Yes, my probe no long has that foam.

 

are those pictures maxima_joe posted of the a/c coils or whatever. would blowing/cleaning those off give better performance?

 

Yes, the foam cover is gone.

The shop that originally replaced the compressor did a butch job and did a lot of unnecessary things. After I decided to fix it myself, I spent $20+ just on fasteners they left off.

 

How can my A/C be performing bad if your probe doenst have foam on it as well ??

 

Joe suggested this one.

 

Matty, Is it fixed? Update us.

 

Waitin for parts from Nissan. Im going to have the entire system evacuated to get the box out. No chance that lower section is coming off to work on it.

Ill keep ya posted.

 

It's been hot here in San Jose this past week. The A/C in my car is holding up.

The car past 100K mark by a few hundred miles. Put in a new set of Bosch plugs this morning and the low end power improved some. Also went for a set of those new no frame wipers.

 

I have to decide what im gonna do when I get the parts and have the system evacuated. Do I take out the compressor and do a drain with new oil or leave that alone, cover the probe, re-install and have recharged and risk it.

 

If you are doing it yourself, to get good access to the top ports; your need the compressor out. Drain the old oil from the bottom drain plug.

Shops may have a way to add oil without removing the compressor. Call them and find out.

Now that I've removed it twice, second time to get the alternator in; the compressor is not that hard to take off and put back on.

Kleenex are good to clean the hose fittings because they don't shed fiber much. Micro fiber shop towels are good too. You don't want to use paper towel or normal shop towel on them. Fiber left across o-ring can cause leaks.

 

the fact that u pulled only .5lbs out when put on vacuum may suggest u have or had a leak. Either way you have possible exposure to the atmosphere. If you have even the slightest bit of air in the system... you have moisture. You should change the drier every time air is introduced into the system. I say this because it is very rare... but you may have an internal freezing problem in your evaporator. If everything is running the way it should be... you will be getting super cold refrigerant spraying out of your expansion-valve... cold enough to freeze any moisture trapped in the system...

If your planing on evacuating and recharging again... try replacing the drier before putting a 45+ minute vacuum on the system... will at least ensure all moisture is out.

Again... very rare... have only come across a couple of cars with the problem... but they had the same issues you did... and pretty much services everything else possible...

Good luck...

 

Any update?

 

I threw in the towel for this season. Started getting cold out and theres no point to go ripping it all out. Ill hold off to do all the work in the spring.

Thanks for all your help guys. Hopefully next year ill have cold A/C. lol

-matt

 

Bringing this thread back up.

Trying to fix the A/C once again, three years later.



I replaced the PBR today under the dash. Very tricky to get to.

I plan to get to a shop and have the entire system evacuated...put the evaportor box out, add the clip and the insulation to the probe and bring it back to the shop for a recharge

-matt

 

PBR?

I've got a '99 that I replaced every component, o-ring, compressor, the whole 9 yards. Worked awesome for ~4 months than took a dump. And I never bothered with it for over a year because it turned winter, then I worked nights the following summer, then it was winter again, and the end of spring I bought a newer Max.
But now I'm gonna be going back to my '99, so I need to get my a/c fixed too. I'll be following your progress *fingers crossed for both our sakes*

 

LOL. the weather is warming up and i gotta get my compressor in the car. I had to get the 96 specific compressor.

I disconnected my compressor before winter for various reasons. Now that i am putting another one in.
I assume these are the things needed

Compressor specific oil,
o rings for the lines,

evacuate and then re-charge?

 

Dealing with a entire new problem. From the fall to the Sping I have a leak in the system somewhere. Whats the easiest way to find a leak ?? I had dye in it last time it was charged up and had the guy run the light around the system but nothing looked bad

I still have to take the glove box off and replace the expansion valve clip and insulator before I have it charged. Now dealing with this leak. Where do I look ??

-matt

 

I can't believe you all were troubleshooting the AC system without a set of manifold gauges. I would get a set and report your pressures on both the hi and low sides.

For the leak, best to buy a refrigerent leak detector rather than depending on the UV dye.

I would invest in a AC flush gun and flush every component of your AC system. You may have a blockage somewhere. You cannot flush the TEV (Thermal Expansion Valve) and you cannot flush your compressor.

When pulling vacuum, best to pull for 1 hour, longer if you use a crappy vacuum pump. Some people would apply slight pressure to the system and do a leak detect (with soap water). I just pull a long hard vacuum and check a day later.

As for adding the oil to the system without pulling any lines out, you can remove the low side pressure port valve core and dump the oil in there. You need a different schrader valve tool, not the one for tires, but one made specifically for AC schrader valve ports. You may be leaking refrigerent there.

My AC system never got cold at all, and looking at the pressure on both low and hi sides with a manifold gauge set. My problem was a bad TEV.

Stan

 

To find a leak either use a uv light and glasses, or visually inspect each line. That is assuming the last shop did add dye. You can check to see if they added dye by looking at either the low or high side ports, depending on what side they charged and added dye you will see the flourescent green on the inside of the port. A leak will usually occur near the meeting of a rubber line and a metal line. If it was leaking you would notice it is a little dirty, the kind of dirty like a slow oil leak that has had dirt and dust set on it. If its an evaporator thats leaking, its very hard to spot. The best way is using an electronic leak detector and probing it in the hvac box. If dye has been added trying peeking around the evaporator drain tube underneath the car.

 

Are you gonna fix this thing or what?

 

Well heres an update a few years later:

When I bought the new evaporator MANY years back and put it in with the BRAND new expansion valve, it never seemed to work right. It has been ok cold but definetly not SUPER cold. Every year I was trying something different and NO luck.

I finally pulled the evaporator box and the bottom of the evaporator is COVERED with oil and freon green. Well it has been a defective part since I put it in!!! So every year when I kept on getting it recharged, and changing things, that was my problem !!

I have a new one sitting in my garage ready to install and hopefully Ill be all set now.

My last question is do I change the low pressure lines that run along the top of the motor ? or leave them alone. There is rubber on them and its a pretty old car. Not sure if I should spend the $180 for those two lines or just charge it up.

-matt