Hi Guys,

Thanks for your help last saturday helping me find the low pressure side on the compressor..I flushed the system of old oil and R12..I used a refill kit from Advanced Auto and recharged into the blue zone on the gauge..Problem is...It only puts out about 60 degrees..The compressor seems to be working well and the system has not lost any pressure..I learned alot this weekend and I'm ready for more..What do you think?..Thanks!!!!

Bruce...NC

85 240DL 163,000..

Greg refers to the heater slide hot/cold valve.

Its been my experience with 240s that they seem factory-set to have a little hot water through the heater core even when the slide control is fully left.

It taks a small bit of doing to remove the kick panel on the left side of the center control panel and re-adjust the control wire from the slide handle to the valve. I set it so that at full cold, the cable actually bends just a little.

Here in Houston that adjustment has always given tangible results.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

Yes... I did my 89 similar to that, with new dryer and new expansion valve, and the system is not great on temp. My charge amount is fine as checked a few times with pressures, but the system is not very efficient.

I find the biggest difference to be the ability of the condenser to cool the compressed (heated) refrieganrt. An electric fan conversion would definately help here.

Also, it is quite possible the expansion valve being original if you did not change it is calibrated for R12... I blieve the replacments are ok both both refrieganrts as i was explaned which is why I changed it.

Check your heater control valve, they always go bad on these cars and do not fulyl stop coolant from running through ther heater core... Basically you can try clamping it (somewhat crude) or change the valve, or see if the a/c is colder before the motor warms up - if so then that's another factor.

A proper flush yeilds a better performing evap and condenser.

All in all, many factors as I mentioed above. Volvo's kit offers a replcemnt evap which helps too.

If all else fails, you can try some hydrocarbon blend instead of r134 (compatible with ester oil too) but we hear too many horror stories about those...

Hope this info helps, check the easy and obvious first, like the heater and fan.

Good luck!
Greg Mustang
Montreal - Ottawa
Canada

There are any number of things that will cause your problem. If you still have the original evaporator and compressor, and didn't change the drier, all of those will cause the temp to be warm. The original evaporator wasn't very efficient with R12, which is why it was changed in the 91-93 cars, and in the factory R134a conversion kits.

Another issue even if you update all the parts is the amount of charge. R134a is very sensitive to the charge amount. Very little too much or too little will cause the temp to go up. R12 was much more forgiving, and more friendly for the DIYer.
--
1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.