Baby, it's cold inside!

[jarrett at rpa.net (Jim Jarrett)]

On 8/4/05 9:42 PM, "Brad Sterling" <bgsterling@bluebottle.com> wrote:

>
> The air driven vacuum thing is like one of these, right?
> <http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=3952>


I had that, but I couldn't find the right set of connectors to make it work.

So I got this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=92475

And this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2435

(It was on sale).

I had to replace my condensor because it was shot, and I replaced the dryer,
too.  They're only $18 from Adirondack.  I also replaced the O-rings.

The problem I had were that  after screwing on the adaptor from the R134a
conversion kit, I couldn't get a good, tight fit from the A/C gauge manifold
set.

What I ended up doing was finding the hose from an old R134a kit I'd bought
for my Passat.  It had a metal end that "snap-fit" to the adaptor that you
screw onto the low pressure side of the A/C system.  It also had a metal end
that screwed onto the vacuum port of the Harbor Frieght vac pump.  So I used
that to draw down the vacuum for about 2 minutes, until the tone of the pump
changed.

I then disconnected the old R134a hose I was using from the A/C, then the
pump, and screwed the low pressure gauge from the A/C manifold to it, and
hooked it up to the system, where it showed as low a vacuum reading as the
gauge would go.  I left it overnight, and it held.

I then broke out the R134a can and fill kit, which looks just like the
picture in the bottom right of this page:
http://www.id-usa.com/how_to_recharging.asp

Unfortunately, the ends of that hose were plastic.  I don't think a lot of
the first can got into the system, because I ran it for 10 minutes, and the
can never seemed to empty.  When I took it off, and opened the valve on the
gauge, a lot of gas came out.

I then took the old hose, the one with the metal ends from the old recharge
it, and used that, and I could hear the system change tone, and begin to
blow cold.  

/===============================================================\
| Jim Jarrett,McFarland, WI      '94 Passat GLX                 |
| mailto:jarrett@rpa.net         '86 Scirocco                   |
|                                '81 Rabbit Convertible 16v     |
|    Any problem can be solved with the proper application of   |
|   Force, Heat, Chemicals, or Money.                           |
\===============================================================/