It's hot. And getting hotter. And it's really the humidity that gets me. So, I decided I am going to get working AC on this car. But... I want to do it the fun way. I want to use HC-12 or Durracool as its trade-marked name. Though Illegal in some states, it isn't in WV. It is cheaper than R-12 or R134a, less harmful to the environment, more efficient than either and works fine in R-12 systems.

I first ran across the idea here:

Charging your A/C with refrigerant grade propane; cooler, slightly more explosive! - VW GTI Forum / VW Rabbit Forum / VW R32 Forum / VW Golf Forum - Golfmkv.com

Since this adventure is a little different from the other things I've done on the car, I thought I'd start a new thread.

I propose to do this in four stages, the first of which is complete.
They are 1) Re-route the belts, 2) remove and rebuild the old R-12 AC pump, 3) Re-install pump/evacuate system/fix any leaks and 4) refill with appropriate quantity of HC-12.

Stage 1: Belt Re-route
As with most 240s, my car gets power to the power steering by way of the Air Conditioner, which in turn goes to the damper.



I wanted to free up the AC pump so I could work on it at my pleasure. The problem is clear--the Power Steering doesn't line up with a free area on the damper. Initially, I tried to simply take a belt off the Alternator and waterpump and run it to the powersteering pump. No go--there are bumps and things in the timing belt case that make it so I will either have to remove the timing belt case (which is rather involved to get off the top and bottom pieces) or hack off parts that get in the way. Both options were unappealing. So, I opted to try to move the PS pump some-what in the manor described here:

A/C Delete - Turbobricks Forums

So, that is what I did.



Yes, those are nylon spacers. I am a bit concerned about them. This is designed to be a temporary rig, whereas a lot of these people are eliminating AC for power purposes... So I will keep an eye on them. It was a cost decision--the nylon spacers were $0.22 each, and so were the washers. The nylon spacer takes the place of about 6 washers... so you can see why I did it. This my come back to get me later. But I will monitor it for now. I also ended up using fractional (non-metric) hardware. Again, this is a temporary rig. I don't like putting fractional hardware on a metric car... but my choices were limited to what the local hardware store had in stock.

Anyway, now the belts run like this:



Everything has worked well on the test drive... so i'll let you know how the nylon spacers work.

Also, i did have to use a spare belt I had sitting around. the one that had run to the AC was not sufficiently long.

It may be a while before I get to stage 2. But I'll post with my progress for any interested parties.

 

Stage 2: Remove and Rebuild

I removed the compressor. I took pictures... but I have used up my allotment of picture storage on the forums... so I'll look into other picture hosting sites and post them in the future. EDIT: I have since uploaded some pictures. Enjoy...





I took apart the system, braking it at the accumulator. There was no pressure in the system whatsoever. I didn't think there would be. But, so far as I can tell, the compressor is in good shape. I haven't pulled it apart, and I'm not sure I will.





I found out I have a Diesel Kiki ac compressor. I erroneously read OTP and thought that they were showing the "kiki" compressor for the diesel motors. Not so. I had thought I had the Sanden, until I cleaned up the compressor, and saw it clearly marked as a diesel kiki.

In case anyone wants to see how they work, here is a video:


I didn't watch all of it, Just skimmed it.

It spins as I feel it should, without any harsh rubbing or anything that leads me to believe it there is a problem. The problem is probably just that there was a leak.

For the moment, I have the hoses closed off with several layers of plastic bags and rubber bands. But as I don't think the rebuilding phase of this will be needed, I will see about seeing if I can procure the needed equipment to pull a vacuum on the system. I doubt it will hold the vacuum, at which point I will work on fixing that... with the whole UV dyes to find the leak or whatnot...

Some strange things... looking at OTP, it doesn't look like the 91-93 models have a separate dryer, and I know looking down all over the car, I coudln't find one. anyone out there know about this? I had kind of figured on replacing the dryer when I did this job... but I'm not sure at the moment.

Here is the earliest style of AC on the 240s...


And here is the 85-90 version:


But here is the 91-93 version... where's the dryer?

So, I guess it doesn't have one.


Anyway... Will post pictures when I figure out some free image hosting online. EDIT: I have now posted pictures..

 

for free picture hosting, google's 'picasaweb' rocks. get their picasa program, it will read the pics from yoru camera, create local albums, let you crop, annotate, adjust your pictures, then upload them to picasaweb albums all with just a couple clicks. its really a sweet setup. you can hide the albums so they can't be browsed without links, yet still allow embedding links in forums.

I used it for several years, but eventually switched to smugmug.com which isn't free, but has some features I really like. I have a midrange DSLR camera, and shoot in 'Raw' mode, so I use Adobe Lightroom to manage my albums and tweak my pictures now, far more powerful than Picasa, but NOT free, and harder to use.

 

I will look into smugmug. I also often use a DSLR in Raw mode... and only recently acquired an old point and shoot that I use when my hands are greasy. For the moment, I'm using TinyPic... mainly because it is free, and you don't have to sign up or anything.

Anyway, I edited the above post and inserted pictures.

 

smugmug itself doesn't deal with raw mode particularlly well, its Adobe Lightroom that does an absolutely awesome job on that, with a great set of exposure adjustment tools ('exposure', 'shadows', 'highlights', 'white', 'black' will let you dial in the exposure curve to make an otherwise dull picture just 'pop'. then, it has a bunch of controls over sharpness, and noise reduction, as well as color correction etc. you can create macros from a stack of settings so its one click to apply it to multiple pictures. it never modifies your original files, the albums are 'virtual' until you export or publish them. all changs made to any picture are remembered so you can go back and retweak or undo later ('what was I *THINKING*??')

the results of said tweakery tend to just look gorgeous ...


(Allison Russell of Birds of Chicago)

 

Researching... and read some more in OTP. In a nutshell, the Accumulator is the dryer in the 91-93 model system. And OTP recommends that anytime the system is broken for any length of time, to replace the accumulator. So... looks like a new accumulator is in order.

 

Wrote longer post... lost it... twice... here's the recap:

Pierce--Selling cameras is actually my day job. Not so familiar with Lightroom as I am Photoshop, but in raw processing they are functionally identical. I just never got into online posting as I always felt that it didn't take advantage of high MP cameras very well, which I've always used. And I was reluctant at the time to open another profile with another company... Anyway, what camera & lens did you use for that? I'm guessing a moderate telephoto judging by the POV and the shallower depth of field... but... not altogether sure...

Back to car stuff for a moment... Locally I am having difficultly finding a) hoses to connect up to an R-12 system and b) anyone who will rent a vacuum pump. So... maybe better luck in Maryland tomorrow...

 

yeah, Photoshop is more powerful for working on a single picture, where Lightroom shines is as a workflow tool for dealing with 100s/1000s of pictures. I have 100s or 1000s of albums, many with 100s of pictures each.

the EXIF on that pic says...

Date Taken: 2013-05-24 18:05:25
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Exposure Time: 0.0031s (1/320)
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO: 1600
Focal Length: 200mm (320mm in 35mm)

which tells me, I was using my EF-S 18-200/4.5-5.6 IS.

and, Lightroom tells me, I did... import... crop rectangle... preset:bz (which includes auto lens and chroma aberration correction, and a bit of 'clarity' and 'vibrance'). I then went exposure +0.24, contrast +40, highlights +2, shadows +31, whites -17, blacks +24. there's about +25 sharpening with radius 1.0, detail 25, and masking 0, there's zero luma noise reduction, and +25 chroma noise reduction with detail=50.

 

Okay, so your telephoto was almost wide open. 60D is one of my favorite cameras to sell... as the improvements you get by stepping up to the 7D are marginal, unless you really need a sophisticated AF system, and a metal body. CF cards, are faster... but SD are awfully fast as it is. Lens correction in Adobe Camera Raw (which is the engine that runs both Lightroom and Photoshop's Raw abilities) is really incredible. You can take a pretty average lens, and make it look pretty sharp--and it works really well with chromatic abrasion. RAW is just so much more robust than working with jpgs.

As for my AC woes, I went on up to United Refrigeration, and they hooked me up with a a Refrigeration manifold that would hook up to R-12 systems. In retrospect, I should have just got at R-134a set, and screwed on a retro-fit kit to the r 12 fittings on my car. Or rather, I could have. Cost would have been about the same. BUT, I have my r-12 set, and I'll use 'em. I can get ends that will let me use them on 134a systems... but I'll worry about that later. Besides... things are tight where I have to hook the high pressure side onto the back of the AC compressor, so I may be happy I went the way I did.

OTP tells me that for the high side of the AC, hook it to the back of the compressor with the one labeled "DISCH" (there are two on the back). I'm guessing "DISCH" is for "Discharge". My pump has a D and an S (I'll guess the S is for supply).


So, with all that, I'll be able to monitor the High side as I fill from the low side.

I also tracked down a friend who has a vacuum pump. So, that is solved.

Things are coming together. I need to figure out a) where I will get my duracool/HC-12 and b) how much lubrication I need to add to the system.

I will be pulling out the whole AC system and replacing all the o-rings. It's been raining, and the garage I can often use is full of motorcycles... so, I'll be waiting for some sun.

Here is a link that has been useful for me in figuring out how to do things:

 

Well, last night, I had enough time (and good weather) to pull out the whole AC system, minus the Evaporator.

Here it all is:

It was actually pretty straight-forward, just had to finagle it a bit. I pulled out the airbox (which seems like my first step to everything lately), loosened the radiator, and this in turn gave me enough room to loosen all the relevant bolts on the condenser. I had previously taken off the non-functional electric fan in the front, so that helped me get two one of the hose connections. I got to the other one after I dropped the condenser out of the car. Accumulator was pretty easy. A few things of interest, though.

First, the orifice tube is really quite tiny. I figured there would be an enlargement in the tube where it was, but there is not. in the below picture, I have posted where the orifice tube is.

Then there are mystery Items #1 and 2. It doesn't really matter, but I am curious as to what they are. Anyone out there know? I suspect it has something to do with how the AC system was filled at the factory.



... and here is the orifice tube itself. Turns out, you just pull it out. It was jammed in there pretty good, and looks a little cruddy under inspection. I was planing on replacing it anyway. BUT, over all, there was more junk in that tube around the orifice than I would like. So, I think I will try to flush the whole system.

 

those mystery items sure look like R134 standard lowside and highside fittings to me...

 

I thought that for a bit... but if they are, they are not standard. I've worked with the R-134a fittings before... I converted the 740 to R134a (which didn't work very well) and the ones on this car are a little too big and also there is no indention where they would snap in place. If you google images for r134a fittings, you'll see what I mean.

I think Swift Justice addresses the question here. It is an older setup than mine, but I think I am right with the whole it is the factory's way of filling.
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...80/#post273839

Also http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=276398

I may see about removing them, or at least the one that is on the underside of the car. It is in a bad place, and I am a little concerned about possible leakage from them. The bottom one screws out easily enough, If I can just get a plug, that solves that problem.

 

Fluid information I need....


But doesn't have the needed oil capacities...That would be here:


Now for the math...

Duracool (from their website) says you need 35% of the R-12 weight... so from the chart... I need... 2.42 lbs of R-12. So... 2.42 x 0.35 = 0.847 lbs. Google tells me that is equal to 13.552 oz. With sig figs, were at... 13.6 oz. Okay. I can do that.

Now... lubrication... This is a little more difficult to read. But, the chart says 200cc of lubrication. or 0.21 qt. I know from reading about the rebuild procedure for the Diesel Kiki that you need to have 70cc of lubrication in the pump. So I assume that the rest of the lubrication goes in the rest of the system.
So... how much lubrication do I need? Well... 0.21 qt is ... 6.72 oz according to Google. An 8 oz container ought to get me some to spare.

 

Okay... I figured out Mystery Item #1: It is the AC safety valve. You can screw it out to remove it... which would be curious for a filling valve.

I had to free up one of the connection fittings. Heating and Cooling didn't work... which kind of makes sense on an AC system... but I was able to put an impact wrench on it, and get it free.

Right now... I am tracking down O-rings. The most aggravating part is slowing myself down to do it all right and get all the pieces so I don't have to take it apart again.

 

Well, I got it finished. It took a while. Ran into many hang-ups...

First off, I got everything I needed, and began re-installing the AC. I took the opportunity to replace the bushings on the AC compressor while I was at it.



Here are some of the old and new together.


I had kind of forgotten how the brackets went back on the pump, and failed to notice the asymmetric way in which they are mounted, with the bottom two in the middle, and the top two towards the back. Fortunately pictures from other projects guided me on this.


Then I put the AC compressor back on... and guess what? It was super far off from lining up with the engine. ::groan::


I don't think the picture does it justice. So... wanting to do it right before I pressuresed the system, I took it out... and messed with things a lot, without sucess. So, I took out the bracket that mounts the AC compressor and the PS pump.



While I had it out, I replaced the bushings in there as well. It was easier doing it that way than while in the car, that's for sure. It sure looked straight to me, and it seems it would not bend, but crack, being very rigid. And everything looked in order. So, I put it back in, hoping magically everything would line up. It did not.

So... the mounting bracket is held on with 4 bolts to the engine block... I put washers behind the rear-most 2 bolts hoping it would move everything more in line. As I suspected it had mixed results: The AC was better on plane with the harmonic damper, but the PS pump was off more. I decided this was acceptable, and went forward from there.



Putting then I went to put the hose in from the AC compressor to the condenser. NOTE: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND PUTTING THE HIGH SIDE LINE ON THE COMPRESSOR BEFORE PUTTING THE COMPRESSOR BACK IN PLACE. I did not, and realized there was no way to get a wrench on there. So... out it came... I attached the hose... and back up it went. (that day I think I had the compressor mounted and unmounted about 6 times...) The low side line I didn't have trouble putting back on after I mounted the AC compressor.

Anyway... Life is calling... but I will finish up this post in a bit.

 

Once I got the system back together, I put the vacuum pump on it to evacuate it for two hours.

I should back up a minute here.

Flushing
While I had all the pieces out, I flushed them using some can I could buy at an auto parts store. I flushed them out, then blew them out with an air-compressor. This worked fine for all the smaller components. I didn't flush the condenser. it was pretty much empty. Blowing it out yielded... nothing, so I didn't worry with it. I got fluid and oil out of everything else. The hard one was the evaporator. My air compressor simply didn't have the umph to get everything out. I went to another place with a large air compressor and blew on it for a good long while. While I never got all the oil out, I did get all the solvent out, and that is important. You don't want any solvent in there, as the solvent is designed to brake down the oil. However, it is designed to evaporate, and the residue plays just fine with AC oils.

In Retrospect, were I to do it again, I would take it to an AC shop to flush out the system. This was a huge hold up, and took me a long time to get enough air through the Evaporator to get all the solvent out. And by researching, it isn't really that great of a flush job. I don't worry about it too much, because everything was in pretty good shape--I was mainly trying to get as much oil out of the system as possible so I could figure out how much to add.

The oil I used was Duracool's AC Chill oil. I figured, I'd see how well that went. I didn't add the full amount (200cc) because I knew I still had some in the evaporator, and the duracool refrigerant has some in it. So I added about 150cc of oil to the compressor.

Back to Assembly

When I had everything together, I went to pull a vacuum on it. NOTE: Be sure that if you borrow or buy a vacuum pump, it is rated for continuous duty. If you are using one converted from a refrigerator, make sure it has plenty of oil in it. The owner of the one I borrowed thought it had plenty of oil, and they were wrong. It over-heated and seized up after about an hour. I took it apart, freed up everything and added oil (I used ATF I had on hand from my adventures with power steering) and got it going again. But that really slowed things down for a while.

Here is the vacuum pulling setup:


And here is a detail shot of the hook up on the back of the AC compressor:


When pulling the vacuum you open up both the high side and the low side. You DO NOT fill up on the high side--fill up on low side ONLY.


Finding a Leak
When I pulled the vacuum, I let it sit for half an hour to see if it would hold the vacuum. It did not. So... what now?

First, I realized that I forgot to put a new o-ring on the sensor that detects the pressure on the accumulator. So I did that, and tried again. Results? after half an hour, it still did not hold the vacuum. But it did leak slower, so evidently the o-ring was a contributing factor.

There is much online about troubleshooting a leak in a system with refrigerant in it... but little about finding a leak in an empty system. All I could find told me to put a little bit of refrigerant into it with UV dye.

Well, I decided that was a stupid system. Who uses refrigerant which costs money and has all those CFCs in it to find a leak? So... I hooked my Vacuum pump up backwards and put about 30 lbs of pressure in the system. Then I used the time tested technique of putting a mixture of soap and water in a squirt bottle and squirted all suspicious areas.

Logically, if there is to be a leak, it is FAR more likely to be at a joint than in the middle of the pipe, especially considering most of the AC tubing on my 240 is metal--very little rubber. So, I squirted all the joints. Even this seemed a bit unlikely, as i had just replaced all the o-rings in each of them, but it was possible that i either forgot one or did something wrong.

It turns out I did not. Remember mystery Item #1? Also known as the Pressure Relief Valve? I squirted it with my bottle, and a terrific little bubble was generated and popped. I verified it (I could even hear it) and found my problem.

Long story short... I could not find any place that could get me that part under two weeks. So, I decided to use a plug. or would have, but the plug that I was told would fit did not. So... I used a torch and filled the faulty PRV with solder, now making it a plug, and re-installed it.

Pulled the vacuum again, held solid at 28 in. Hg for half an hour, so I knew I was back in business.

Filling with Duracool

I have a temperature thermometer that usually monitors the water temperature of my turtle's aquarium... but I stuck it in the dash vents and used it as my AC air temp gauge.

Filling up with Duracool is really no different than any other refigerent, except that you typically use less. NOTE WELL: you fill up ONLY on the low side. DO NOT fill on the High Side! The gauge on the high side is only used as a reference. I used up both of my 6 oz. cans. I had a third, but an accident has ended it up on a device that will only fill up R-134a systems. Oh well. it will be used later--I'll be doing this a few more times before the summer is over on various vehicles.

After the first can was mostly in, the AC compressor came on and began to cycle. By the time I got the second can empty, the compressor stayed on, and the readings on my gauges were around 30 lbs on the low side and 150 lbs on the high side, which is about right. Air temp got down to 48 degrees, and as I was out of coolant, I was done. I would have liked to have added a bit more, and get that temp down closer to 40 degrees, but this is quite nice. When I re-order some for other vehicles, I probably will top off this car.

When I took it out for a test drive, the temp was between 42-47. Some of this difference may have something to do with the fact I do not have a condenser fan in my car. Perhaps I will fix that now.

Anyway... so if anyone is rebuilding their AC system or wants to use Duracool, I hope some of this is useful to you.