Re: [mkII] reinstalling A/C (long)

["Joshua Strait" <joshua13s@hotmail.com>]

Wow.  Deja Vu, same thing happened to mine.  The PO cut the line comming out 
of the firewall and busted off the fitting at the top of the condenser.  
Have hope though, I was able to fix mine.  Talking to Potterman about it, he 
said that from previous experience the guts of the evaporator should be ok.  
What I did was buy a used compressor, used lines and condenser (thanks to 
Van Vuren Motorsports).  Find a local A/C shop a buy new O-rings for all the 
fittings and you must buy a new drier/reciever ($20.00 from VW).  Discuss 
your dilema with him and ask for advice (be sure he squirts some of his oil 
on the O-rings so they will seat correctly when installed)  The 
drier/reciever has a desicant to remove any water in the lines and it also 
acts as a particulate filter.  This will take care of most contaminates in 
your lines and it will spare your compressor.  If you are serious about the  
job I would pick up a Haynes manual because it has a good description of the 
A/C system (better than the Bentley).  If you take your time and have a 
little determination you can fix it.  As for recharging, you can get it done 
by a pro or do it yourself.  The last time I went to a pro it was $100.00 
for updating to R-114 and getting new valves.  I opted for the K-mart R-114 
updating kit ($35.00).  It worked awesome, it comes with oil and enough 
refrigerant plus some.  I used my A/C for most of the summer without a 
problem, I would definately do it again.  In all I think I spent about 
$150.00.

I did the install while I was changing the head gasket so removing the 
radiator to put in the condenser was not an issue.  So you will need to 
drain your coolant and take out your radiator.  That is, if the fittings out 
you condensor are damaged.


Hope this helps

Josh


>A previous owner decided to lobotomize the air-conditioning of my car.
>Though I haven't quite figured out all the damage, the obvious stuff is
>that the compressor is missing and that the two metal tubes which I think
>ran to it (Bentley's is no help on this) from the area of the heater box
>(at least they come through the fire-wall around there) have been cut off
>(literally) around the passenger-side strut tower. There also seems to
>have been a hole cut into the area of the heater core around where the
>pedals are, that has been resealed. Perhaps someone didn't want their
>air-conditioning anymore, or didn't want to upgrade to a non-freon system.
>Who knows...
>
>The question is, what would be involved in getting it all working again?
>Obviously I need to know the full extent of the lobotomy, but it'd be
>kinda nice to have A/C in the summer, despite the few horses I'd lose. A
>new compressor for sure. I'd also need to reconnect those hacked off metal
>tubes somehow. Is there a good manual on these systems somewhere? Is it
>worth the trouble? I guess this can't be considered critical, but I really
>like it when everything is working, and since I have the A/C controls
>inside the car, I'd like it if they actually worked!
>
>Thanks again,
>Oliver
>
>Oliver Seiler -- Software Developer, Pivotal Software, 
>http://www.pivotal.com
>     Scirocco MkII Diary - http://erisian.com/~oseiler/scirocco/index.html
>
>
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