Ranger Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Some of you may recall the fiasco I had last fall when I won a set of A/C guages on Ebay and my wife crushed them when FedX left them in front of the garage door. Turned out they were cheap Taiwan guages. Paid $25 for them and got $100 from FedX. Went to AutoZone and found a set of american made Mastercool guages with no price on them. They sold them to me for $50. Later found they were worth $150. Any way, Today I finally got to use them with the instructions KHE gave me last year which I printed. They were a big help, THANKS Kevin. When I hook them up I found I was within specs but just barely so I added a 1# can and was a bit surpised that the pressures did not change. Reluctantly I added a second can and the pressures came up to 30 low side (specs 25-35) and 160 on the high side (specs 140-180). This is the first time it has been serviced in 8 years so it appears that it was running pretty low. Duct temp was at 51 degrees, about 4 degrees lower than specs. It was such a pleasure using them and finally knowing what I was doing rather than blindly adding a can when cooling seem a bit inadequate that I also did my wifes '96 Bonnewville (also never serviced) and it was the same. Barely in specs and took 2 cans. Best investment FedX ever made Mike, I know you were talking about getting a set. Just find the post and follow Kevins advice (and heed his warnings). It is a great sense of satisfaction knowing that there is one more service you can do yourself. Thanks again Kevin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Some of you may recall the fiasco I had last fall when I won a set of A/C guages on Ebay and my wife crushed them when FedX left them in front of the garage door. Turned out they were cheap Taiwan guages. Paid $25 for them and got $100 from FedX. Went to AutoZone and found a set of american made Mastercool guages with no price on them. They sold them to me for $50. Later found they were worth $150. Any way, Today I finally got to use them with the instructions KHE gave me last year which I printed. They were a big help, THANKS Kevin. When I hook them up I found I was within specs but just barely so I added a 1# can and was a bit surpised that the pressures did not change. Reluctantly I added a second can and the pressures came up to 30 low side (specs 25-35) and 160 on the high side (specs 140-180). This is the first time it has been serviced in 8 years so it appears that it was running pretty low. Duct temp was at 51 degrees, about 4 degrees lower than specs. It was such a pleasure using them and finally knowing what I was doing rather than blindly adding a can when cooling seem a bit inadequate that I also did my wifes '96 Bonnewville (also never serviced) and it was the same. Barely in specs and took 2 cans. Best investment FedX ever made Mike, I know you were talking about getting a set. Just find the post and follow Kevins advice (and heed his warnings). It is a great sense of satisfaction knowing that there is one more service you can do yourself. Thanks again Kevin. Aw shucks...it ain't nothin'.....LOL Seriously, glad that you were able to get your A/C back to optimum performance. by properly analyzing the system! I did some A/C work this weekend on the old Buick - I added a can of Autofrost R-406A to restore the performance of the ac system....40 degree vent temp after the service - should be good for the season. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted April 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 40 degree vent temp, Yikes! You'll look awful funny wearing a winter coat in summer. Autofrost R406a? Tell me more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Autofrost R406A is an R-12 substitute - a mixture of R22, R142b, and R600. I tried it a few years back after I had two succesive line fractures in the old Buick. It is 1/3 the cost of R-12, yields similar performance, and uses the same lubricant as R-12. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Best investment FedX ever made. Regards, Warren There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted April 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Hey Kevin, When I did the A/C service I used the black outer PSI scale on the guages. I noticed that there are two smaller red scales. One for R12 and another for R134a. Did I use the wrong scale? What is the purpose of 3 different scales? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Some of you may recall the fiasco I had last fall when I won a set of A/C guages on Ebay and my wife crushed them when FedX left them in front of the garage door. Turned out they were cheap Taiwan guages. Paid $25 for them and got $100 from FedX. Went to AutoZone and found a set of american made Mastercool guages with no price on them. They sold them to me for $50. Later found they were worth $150. Any way, Today I finally got to use them with the instructions KHE gave me last year which I printed. They were a big help, THANKS Kevin. When I hook them up I found I was within specs but just barely so I added a 1# can and was a bit surpised that the pressures did not change. Reluctantly I added a second can and the pressures came up to 30 low side (specs 25-35) and 160 on the high side (specs 140-180). This is the first time it has been serviced in 8 years so it appears that it was running pretty low. Duct temp was at 51 degrees, about 4 degrees lower than specs. It was such a pleasure using them and finally knowing what I was doing rather than blindly adding a can when cooling seem a bit inadequate that I also did my wifes '96 Bonnewville (also never serviced) and it was the same. Barely in specs and took 2 cans. Best investment FedX ever made Mike, I know you were talking about getting a set. Just find the post and follow Kevins advice (and heed his warnings). It is a great sense of satisfaction knowing that there is one more service you can do yourself. Thanks again Kevin. Thanks Larry (and Kevin) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Hey Kevin, When I did the A/C service I used the black outer PSI scale on the guages. I noticed that there are two smaller red scales. One for R12 and another for R134a. Did I use the wrong scale? What is the purpose of 3 different scales? The inner scales are temperature readings for the various refrigerants. On the high side, the ambient temperature measured 2" from the condenser should correlate with the reading on the gage. The low side temp scale should be the temp at the evaporator. I don't use those scales - I just use the outer PSI scales on the high/low pressure gages to compare with the specs. of the system. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.