So I cleaned off the sight class while I had my A/C running on high. I've heard the freon should be clear as it flows through but mine was milky white. What kind of problem does this indicate? Is that oil mixing in with the freon?

Scott

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Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Scott, That is not an absolute rule on the 'clear' situation....
I will check my ac manual .... but for the record... the way in which the compressor is lubed on the top side ( and bottom on the Delco) is by the movement of oil mixed with freon through the system.... but I am not saying that this will necessarily produce the color you are talking about...

I was flipping through an old Haynes manual for VWs and read that if you see that in your sight glass that means something is wrong and you should take it to a qualified A/C repair person. The manual did not state what was wrong though.

My A/C does not blow very cold on hot days (90 and over) but seems to do o.k. if the temperature is lower. I'm just trying to figure out if there is something I can do myself instead of paying someone else a lot to fix it.

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

look very closely again. Is the "milky white" appearance actually made up of hundreds of tiny, tiny bubbles? If you add a little throttle, does this appearance diminish somewhat? If this is the case, check your pressures, maybe you are slightly low on refridgerant

No, I tried reving the engine and it still looked the same. You could also describe it as a "cloudy" appearance.

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

There is really not much that you can do to an AC system without doing it harm. You really need gauges, a leak tester, a way to flush the system and vacuum pump to do anything. And to do it legally you need a recovery system. I also use a temperature gauge for superheat, subcool and register air temps.

You can get registered with the EPA for $20. google: epa 609 exam. To do your home AC google: epa 608 exam, it is more involved, but doable, cost about $100 or less.

The rest of the equipment costs about what one expensive trip to the AC repair shop costs.

If you read enough about AC to understand superheat, subcool, sensible heat, latent heat and the difference between a system with and expansion valve and one with an orifice, you will be on your way.

I don't know for sure, but you say it operates but not really well. From my limited A/C experience (mostly with Chrysler products) the sight glass would look milky if the charge was low. It was actually tiny bubbles that were VERY hard to see unless the outside of the glass was clean, and you shined your strongest light on it while you looked at it from different angles. Can you detect any "movement" of fluid?

I can see movement of fluids through the glass. I'm not looking to get a bunch of special A/C equipment to fix this problem. If it turns out to be something pretty simple to fix, I will buy what I need and fix it myself. But if it is going to be more involved, I'd rather just pay someone else to do it right or will just leave it alone for the time being as I have other work I need to do to the car which takes priority (replace my control arms).

I added a can of freon before when it wasn't cooling properly and though it did cool a little better, it still isn't working like it should. On a hot day, you will be cooler with the windows down.

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Scott, are you dealing with R12 or R134a?

My 87 looses about a pound a year and the indication I get is the milky white in the sight glass. Just add some freon until it clears up. You might add some stop leak before you add the freon.

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I'm dealing with R-12. It has been about one year since I added a pound of freon so maybe I should go ahead and add another can?? How many pounds does the system hold? I don't want to risk overfilling it

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

about 2.2 lbs. I wouldn't go and add a whole pound at once unless there was a pressure gauge attached. I don't know the specs offhand. If you overfill, you may just trip the relief valve in the compressor, (which will scare the **** out of you) but hopefully not harm the system. I appreciate your desire to fix it yourself, I do that too, but see if you can at least get a cheapo gauge to check pressures with.

Just add until the milky goes away. Do not over fill it.

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Visit my web site and see what it is like living in a Historic town:www.oldsalemhomes.com

Since we have not determined for sure that the " cloudy" appearance is caused by being low on freon.... this is not a good method for determining how much to add ( if any ).
A system will work ok with considerably less than designed for than ANY over.....
While I am all for people doing their own AC work... if one does not want to acquire the knowledge and tools to do it safely then it pays to take it to someone with those items...
Sometimes there are minimum things required to determine if it is a simple fix.

You're low on R12. Milky white/cloudy is mineral oil streaking/tiny bubbles on an R12 system that is in moderately good shape (hasn't been hacked on, decent compressor). On R12 you can charge slowly by sight glass until just clear.

Of course everyone already said that.

What I didn't hear was: "FIX the LEAK" first. A pound a year is a bit more than you want.

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1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)