Re: air conditioning problem

Sounds more like a condenser problem. Possibly blocked or not enough air passing across it. Is the cooling fan at the condenser coming on? Try spraying cold water on it with it running and see if the pressure drops.

I have a 1992 honda civic that used the old school R12 refrigerant. My > brother a few years back did a motor swap on the car and of course swapped > out the compressor for the a/c at the same time. The new compressor is off > a brand new car so its r134a compliant. To get the a/c working again he > took the vehicle to a shop that supposedly changed out the seals and > evacuated and rechraged the system with r134a refrigerant. > > All was working well up until this spring when my a/c stopped working. > > I recharged the system with a set of brand new gauges and genuine virgin > r134a refrigerant. All was working well up until my curiousity uncovered > something quite interesting. > > My a/c blows about 10-12 degrees celsius which is acceptable for ambient > temp of about 20 degrees celsius. I decided to hook up a set of gauges to > my car and found the readings to be quite off from what I think they should > roughly be. > > The low side suction pressure is about 23-28 psi and the high side is at a > crazy 250-260 psi! The line to the condensor is extremely hot which i > already know is not normal. The car cools reasonably well so I'm lost as to > what could be wrong. According to my honda service manual a excessive high > discharge line pressures and abnormally hot condenser lines indicates a > restricted refrigerant flow in the system. > > here are some observed items: > > 1. the receiver drier is the original R12 receiver drier (the shop was > stupid enough not to change it out to comply with r134a) > 2. There is a small refrigerant leak from the acme fitting on the low side. > 3. The discharge line into the condenser is insanely hot > 4. The suction line is noticably cold > 5. the receiver drier feels very warm to the touch and the line going to > the evaporator is also very warm to the touch. > 6. The ambient temperature isn't hot enough to make the suction line to > sweat. > 7. The high side pressure before starting the car is only at 90 psi. As > compressor run time increases the higher the pressure and the higher the > condenser line temps. > 8. When the compressor cycles on and off the high side pressure can > fluctuate as much as 25-30 psi. When the compressor pumps the pressure > shoots up very fast and when it stops it drops fairly rapidly down about > 20-30 psi before really coming to a stop. After the cycle starts over again > with discharge pressures getting higher and higher. > 9. I highly doub the system is overcharged b/c the low side pressures are > so low. > 10. The compressor i am using is brand new straight from honda. > > > With ambient temps on the cooler than average side and a discharge pressure > so high I can only imagine what the end result would be when the ambient > temp shoots to over 30 degrees. My a/c would literally explode! > > I can't see how the system is restricted other than two places. The > expansion valve or the receiver drier. > > The expansion valve couldn't be stuck closed b/c I get a decent amount of > cooling > The expansion valve couldn't be stuck open b/c the evaporator doesn't freeze > over > The receiver drier is the original r12 drier so that should be an obvious > sign of bad a/c retrofitting. I will change that out > > I was good at fixing R12 a/c systems in older cars but this retrofitted > civic is a tough one to figure out. I don't want to take it to honda and > spend 500 bucks to fix it when I have all the equipment to do it. > > Can someone tell me what the heck is wrong? > > Thanks > > > >
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