Air conditioning install

[creighta]

I started installing an aftermarket ac system last night. Pretty straight forward job I would never fear a truck w/o AC again.

I should finish up tonight. My question is How do I go about charging it? Anyone know?

I have added a can or two to systems, but never preped a new one. Should I go to Harbor freight and buy a $10 vac pump, or am I better to take it somewhere? Also, if I buy the pump how do I use it??

 

[RedTruck]

I don't know the answer to your question, but it would be neat to know more about your aftermarket kit. Can you give everyone some details. From time to time someone asks about such items. If you have the ability to post a few pics it would be interesting to see what you have there.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[G. Mann]

Congrats on being "Cool"

Ok, once you have all the pieces in place and hooked up and sealed up, you need to evacuate the air from the system. We will presume you kept everything extra clean while you were hooking it all up so no "crumbs" got into the system.

I strongly recommend you get a good quality vacuum pump, not the $10 cheepie. Hook up the vacuum pump and let it run and watch the gage. You will want to draw as much vacuum as you can get and hold it for at least 30 minutes [longer is optional]. If your system doesn't hold vacuum, it won't hold coolant under pressure, vacuum is cheap, freon or 134 is expensive, .

If the system holds vacuum and you have no leaks, then hook up the gages and the coolant supply, start the engine to run the pump and start adding coolant per the system requirements. You should be cool in no time .

I like to put an AC thermometer in the duct in the cab and measure how cold the discharge air is with the system running. You should see discharge temps around 40 degrees F if the system is working good and coolant charge is correct.

BTW, you can go online and get certified to install freon by EPA, if you want. It's an open book test. That gets you into the secret club at the auto parts store and lets you buy the really nasty stuff called "freon 12" and other magic things the EPA says only big boys can play with. EPA..[not]

 

[creighta]

I will try to get some pics tonight. It took me longer to figure out the damn serpentine belt tensioner than it did to install the Evaporator box and the pump.

I looked at a few kits, but mine came from acsource in AZ
http://www.acsource.com/index.asp

cost $784 after shipping and the people were friendly.


Gmann. Do you think I need to add oil to the system or should it already be in the pump???

 

[Agnem]

That would make a fine addition to our technical articles if you could be so cool as to write up an article and take some pictures.

 

[creighta]

I will try to get to it tonight. I didn't get to work last night as I found a pihole/crack in the radiator and had to order a new one.

 

[Exekiel69]

Do you think I need to add oil to the system or should it already be in the pump???

Usually I add it myself but You want to call the seller and ask Him that question and how much You need to buy and what viscosity (don't remember right now).

 

[dsblack]

I would get the 134 that has the oil in it. A retro kit for the truck was $35 at walmart. Gona try that on mine next week....

 

[Dieselmaster]

My brother hit a deer a while back and we had to replace the condenser.....

I took it to a buddy with an autobody shop that had all the goods... vacuum, refridgerant..

He left it on the vacuum for over an hour... said that it would help to achieve maximum cooling.... After he got it all charged it was ice cold... still that way today... He said alot of time people get in a hurry and don't wait for a full vacuum on the system.

He also did this thing with running water through the condenser to fool the vacumm pump or something like that.... I don't know exactly what he did but I do know that my brothers AC is an easy 10°-20° cooler than mine out of the vents.

 

[creighta]

Well, it is finally done. I thought I had it last night, but when I started running hoses I discovered that I had installed the condensor upside down

I borrowed an air ratchet tonight and in an hour and a half I had it fixed and all the job was done. The interior work only took about ten min.

Tomorrow I am going to my mechanic to see if he can crimp the hoses together. Only one end of each was crimped so they could be cut to length.

I also discovered that removing the grill (5 screws) made the radiator work super easy.

I took a few pics. I could try a tech art. if any one wants it. Just need to know how to post it

 

[RLDSL]

Those cheap air powered harbor freight vacuum pumps only work if you have a very stout air compressor, most homeowner compressors won't kick out enough air to drive the things and you won't pull enough vacuum. If you don't have enough compressor to run one, you can usually rent an electric one from most industrial tool rental places, or you can just take the thing to an ac shop and have it sucked down and charged.
If the compressor was new, it should already have the correct amount of oil in it. Call the seller to make sure. you do not want to add more oil if it's already in there, it will mess up things.

when vacuuming out, part of what it does is boil the moisture out of the system, you want to leave teh pump running for at least 45 minutes, if a humid climate you might want to leave the pump running for a couple of hours.

Then to charge it attach the first can and open it up, then take the wire to the compressor clutch and jump 12v to it ( or disconect the wire at the pressure switch and jump across it) to get the compressor turning to suck the refrigerant in.
You really need a set of gauges , but you can get by with a cheap low side gauge with a can tap setup with a temp pressure chart.

---------Robert

 

[Mr_Roboto]

When I went through auto school (taught by a very old, very trained mechanic) we were told that it was best to evac the systems overnight. Basically it takes time to "evaporate" all the moisture out of the system.

As I understand it, the venturi type vacuum pumps do not create as low a vacuum as a proper pump. However I have never used one.

 

[creighta]

I found a shop that can crimp my hose ends on and charge the system pretty cheap, so I think I'll go that route.

My Father in law is a retired mechanic. He suggested I get a set of gauges and just use the manifold to pull vacuum. He used to do this on equipment when he did not have his pump w/him.

BTW inside his snap-on vaccum case was nothing more than a small blow gun w/o a shut off valve

 

[Mr_Roboto]

If you are talking about using the engine to pull a vacuum, an unthrottled engine (such as our diesels) does not have significant vacuum. I suppose you could hook up to the engines vacuum pump line but you would not get the same vacuum as using the proper equipment.