A/C loves me, A/C loves me not
 

Hey all you A/C gurus out there...

I hate the Harrison R4 compressor. Is there a drop in alternative to it?

Thursday morning, I drove to work, nice icy A/C. Leave to go home, no A/C. No compressor engagment at all. Checked the pressure, hardly any. I had only one can of 134, since this was converted before I bought the car, and the compressor kicked on. I bought some of the green dye to do a leak finder.

What a pain, huh? The A/C lasted a week to the day since I picked up the car.

Thanks!

May not be a compressor problem. The leak could be anywhere.
As far as I know, there is not a "drop in" replacement for the R4.
Let us know where the leak is, and maybe we can help.

Sounds like the compressor is working great,most likely a leak.Mine was leaking at the compressor seals for the hose connection.Phil had the parts. Goood Luck,Johnny:confused:

Yeah, why would you want to replace a perfectly good compressor?

Check for leaks by looking for oil. Around the compressor manifold and the expansion valve under the dash.

Danny

Freeze12.

I did see some oil around the body of the compressor. The current compressor is 3 years old. I do know it is a leak somewhere, that is why I am going to do the bright green dye charge. I had a sudden loss of freon in my Altima, but that was because a rock took out the condensor. There is not any sign of oil on the condensor on my 300D. It's a sad thing that there is not a way to make an A6 compressor work. Those are pretty rock solid units.

I worked for a Caddy dealer while in high school, and that is where I got my A/C training. I replaced a ton of the R4's because of faulty front, rear and barrel seals. I do hope it is just a seal and not a hose, compressor or evaporator core.

Thanks for all the advice

I am also looking for an alternative to the R4 for my 1983 300SD . I once saw a 1985 300D with a Sanden ( Sankyo ?) but haven seen any in the junkyards .

Green dye test revealed freon leak at the from compressor seal.:mad: Everything else was leak free. I picked up a reman compressor and have a dryer on order from DieselGiant.