Okay...so I have completed a Diesel Giant A/C overhaul on my 82 240D. Installed a new compressor, expansion valve, dryer, and flushed all of the lines/replaced o rings. However, during the vacuuming process I did not notice that the high side was not connected properly and I am unsure of whether I got all of the air out of the system (on the high side/schrader valve was bent on the adaptor). I charged with 3 cans of freeze 12. My pressures at idle are 30 and 150 and air out the vent is a disappointing 58 degrees. I noticed the condenser fan never kicked on, but I didn't run it long (maybe 5-10 minutes). I pulled a good vacuum on the low side for about an hour....just not sure if pulling on the low side is enough?

Should I re-evacuate and recharge?

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1976 240D
1987 560SL
2007 E320 Bluetec
1998 C280 (now son’s car)
1982 240D Manual - Sold

Evacuating through just the low side port is fine.

Without the fan running that's about all your get.

.

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[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

not sure I follow your description, but if you had the high side connected, and attempting to pull vac through there, but had a leak, you MUST evacuate and re charge. if there is ANY moisture in the system it will mix with the oil and cause a world of hurt. IF you had an open line when you were vacuuming, dump replace the reciever, and re evacuate. if you could not get the high side line on, and just pumped through the low side, with the high side sealed, you should be ok, but then you would have charged through the low side, and that's not the recommended way to charge. liquid should be dumped into the vacuumed system on the high side.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I think you pump in Freeze12 as a gas through the low side. At least that's what I did.
You need to drive the car and see what your vent temp is. Your pressures are low for what I get, but I don't know the ambient temp you were working with. {I'm guessing at least 90's in Bama}

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I always pull a vacuum for several hours in the hot sun to assure all moisture vapor is boiled off. Both of your guages should be pegged and stay there after the pump is shut off for some time.
It sounds like you might need to start over.

What is the temp of the suction line up to the compressor? If it's cold and sweating with condensate at that point then you need to look for a dirty evaporator fins, heat exchanger dumping heat into the ducts... although your pressures sound like you still have contaiminents (moisture) and a low charge.



Jimmy's gonna hate me for this but...

Here's the reason I chose NOT to use Freeze 12 and spent the extra for R12.

http://www.autofrost.com/oil/

I wonder how Freeze-12 works w/the BG frigiquite Oil. My MB and Nissan P/U are using Freeze-12. The MB has had it for a year now, and the Nissan for 6 years. The P/U has the Freeze12 branded oil.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

I've run Freeze 12 in the SE for a couple of yrs although, we don't drive it much. I've noticed the compressor is getting a little rough sounding.

I don't have Freeze12 pompoms or a foam finger. Just put it in the wagon when I was having a hard time getting the compressor/manifold lines to seal. Left it in because it works OK.
Don't let Dan fool you. He pumps in freon and injects 2 oz's of water and just waves his hand over the condenser. Then his systems immediately start spitting out ice cubes......

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Well...the problem was I bought a new gauge set and had never used it before. The high side connector would not work correctly and I used one off of an older messed up gage set. This connector had a valve on it that screws a pin down to push in the schrader valve and open up the port to the gauge. However, the schrader valve core was bent on the adaptor that is screwed onto the old R-12 port (I had converted it to R134 several years ago - another long story) and so the port was unbeknownst in the closed position. There was no pressure in the system, so how would you know? When I started the vacuum pump I watched the gauges and noticed that I had 20" within a couple of seconds on the low gage and the high gage had pegged out already (the high gage has no vacuum scale and is only a short distance from zero to the peg). Once the low side was up to 29+ inches I shut the pump down for about 15 minutes to see if it held vacuum, and it did, so I ran the pump for another hour. The high side port is down under the the air cleaner and very hard to get to. Once I began to charge the system and the compressor kicked on I instantly knew I had no high side pressure, and then figured out the problem. I found another adaptor and screwed it on to get the readings I got.

The condenser fan did not come on after charging it up. So I need to find out if the temperature switch is bad or if the fan has gone south. It sounds like this is a big issue that I need to address. As I recall, it was working fine the last time the A/C worked, which I think was 2004. If evacuating on the low side only will pull all of the air out then, I might be okay, although I wish now I had vacuumed it for another hour or two. I did the evacuating at night and certainly not under a hot sun. It is very warm in Alabama this week, with evening temperatures in the mid 80's. I suspect I may not quite have a full charge since the suction pressure is so low. It should be a bit higher - right?

Thanks for the help.

__________________
1976 240D
1987 560SL
2007 E320 Bluetec
1998 C280 (now son’s car)
1982 240D Manual - Sold

If you have no restriction in the system, vacuuming on the low side will pull all of the air out.

29" Hg is about as good as it gets.

What are your pressures at 1500 rpm? And the ambient temp?

An undercharged system won't get hot enough to trip the fan switch.

Even then, there would have to be two restrictions.

The compressor itself will provide a pretty good restriction to air flowing from the high side to the low side. The air must go past the valves in the wrong direction.