10-12 oz of 134a in, but both of my pressures are right at about 70 psi. The compressor is engaged, but it's like it's not doing anything. I can think of three things:
1: The ambient temp is low. It's 39F outside, and only about 50F in the garage. And I stopped adding 134a at about 10-12 oz in a system that holds 18.
2: The compressor is weak.
I drove it home to my condo where the garage is heated to about 58F. Put the gauges on, and both sides are still at about 70 psi with the compressor running. The high side pipe and the low side pipe are both ambient temp.
It like nothing is happening, even though the compressor is spinning.
I'd love feedback!
Got around to the project today. Just a word of caution for anyone considering this: plan on 8-10 hours of pain if you haven't done it. Pulling the dash isn't easy.
The tricky part is the new evap core isn't exactly the same shape as the old one. It's close, but not exactly. Also, the new washer/o-ring combo was a totally different size on the high side. Not good! I ended up cleaning and oiling the old one.
Also, the alignment of the pipes coming out of the evap core is a little different. Again, *close*, but it required a bit of manhandling to get them to line up with the expansion valve. Which meant that getting the pipes from the car back on also had to be manhandled a little bit since the new expansion valve sits a couple degrees rotated. Those rigid pipes don't like to do that, and I couldn't see exactly what was happening since the back side of the valve is not visible.
So I got it put back together feeling reasonable sure that all the pipes were resting home and at the right torque. I vacuumed it for an hour and it seemed to hold just fine.
Here's the weird part. I was able to get about 10-12 oz of 134a in, but both of my pressures are right at about 70 psi. The compressor is engaged, but it's like it's not doing anything. I can think of three things:
1: The ambient temp is low. It's 39F outside, and only about 50F in the garage. And I stopped adding 134a at about 10-12 oz in a system that holds 18.
2: The compressor is weak.
I drove it home to my condo where the garage is heated to about 58F. Put the gauges on, and both sides are still at about 70 psi with the compressor running. The high side pipe and the low side pipe are both ambient temp.
It like nothing is happening, even though the compressor is spinning.
I'd love feedback!
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