It's not a major leak but they keep weeping dye on the compressor body itself. I've gone through 2 of them now, one was a reman Four Seasons, the other was a reman Evergard.
Both are HR6 compressors. With the Four Seasons compressor, I used Ester oil and R134a. I tried PAG oil this time thinking it would help, but same issue.
When I installed mine, I read that they are prone to Separating at the case. To help avoid this, loosen the bolts holding the bracket to the side of the engine, mount the compressor to the bracket, and then tighten the engine to bracket bolts. This is supposed to help take off some of the torsional stress of installing the compressor. Do a search on this to double check me
Are you using new or reman compressors? I've heard that remans are a crap shoot. The reman I used only made it a year. Just ordered a new one that has the upgraded dowel pins. Fingers crossed that solves the problem.
tebailey: I've been using reman compressors. I had two Four Seasons, one Evergard (what's installed on there now). For what its worth, they were all remanufactured here in the US.
One of the things I've learned in my research is that the HR6 compressors were prone to "twist" causing them to leak at the seams. The new ones have dowel pins to prevent that. Also learned that remans are a 50-50 shot since they still have all the factory defects. So this time I'm going new since that seems to be what happened to mine.
I have a pile of compressors, how can I tell if they are any good?
I remember seeing a thread from someone who created an adapter to pump compressed air into the compressors and then put them in a bucket to see if they have leaks. I think it was here on the Fiero forum, can anyone find the thread or know how to make an adapter?
[This message has been edited by Madess (edited 04-13-2015).]
I have a pile of compressors, how can I tell if they are any good?
I remember seeing a thread from someone who created an adapter to pump compressed air into the compressors and then put them in a bucket to see if they have leaks. I think it was here on the Fiero forum, can anyone find the thread or know how to make an adapter?
Compress air often have oil, dirt, water, etc, that AC compressor will hate.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
I bought a reman four seasons about 5 years ago. Installed only to find a bad clutch on the reman uunit. I warrantied it( took two weeks to get the replacement). When I got the replacement back, funny, it was the. Compressor I took off the car. I have had no issues since withe the a/c on the car. I can show 31 degrees out of the vent. And with a black car!!!! That is spectacular!!
Case leakage is usually caused by the compressor body being in a bind due to the mounting bracket(s) not being true to the mounting points on the compressor. When installing the compressor, shim any mounting points to prevent pulling the compressor mounting points and putting the housing in a bind.
I have a pile of compressors, how can I tell if they are any good?
I remember seeing a thread from someone who created an adapter to pump compressed air into the compressors and then put them in a bucket to see if they have leaks. I think it was here on the Fiero forum, can anyone find the thread or know how to make an adapter?
quote
Originally posted in Quad 4 swap (lot of pics) by sardonyx247:
My friend Dave made me this nice tester.
It hooks to an air compressor and then you can just dunk the whole thing in water.
Just for info, I replaced my compressor last fall with a new one. Followed all the appropriate steps, found all the leaks ( including a hole in the condenser). Put 100 psi pressure on the system, and left it for a week( I know, shouldn't use air- but it's what I had). Pulled vacuum on the system, and left it for another week- no leaks. Charged it up, and everything was working fine. Didn't drive the car much over the winter, and when I went to use the AC a few weeks ago- nearly empty of R134a! While the 100 PSI of air showed no leak, when the system is running PSI can go over 200-250 pretty easily, so it may only leak out when operating.
I had leak dye in the system, and the only place I could find any real evidence of a leak appeared to be around the switches on the compressor. Don't know if that dye was from a leak, or from installing the hoses to the back of the compressor. Just for fun, I filled it up again, and it's been OK, for at least the last two months. I expect it may leak out again, but I'm doing a 3800 conversion so not really worried about it. But I think it may have been just sitting, without keeping the seals lubricated. But who knows- could have been pilot error.
Just got my new compressor installed, been holding 27 on the vacuum gauge for over an hour. That's higher than the reman did when it was first installed.
Yeah if I do this again, i'll splurge for the new compressor.
Although one thing I found out - the hardest part about compressor replacement is the removal of that PITA upper bolt. I replaced both upper bolts with a single, very long bolt that picks up both ears. Makes compressor removal really easy.
I was trying to think if this would cause case leaks but it seems like using a single bolt instead of two short ones would actually improve alignment.
24hrs later and it's still at 27 I agree 110% that those ### upper bolts are a huge PITA! What makes it even worse for me is that the engine lid on mine is half the size on a normal Fiero making everything harder to get at. But that should be the last time I have to do it.
