Monday, August 03, 2009
Car Toil
The AC in my car quit on Friday. The AC in this stupid car has been a pain in my ass since I got it. In fact, when I got it, it didn't work at all. I tried letting a local Firestone take a swing at it but they failed miserably. I finally rebuilt it myself last summer. It worked okay but wouldn't cool very well at stop lights. But Friday was the end of it. The longer I drove the warmer it got.
Did a little research and found out that rebuilt compressors, like the one I was using, often fail. They are worn out when they are rebuilt and some of the parts that are worn out cannot be replaced. The quit making/using the compressor in my car in 1990. Another rebuilt version of mine would cost around $200 and a new one, if it could be found, would be around $400.
Did a little more research and found that with a few parts from the junk yard I could convert my AC system to the 1991 and newer setup. With $75 in parts from the junk yard (AC and alternator bracket [used a different one for the newer compressor], compressor, hoses, idler pulley, and condenser) and $25 in parts from AutoZone (gotta use a new dryer in the system) I was ready to have it vacuumed own and recharged. Cost about as much to have it vacuumed down and recharged as it did for me to rebuild the entire system. But it works and it seems to work very well. It was putting air out of the vents at around 48*F on my way home from work today. It also continues to work at stop lights!
It was a royal pain in the ass to rebuild this stupid system though. It wasn't very hot outside but it was super humid. All I had to do was think really hard and I was breaking into a heavy sweat. I had to make 2 runs to the junk yard because I didn't think to grab the idler pulley from the car I yoinked the rest of the parts from (I mean, seriously, why would Chrysler use two different pulleys). I also tried about 5 different belts before I got one that was the right size. I guess the older style crank pulley is enough of a different diameter that when matched with the newer style AC setup the stock belt no longer works. Most of the weekend I was soaked with sweat and I stank. This normally wouldn't bother me too badly because normally when I work on my car I am doing performance upgrades or learning something new. This was just strait out work that had to get done and it sucked.
Did a little research and found out that rebuilt compressors, like the one I was using, often fail. They are worn out when they are rebuilt and some of the parts that are worn out cannot be replaced. The quit making/using the compressor in my car in 1990. Another rebuilt version of mine would cost around $200 and a new one, if it could be found, would be around $400.
Did a little more research and found that with a few parts from the junk yard I could convert my AC system to the 1991 and newer setup. With $75 in parts from the junk yard (AC and alternator bracket [used a different one for the newer compressor], compressor, hoses, idler pulley, and condenser) and $25 in parts from AutoZone (gotta use a new dryer in the system) I was ready to have it vacuumed own and recharged. Cost about as much to have it vacuumed down and recharged as it did for me to rebuild the entire system. But it works and it seems to work very well. It was putting air out of the vents at around 48*F on my way home from work today. It also continues to work at stop lights!
It was a royal pain in the ass to rebuild this stupid system though. It wasn't very hot outside but it was super humid. All I had to do was think really hard and I was breaking into a heavy sweat. I had to make 2 runs to the junk yard because I didn't think to grab the idler pulley from the car I yoinked the rest of the parts from (I mean, seriously, why would Chrysler use two different pulleys). I also tried about 5 different belts before I got one that was the right size. I guess the older style crank pulley is enough of a different diameter that when matched with the newer style AC setup the stock belt no longer works. Most of the weekend I was soaked with sweat and I stank. This normally wouldn't bother me too badly because normally when I work on my car I am doing performance upgrades or learning something new. This was just strait out work that had to get done and it sucked.
# posted by chilort @ 9:39 PM 
