Air Conditioning Update
 

Well, it's been a year and I thought I'd give an update on my A/C system. What I did was posted here:
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=27636

Anyway, the Duracool (R12a) stuff has been working great. I had a very slow leak and during the late spring I noticed I wasn't getting into the 30's degree range anymore. I could get into the low 40's, but I wasn't getting in the 30's anymore, or if I was, it didn't last long.

So I added some more Duracool. Probably about half a can. Well, that ended up being way to much. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I'd let out a little bit here and there. Drive it a couple of hours and see where it's at.

I've noticed how to tell when I've got to much in there. If I'm driving a steady 50 mph, and it's getting into the 30's, but when I'm on the highway, it goes up into the 40's or 50's, I have too much in there. So hook up the gauges and let out a pound, and try it again.

Duracool and the other R12a variants, are very sensitive to the amount you have installed and can easily have to much installed because you don't need nearly as much as R12 or R134a.

So I took a little 1 hour trip on Saturday along the highway, and my A/C got down to 26 degrees. It's only gotten 26 degrees one other time, so I think it's running perfectly right now.

For those that want to know my pressures, I'm running about 29 psi on the low side, and about 195 psi on the high side. This is doing the test running the engine at 1700 rpm for 5 minutes when it's hotter than 85 degrees out.

After looking at R134a, and the other R12a variants, I think it's a no brainer to choose the R12a stuff such as Duracool.

Hopefully this well help those who have A/C systems that are only blowing tepid air.

I've done the same thing, but after a while, my a/c would turn on and off ever so often, and would only be on for a min. We beleive we have a small leak in the compressor. Would another can of duracool take care of this, or should the compressor be replaced. Or is it a pressure thing that we have to adjust. I beleived we used duracool. looks like yo uknow your duracool, any help would be great.

Thanks

Well, I would fully verify your pressure first, before adding any more refrigerant. Hook up the low side and high side and do the test I mentioned above. If you dial in your pressure just right, it will blow air so cold, it hurts to have it blowing directly on your skin. I don't recommend having it outputing under 32 degrees if you live in humid climit. It will cause ice to freeze on the evaporator and that would be no fun.

It should would be nice if there were two speed compressors. That way when your idleing, it would make the compressor spin faster, but when you were above 1800 rpms, it would switch to the slower speed. Boy, it this doesn't exist, I just thought of a great invention.

yeah that sounds like a good idea!! anyways yeah we have to get it checked out again. we did have it pressure tested a while ago like 2 years ago, and they found small pin holes in the compressor, or something like that. we put their leak sealer in and then the charge. It worked, but then stopped, i think the on and off of the a/c means low cooling stuff. I should probably take it into a shop and get it re-tested, but i got to put the belt back on. Thanks for the help

Well, I'm almost wondering if you should get the gauges off ebay, and buy your own duracool and it it yourself. I wanted to just buy it once, and then I can change the charge whenever I like. Buying your own tools should actually cost you a lot less then taking it in and having it done. Read my post that I gave last year. Oh, and buying this DVD will be a great starter on how to do your own system:
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...ENOW%7C%7Etrue

I think the only thing you might have trouble in, is finding a vacuum pump. I bought a venturi vacuum pump from ebay that runs off a air compressor, but it needs to be a pretty beefy air compressor. Of course, you should always rent a vacuum pump for cheap, and you only need to do it the one time to purge your current system.