cubsfan24 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 Well I have owned the 96 Lumina for about 6 years now and every spring I have had to add little refrigerant to keep the ac working good. Now I added some about a month ago and took a trip yesterday and worked okay going down. Now two hours later coming back the ac didn't work at all. Got home and there is 0 PSI on my gauge on the low side. The ac clutch seems to be spinning slowly with the controls set to on or off. Oh maybe on a related note sometimes the ac clutch would make the worst grinding noise ever when the ac was off. Only at random times though. You guys told me this was "normal" and just run ac all the time. Has my compressor finally blew? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Cutlass94 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 any girnding noise is not normal. Who ever told you that is full of shit. If you filled your AC system and on the way back there is 0psi in the AC system, then there is a leak somwhere. The compressor will grind of theres too much pressure in there. Also wont work if theres that much pressure or not enough. Since all the pressure leaked out of the system, Id find the leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 there should be a high pressure release valve that will automatically open if the high side gets above ~500 PSI or so.... i've had it hiss at me before when i was adding refrigerant with one of those cheap setups.... you definitely have a leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubsfan24 Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 Ha ya I know grinding noises from a non engaged AC clutch isn't normal but the cost involved to fix a issue that can be fixed by just running the AC is why people on here just told me to deal with it. It is a fairly common issue for these 3x00s. I know I have a leak but why would it dump all the refrigerant out all at once? Seeing how my AC clutch spins slowly regardless what the controls are set at thats why I was asking if my compressor took a dump. Especially since AC worked fine, shut car off for two hours, return to car, hear some hissing and now no AC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95 vert Posted May 24, 2011 Report Share Posted May 24, 2011 There's no gap between the clutch and pulley on the compressor causing the noise disengaged. Definitely a leak. May be the compressor leaking. Sounds like you need a compressor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted May 25, 2011 Report Share Posted May 25, 2011 Pick up some leak detecting dye and and a UV leak detection light. They work pretty awesome, everything will look purple and the leak will show up fluorescent green. Anyway, refrigerant will leak very quickly if the compressor has a bad shaft seal. That can also cause the noises you heard. It's cheaper to replace the compressor with a reman than to buy the tools required to replace the seal. They are too specialized to rent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubsfan24 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Just an update, got a compressor from the junkyard today for $30. Bought a new orifice tube, accumulator, and orings for $30, and some refrigerant for $24. Now she is blowing cold again. It was amazing at the junkyard how many of the compressors off the 3100/3400s had a slight grinding noise when i spun the pulley by hand. This is what my old one did when I took it off. I don't that is a good thing for it to be doing so I had to search for a "lower" miles 3100 with a compressor that was silent when turning the pulley. Since most of the motors had over 200k on them I finally found a nice 96 Lumina with 150k that was in surprisingly good condition inside and outside (for a junkyard). So I rescued the compressor off that motor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oilpatch197 Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 wow, nice job. Yeeah, the prices for new/re manufactured AC parts is crazy! Did you add any oil charge? Doing that for just two full tanks of gas is just amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubsfan24 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 wow, nice job. Yeeah, the prices for new/re manufactured AC parts is crazy! Did you add any oil charge? Doing that for just two full tanks of gas is just amazing! Ya I added some pag oil to the new accumulator and started draining the oil out of the 'new' compressor but it looked clean (and way cleaner than what old oil came out of my old one) so i just added a bit of oil to the compressor. I also checked today and its still blowing cold so its at least holding. I am sure I have a slow leak somewhere else but whatever. Also the old orifice tube was clean so I don't think the old compressor dumped a bunch of junk in the system when it blew. You guys can yell at me and tell me how wrong this is but, I didn't put the system on a vacuum. I put everything back together and left the orifice tube connection loose. I put about 20 seconds of refrigerant into the system let it all leak out that connection and then tightened that connection while still putting in refrigerant. Hopefully this got a lot of the air out. I know there was moisture in there but hey I never said I wanted the A/C to work perfectly I just want it to be blowing some kind of cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oilpatch197 Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 That's pretty cool that you got it running, AND nobody came into this thread and did the environmental B.S. that is SO prevalent on other forums. I can't tell you how many times in the past I've had AC/HVAC questions, and got the stupid, "don't vent, you could face a $10,000 dollar fine" or "It's illegal". or the "do it properly" yada yada. It's some sort of religion people have, but I fail to see the difference from venting, vs charging a leaky system, wtf is the difference? It still gets out, anyhow. The same people telling us how to do "proper" AC work are the same ones that forced CARB compliant gasoline cans upon us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 It's some sort of religion people have, but I fail to see the difference from venting, vs charging a leaky system, wtf is the difference? It still gets out, anyhow. There is no difference. It's wrong either way. The same people telling us how to do "proper" AC work are the same ones that forced CARB compliant gasoline cans upon us. Wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oilpatch197 Posted June 23, 2011 Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 (edited) Dusters, air horn bottles, propellants for airbrushes and other various propellants are all typically HFC-134a. It is perfectly legal to vent 134a for these purposes. GO FOR IT! It is illegal to vent ANY mobile air conditioner refrigerant. This includes R134a which is perfectly legal to vent in other circumstances, such as in products like "Freeze and release" and such products from loctite and CRC. Because they are not "refrigerants". You could fill the a/c system with pure oxygen and it would then be illegal to vent it. Once any substance is in the system(there is some obscure exception for testing), it must not be vented, whether it is R134a/R12 or any gas their of. If you are close to the southern border have the R134a work done in Mexico. The laws governing R134A apply only in Europe and the US. The rest of the world can do pretty much do what they want... The regulation of refrigerants by the EPA is like Fireworks in the state of Florida, It is legal to sell fireworks, but illegal to use them.... Edited June 23, 2011 by Oilpatch197 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.