I charged my r 134 system and the condenser kicks in and it does't get cold? Whats the deal? And why when the condenser clutch kicks in does the condenser belt start going all over the place. It started cutting into my throttle body cooling hoses.

 

Personally, I think R-134A is absolute crap. It creates very high pressure in the system, and cools substantially poorer than the real stuff. It also causes cancer.
I use Enviro-safe organic refrigerant. Cools wonderfully, and is no more dangerous than the gasoline under the hood. Only works with mineral oil or ester oil. No PAG oil.
Available cheap on the Net.

BTW, tighten your AC belt. Also, R-134a is easy to overcharge. How are the pressures? Do you have a guage set?

Seth

 

Your condenser doesn't have a belt. I'm betting you mean your compressor belt. If the car you're working on is the 88 v6 listed in your info, it should have a serpentine belt, so belt tension should not be a problem. Was your compressor turning when the clutch engaged? If it's locked up, they can make the belt flop quite a bit.


Regarding the post about Enviro-safe:

Personally, I think every junk blend "drop-in replacement" refrigerant is absolute junk. Any MVAC tech worth his salt can get an R134a system to provide at least 95% of the performance of the original R12 system. Sometimes it means installing an extra condenser fan, straightening all the fins in the condenser, or even replacing the condenser if necessary. R134a doesn't create deficiencies in a cooling system. The deficiencies were already there and it makes them more apparent.

The biggest problem with most retrofits isn't the refrigerant (whatever one may choose to use). It's the fact that you're working on a system that is suffering the normal degradation that 13+ year old ac systems suffer from.

Envirosafe is one of what are commonly known as "barbecue blends". Several companies make several different blends in several different names (envirosafe, duracool, hc12a, just to name a few off the top of my head.) They are all blends of propane, butane, and isobutane, they ARE flammable, they ARE dangerous, and the ARE illegal in many states. Using one of them is a cheap, lazy way to avoid doing the job right the first time.

That's not the kind of treatment I'd give my thirdgen.

 

These 'barbecue blends' have been used in Europe for decades. Does this make Europeans stupid? They are not destructive to the Ozone Layer, they put less of a burden on the compressor, are colder than R-12, are no more flammable than the gasoline, have odors added to let you know there is a leak, and WILL NOT KILL YOU AS QUICKLY AS R-134A WHEN INHALED IN CONCENTRATION.
R-134A, when inhaled from a leak in the evaporator, can cause sudden cardiac arrest, and has been solidly linked to testicular cancer.
BMW has been using organics for years (not here). Nearly every car that I have been in, with OEM R-134A cannot keep up with R-12, when at a stop light or in slow traffic. Also, R-12 and barbecue blends work at much lower pressures, providing less compressor wear and better mileage. You have flammable fuel at both ends of the car, so what is the big deal over these organic blends? Not to worry, soon gasoline will be illegal in most states, just like these refrigerants.
You need to think outside the circle. Just because this government has mandated use of R-134A, does this make it right or safe? What about that microwave cell phone unit that you hold next to your brain? In some countries that have socialized medicine, cell phones have been limited to protect peoples' health. Have you heard of any American government mandates to limit cell use, shield high-tension electric lines, reduce aluminum-based artificial food colors, eliminate mercury use by dentists? Big business influences government decisions, always at the expense of the public. Do not believe everything put forth to you.

Seth

 

I thought we had American cars...

 

My Dodge van has a big red maple leaf decal on the lock side of the left door. As American as they come. North American, that is.

Seth

 

this is one of my first posts after i found this site,

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...%2FC+condensor

i was told later on that the evaporator core looked a lot like the condenser.
as i said in that post, the same thing has happened to some other vehicles, a few of which they know with out a doubt had the drop in replacement refrigerants.

there really is no way a simple over pressure of the system could do that kind of damage, the pressure relief valve would open long before the pressure got high enough for something like the condenser or compressor to fail. & even if the valve did not open, odds are only 1 part would fail, not 2 parts. plus, when there is an over pressure, its the hoses or seals that turn loose, not metal parts. it had to happen all at once, as in an explosion.
odds are i will never see a vehicle that has happened to, it is a very rare occurrence, but i will never take the chance.

"barbecue blends", i like that term

 

Europe...where the women don't shave, the people don't bathe daily, and the beer's served warm...they're not looking too bright to me.

R134a has an ODP of ZERO.

Tell you what. Let me borrow your compressor burdenometer. We'll put it on an R12, an R134, and a propane equipped vehicle, and see how much "burden" it measures. That ought to settle this once and for all. Look at the blown up compressor in the link above. Think it was "burdened"?
"No more flammable than gasoline" What!? Suddenly the

criteria for safety is no more flammable than gasoline?
That's good to know, as I regularly HUFF MY

REFRIGERANT. What is that? Another "European thing"?
Hmm... possible cardiac arrest...possible burning death. Not to be

cliche, but this is a real rock & a hard place. I'm gonna go with

the lesser of two evils here. You can keep your burning death, I

don't want it.
You're one of those health paranoia nuts aren't you? I guess if everything causes cancer, we should all just kill ourselves in burning death so we don't get cancer.
who gives a damn about BMW?
Where do you find so many cars with such poor AC systems? I have a truck with OEM R-134a (1997 at that, when R134a systems were only 2-3 years old) that freezes me out with the blower on low in 100 degree heat, at idle, with transmission in gear (500 idle rpm).Yeah, that extra 20 psi makes the whopping difference.






wow





i'm impressed.

There's a reason fuel lines are not run through the cab. There's a reason for firewalls. There's a reason not to bring propane inside the firewall (even though thirdgen evaps are outside the firewall, most aren't). Furthermore, gasoline is not a volatile vapor compressed to 250 psi right behind the front bumper Can you say "car bomber"?
more hippie paranoia? Please, just shut up now. You mean envirosafe? According to the EPA, it's illegal to retrofit an R12 system to use hydrocarbon refrigerants.
No, you need to come down to planet earth.The government has not mandated the use of R-134a. There are several other acceptable refrigerants. Freeze 12, Freezone, FrigC, etc. Each has it's own unique problem, but none are explosive.
Oh. More hippie health paranoia. Responding to this post causes cancer too.
These countries...those countries...geez, don't you make up any decisions for yourself? I don't care what they do there. I live here. I do what I want.
more paranoia...please seek help.

As for government mandates, this is not communist cuba. There are no mandates to restrict those things because they have been proven to be harmless. You point me to the nearest high tension line, and if you give me a picnic basket of food, I'll go sit under it for an hour and have a nice lunch...how do you live like that? afraid of everything, i mean.
I don't. And you should not believe the sales pitch of these hydrocarbon vendors. I encourage you to do a google or two. You'll see the only people defending it are the ones who are selling it.

Just to make one thing clear. I never told you not to use it. I encourage you to use what you want. I just think the choice to use flammable refrigerants should be an informed one. I pity the fool who used it only because "he told me it's good" and was truely ignorant of the fact he was turning his car into a bomb.

 

Most people are just like lemmings. They go through life w/o thinking for themselves; w/o ever asking questions. So, if Bobbi Gentry asked you to jump off of the Talahatchie Bridge.................

A lot you know- There is nothing like an un-bathed French woman with hairy pits, and a thick, bouncy, inpenetreble Brillo Pad. Ponder that for a bit.

This is one post that I don't really want to put my name to.