Suggestions for an 82 Suburban.

Take it to a trans shop and have a trans flush done with a filter change. Flush the cooling system. Fresh 10W-40 oil in the engine with a NON Fram filter(Wix is my first recommendation). Fresh rear-end fluid and new gasket. Check the brake fluid and PS fluid. Check the soft brake lines and PS hoses. Have the front suspension and steering linkage checked thoroughly by a GOOD alignment shop. Have a GOOD A/C shop check the system for anything that might be needing attention. Its an R-12 system and hopefully it didn't get a worthless 134A conversion. If it did, have them do what's needed to get the 134A out and R-12 or Freeze-12 in. Closely inspect the lines for the rear heat. They are known to corrode and break at the mount locations. A new filter in the carb is cheap insurance. The rockers, doors, and quarters behind the rear tires are typical rust areas. Make sure they are flushed clean. Also the spare tire well.

If you need any parts, drop me a line. I have an '85 and an '88. Both are 4x4, both have a full set of privacy glass, both bodies aren't in very good shape.

I let a lot of things go but this one I cant. NO NO NO 10-40 oil,

30, 40, 10-30, 20-50, but no 10-40. The damn stuff does not hold viscosity. And this was a from a GM seminar I attended back in February 1990. An AC Delco independent supplier got one of the GM factory techs, down for Daytona, to come in and put on an AC seminar. After words we had a general question and answer session and I asked about oil as so many customers were asking me. I've, up untill this new Caviler I bought for work, always been a Kendall GT 20-50 user. Three failures common with the 350 diesel, head gaskets we all know about that one, injector pumps seizing up, we all know about that one, and oil related failures. GM found that in 80% of oil related failures the oil used was 10-40. aftert his discovery they further investigated other engines with oil related failures and found the same thing, majority of failures were found using 10-40 weight oil.. Thats way starting at least as early as 1991 you wont see 10-40 listed as an approved oil for GM vehicles I'll be glad to scan my 91 Chevy's owner manual page for anyone. I will whole heartedly agree with stay away from Fram oil filters. In reality you cant do better than an AC Delco filter.

I am going to disagree here as well. If the conversion was done correctly, correct orifice tube, thorough flush, new accumulator, the correct high viscosity pag oil for GM, and then the 134a, it will cool just fine.

Whitelightning

I have run millions of miles combined with all my vehicles, almost every one of them with 10W-40. So I hope you can understand my scepticism. I had nearly 600,000 mile on my old Cutlass and all I ever ran was 10W-40.

It is the most used oil of everyone I know. Maybe there are more engine failures with that oil because it is the most comonly used? I dunno. But it would take one heck of allot for me to be convinced that 10W-40 oil is a death sentance to an engine.

As for the 350 Diesel...well, I dont think that is a good sorce for any test. They were ALL junk from the start.

If you have any links relating to this oil subject, I would be VERY interested in doing some reading about it.

ACDelco is also a great filter. It seems to be carried by only a few auto parts stores from my experience, and they are so often out of the filters I needed. Around here in 'Farm Country', Wix is SO widely used that its hard to find a APS that doesnt carry 'em.

134A runs through the pump in the 300degree range, R-12 pumps lose most of there eficiency at anything over 200 degrees. R-12 works between 150 and 200 degrees. 134A can and does blead out of the hoses and seals of an R-12 system. The original 'Conversion Kits' wire $300-$500 range that replaced the main problem areas. Freeze-12 works right around 150degrees, if fully compadable with everything in an R-12 systems including the R-12 oil in the pump...the pump must be flushed to use 134A oil. Freeze-12 is proven to cool much better than 134A in an R-12 system and even in a 134A system.

A TRUE 134A conversion will cost over $500 by the time all is said and done right. The best way to tell if it was maybe done right is that there are no adapters on the R-12 connectors for the 134A fittings.

while some may view the 350 diesel as junk, in its first two years lots of problems and by the time ironed out way to late to save the engine, drag racers absolutly love the block. Its one of the most durable engine blocks ever built, so if someone says oil failures, thats not design flaw. And if GM had just put a water/fuel seperator on the beast many problems would never have happened in the first place. Even VW was smart enough to put a water/fuel seperator on the rabbits and jettas.

I still have some addresses of people that attended with me, perhaps one of them can at least rememnber the GM rep that gave the seminar. Also keep in mind that engines today run way hotter than 20-30 years ago. It was tempature related if I rmember all the details, and as I also stated, it was the high number of failures that caused GM to look at data on all its other engines for oil related failures. So perhaps its like the poor Pontiac Fiero. The engine fires were a result of gasoling changing state when heated i an g=engine bay and becoming corrosive to the fuel hoses being used. Because the Fiero engine bay was hotter than most, the damage to fuel lines became apparent much sooner. because of the research the fires led to, is why there is now hose designed for fuel injection systems, and the plain old hose we have always used. In a carb system the fuel never returns to the tank(well almost never, I know there were a few mechanical fuel pumps that had return lines as a means of regulating fuel pressure. Anyways, GM saw a trend in one engine, and then expanded to research all engines.

Any AC system on a GM after 1986 has barrier hoses, so hose bleed down is not an issue. As such you will see "adaptors" on some conversions. and I think you are confusing tempature with high side pressure readings. and in an R134A system the high side should be 212-220 psi, not 300.If you want to talk tempatures in the system , then the inlet side of the condensor should be between 190 and 220 degrees with a 60 degree drop on the outlet side of the condensor, at qn ambient tempature of 90 degrees.

found this link a couple years ago and saved it as well as copied theentire post to a word doc. Its one ofthe best explinations I've found. The original 'Conversion Kits' wire $300-$500 range that replaced

I have found that most conversions are done when a major parts failure occurs, mostly the compressor. And new compressors 90% of the time are prefilled with the correct R134A oil, and as such have to be drained before using freezon or R-12.

The number one biggest issue with R134A is over charging the system. The rule of thumb for both R-12 and R134A is very similar. High side pressure should equal 2 times ambient tempurature plus 15-20% with 134a, 15% with R-12. Not a lot of difference there at all in pressures.

Whitelightning

Think an 82 has the Detroit Diesel built 6.2L not the Olds built 350.

Al

And no one suggested that the vehicle in the start of this thread had a diesel, Olds or otherwise. I was relaying as was told to me how GM came about dropping 10-14 motor oil as a recommended oil, its all spelled out in the third and fifth post in this thread.

Whitelightning

Hi!

Hmmm...I had my '84 GMC Sierra (6.2 Diesel) converted to 134a and it works beautifully. (I think there's still a leak somewhere though...) Now if only it didn't all come out of the floor vent!

If done properly, the conversion can work quite well. Of course, I would give you the idea that it could work better on some trucks that it would others. My truck has a long compressor, but I have seen some short ones as well. Perhaps those don't work as well.

William

I have never heard any good stories about the 5.7 diesels. They might be strong for drag racing(which isnt easy on anything), but a strong gas block, wont last for diesel duty. A fuel/water seperator is mandatory for a diesel, I will whole heartely agree there.

If 10W-40 wasnt enough for a 'hot' running engine, why does almost every engine made in the last 15yrs state 10W-30 and 5W-30? Lower viscosity oil for higher heat? Doesnt figure. I have never had much faith in 'independant' and/or 'controled' tests. Real world is where things are proven. As I said before, if 10W-40 was such a danger, I doubt that my Cutlass would have gotten any where near 600,000 miles on her, with the engine never having been opened up for anything other than valve cover gaskets twice, intake gasket once, and timing set once. If it wasnt for the brake system rotting away along with the front floors, I would probably still be driving it. Still would roast the tires, till the friend I sold it to tore it apart. If I remember right, he put a gasket set in the engine, installed it in place of a 5.7 diesel, and sold the car to a guy that moved to texas with it. Was still on the road with no problems 2yrs later...I quit asking...I miss that car.

I might have heard my A/C pro wrong, or just misunderstood. 134A requires higher temps/pressures than an R-12 system is designed to operate at efficiently. He uses R-12, 134A, and Freeze-12. He has personally run all 3 in real world testing and has used all 3 in various cars, trucks, OTR and local semi's, tractors, combines... Freeze-12 outperforms R-12 in an R-12 system, 134a in a 134A system, and 134A in a properly converted R-12 system. Tested for years in thousands of vehicles of all sorts...1960's to nearly new. He was brought a recently repaired car from a local guy that needed an

134A A/C servicing. Freeze 12 was decided on and the owner said the A/C was no where near that good before the wreck.

This guy has been doing A/C work almost as long as I have been alive...He knows his stuff!

Hey, Thanks for the reply. Pretty much what I got is change the fluids and filters and check out all the rubber lines and the coolant hoses. I don't even know if the AC works in it. I,d like to make a couple of comments about the AC and oil. Someone mentioned the correct orifice tube on the R134 conversion, and someone mentioned the R134 conversions were worthless. I,ve done successful conversions on VWs and Ford escorts, and geos. because you can buy the Freon. But nothing big. So do you think it might work with the orifice change or not. What you think. Also some very good comments about oil. Generally I would use 20-50 in the summer because of the heat, and