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I am continuing to enjoy and love my brick, but as with all current and past vehicles, I turn on the air conditioner each month for about 10-fifteen minutes during the Winter months. This I was taught when I first started owning and maintaining automobiles. It lets the refrigerant function as a lubricant as well as it's initially-intended purpose. It keeps the seals and o-rings lubricated, therefore soft and pliable, minimizing leakage. If this was not done, there is a greater chance for (them) to dry, shrink and crack and leak.
Yesterday, I went to the Home Depot and thought it the perfect-length and time trip to do this. I turned on the a/c and there was no noise. (I had the radio off). A few more attempts provided nothing less than a concern that I would like to address now, as opposed to next Summer. So, I trust you kind and knowledgeable folks I have come to know and respect may come forward with a few steps I might take to see what's causing this.
Oh, and not to beat a dead sensor, but this little brick runs so sweet and doesn't die any more thanks to my, at your urging, replacing the CPS, the Fuel pump relay and the complete 25amp fuse assembly. I'll never know what one (or more) culprit was responsible, but it is easily one of the best $100.00 I have spent lately. Anyway, thanks for your help with this.
Euroman
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Reading your post, replies, and you are in good hands with ART!
IMHO and FYI
I would like to say that running the A/C more or less would not stop a leak from occurring. Any O-rings that you mention knowledge of, will not need lubrication. They should not and do not get any unless they are leaking the oil out with the gas!
The only moving, outside part, is the crank and its seal. The seals are manufactured using lapped flat ceramic and carbon material discs. They wear flat into each other but do not make a perfect seal but are very close. Microscopic amounts of oil seeps between them. This might be what you refer to as wanting to lubricate. Crank seals do fail but rarely catastrophically.
The rubber hoses are permeable during time. Along with the threaded fittings that loosen from vibration or corrode a leak develops.
Some day, some way, you are going to lose some charge. This is why the automobiles got some of the bad reputation while using R-12. When really it was the packaging and electronics industries, they did the outright carnage.
A fact is, that running the unit just will push up the ante. If there was opening and it’s was on the high side, it would be pushing the gas out sooner!
The good news is that you find out sooner, you have a problem.
The compressor is a precision-made part. The largest quantity of the oil stays there but some will migrate around with the gas. The amount installed is for proper operation with some minor safety margin. As long as the system stays CLOSED, it is clean and oil stays pristine.
It is a coin toss to which is better. Should you spin up the compressor for some possible maintenance/lubrication advantage or pit the wear of the unit, for a non-useful application. An adage of, do not use it you lose it, smacks you?
Maybe, that is just for humans or is it for the things we make too? Got me!
Leaks can be found by looking for the oil signs around the fittings but have to be rather large to locate. Sniffers are best to locate a long time leak.
If you should have a real small leak, check the fittings and the crank seal from the bottoms of the each.
The gas is heavier than air and comes out there! I check the floorboards and under the evaporator inside the car for good measure.
Art, can you tell if it is real rainy or snowy outside my home?
Phil
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Machine Man
I don't know how, but I missed your Monday response and I am sorry I did. That ,too, is a great amount of information I need to add/replace in my brain. It is funny how I have clinged to some of the "take-it-to-the-bank" long time information that I was given over the time and from long ago and now find that it either doesn't apply now or never did or both. I guess it is called learning and I am grateful and it is stimulating and good, but also it begs the question, "What else have I always 'known' that is not accurate or true?" I suspect that is just simpler if thought of as 'life'.
You really do have good information and it sounds like experience rather than from a book. Thankyou.
Ken
P.S.
Is being philosophical even allowed here?
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Could it be so cold that the AC thermostat would not turn the compressor on?
If so you could jumper to the compressor clutch lead to activate it.
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Thanks. Well, that could be a possibility but the car was in my garage and it stays at 55 degrees unless I turn it up. Assuming your theory, how do I jumper it? Thanks again for your reply.
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I think I recall your brick is a 1990 model - and a rare 1-owner 240. Yours does have the thermostat knob, unlike the 1991, but it would sense the temperature at the evaporator inlet, right about where the floor heat would have it good and warm. The AC is important in the winter for defogging the windshield, so it is more likely the clutch is being kept from engaging by a fault.
The place I would run to first is the AC dryer, where the low pressure cutoff switch is located. Look for the two green wires on it up front by the washer bottle, and bridge those two momentarily and see if the clutch engages.
Don't let it run, if it does, because this means it is out of gas, and as you noted, out of lubrication.
Normally the fuse would not be the problem, as fuse 12 does both the AC and the power windows. You'd know if the window fuse was out. How's that for a weak point on a hot summer's day?
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
Most would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
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Art
You are correct aobut the model and the temerature knob. At the very end of the summer's warmest days, the a/c wasn't particularly efficient and I generally drove the Lexus anyway because it is so ice-cold. Knowing that and reasoning that therefore it IS low on refrigerant, do I need to have the system "charged-up" before we can diagnose this? BTW, I had it converted a few years ago and was never particularly satisfied after that, even being forwarned that it would not be as cool as it originally was. I want to do whatever is indicated and also to learn about it so I can intelligently recognize symtoms when and if they occur. So,.......what do you think, sir?
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First you want to narrow it down. Is it an electrical fault, or is it low on refrigerant?
Start by momentarily connecting those two green wires together at the dryer. I think I would use a paper clip. One of those big ones. Just turn the AC on, and stand in front of the car while it runs, and do the test. That will tell you whether you need to get it charged or do further troubleshooting on the 240's famously reliable 'lectric stuff. -smile-
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
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Okay, I am ready. I got a big paperclip from accounting and it is in my pocket. I will try the test. Is there anything else I can do after that? ( I know it will depend how the test goes, but.....)Will it come on even if I am low on refrigerant? I guessanother way to ask is, if it comes on that means I probably don't have an electrical problem?
You know, I just remembered that Brad put dye in last time he charged it. Where can I look for traces for the leak I may have? I need a black light if I remember correctly.
BTW, you have me anxious to see Gran Torino again. I used to sell them at Texas Ted Britt in Fairfax. Was there 10 years and it was a good time to be with Ford. MY lot boy was Gardner Brit and he would sluff off all day on Saturday then come in expecting to borrow my Thunderbired demo and I would say :No" until he pulled more weeds. One hour later he was having a Coke at the White House. Great fun, those days.
Sorry, just a hint of nastalgia.
Euroman
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Hi,
Dyes are good for finding big leaks. Pulling and trying to hold a vacuum for 10 to 30 minutes checks the whole system at once. I just apply gas pressure back and sniff to find the small leaks before putting in a complete charge.
You may have just a low enough (darn near empty) charge that the NOW colder ambient temperature has dropped the volume rest pressure below the cut-in pressure to make the unit run.
Art wants you to jump that switch to confirm several things at once.
If, Brad used a UV fluorescent dye, you might try a bright white LED flashlight. Some of them put out the proper wavelength. On roof top units, I have bounced sunlight in with a mirror. You have to use a mirror to look on the underneath anyways. I took two mirrors and a spray can of luck. (:>)) My double chin with a grin.
This will not check the crank seal unless you pull the magnetic clutch. For some that is a PITA. Again, the sniffer wins my vote.
Otherwise, you are just looking for color. Do not expect a lot. Look closely!
The best place for a leak is on the aluminum accumulator. The special Volvo factory fill valve on this leaked, from under the plastic "O" ringed cap! I super glued a thin metal slug on the inside on top.
If you do not have these tools, you can try the poor man method with old man time.
Hardware stores sell a bottle of gas leak detector that makes bubbles or use your own concoction.
The trade uses a Calgon product that holds the bubble up until you come back in like a half hour, which was nice for large units and long line runs between ceilings and floors. The trade calls them the fancy Dan name of, interstitials. Some, I have called “the above ground, hell of a place!”
Enough yapping, I hope these things help you.
Phil
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Absolutely the information and tips are great and yes, they do help me.You sound like you've done your share of a/c work. I will try to follow your tips and share the result. I probably should wait until Summer or Spring to do this but it is just currently bugging me and I am so compulsive that I cannot put anything off and if I start something I have complete it with no breaks (like waiting until the nest day). If I start wall-papering a room, I have to finish even if it goes 'til the wee hours.
This board has helped give me the "hobby" to fill a void and I count all my new-found skills and knowedge as priceless but I do feel a little guilty because I don't paronize my friend Brad who has been there for all these years. Does that feeling go away? I mean, surely others have had a great shop or buddy then wean-away.
Anyway, I am going home early today and try the tips. Luckily, I think this is my bride's "nail night" so I am off the hook for dinner and free to be in the garage and listen to the gale-force winds outside.
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Okay, I am ready. I got a big paperclip from accounting and it is in my pocket. I will try the test. Is there anything else I can do after that? ( I know it will depend how the test goes, but.....)Will it come on even if I am low on refrigerant? I guessanother way to ask is, if it comes on that means I probably don't have an electrical problem?
You know, I just remembered that Brad put dye in last time he charged it. Where can I look for traces for the leak I may have? I need a black light if I remember correctly.
BTW, you have me anxious to see Gran Torino again. I used to sell them at Texas Ted Britt in Fairfax. Was there 10 years and it was a good time to be with Ford. MY lot boy was Gardner Brit and he would sluff off all day on Saturday then come in expecting to borrow my Thunderbired demo and I would say :No" until he pulled more weeds. One hour later he was having a Coke at the White House. Great fun, those days.
Sorry, just a hint of nastalgia.
Euroman
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It will be too cold for you to do any more than that one test. Simple to read the test; if you hear the clutch thwack and the compressor turning, disconnect it. You're done, and you need gas.
There's a smaller chance the pressure switch itself is defective, but at that point you'll need to get a gauge on the system either way.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
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What if I turn up the heat in my garage? Do you mean the ambient air temp?
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