Last summer I tried to get the a/c going in my 64 riv.... sealed it , flushed it, gased it and no cold air,,,no.... so I bought a new expansion valve and have to put it in.... any suggestions.... ray: comments,,,,, contributions,,, ect.... I really need to get this thing working and reliable so the little wife can breathe better , she has copd and the cold air helps her breathe....
Need more info to better help you. What refrigerant are you using? Is the compressor engaging but not making cold air. Is there good strong air flow coming out the vents? Did you replace the Dryer/dehydrator? If you did not replace it and you open the system up again, by all means replace it. Did you pull a vacuum on the system before charging? How much refrigerant "lbs" did you charge it with? The "STV" Suction Throttling Valve on the early Rivs had a tendency for the piston to stick. If I had to make a wild guess not knowing anything about your system, thats where I would start. They make replacement valves that solve this problem but look a bit different if you are concerned about authenticity. Your old one can be rebuilt from Classic Auto Air or Old Air Products. I know Classic Buicks carries the replacement STV. If your system has always been closed as in no lines opened up and left exposed to the atmosphere, there's a good chance you will get it working with minimal cost. When I get a car that has had lines disconnected, I start from scratch and have every component tested, cleaned and/or rebuilt as needed. I always loved having the A/C work in my 67 and I kept a high priority on keeping it working. Really made driving it very pleasurable in hot weather.
Jason, I am using r134... and have too much in the system..... compresser is coming on.... has oil in it....did not replace the dryer,,,, did vac it down for 1 hr.... and it held the vacume.... for 20 mins..... I kept adding gas trying to make it cool.... cant remember the pressures.... but no unusual noises from the compressor.... i am wondering about the stv also... may just replace them both.....o No:Had to make the cables for the internal doors.... just not getting any cool air thru the system....
Hate to stab in the dark but replacing the STV would be money well spent even if its not the problem. Replace the dryer at the same time. That should have been done when it was converted to 134. Tough to diagnose these via a forum because there are so many variables. If the STV is stuck you may not be getting any or very little refrigerant going through the evaporator. If you can borrow a set of gauges and list the low and high side pressures that could shed some light on the problem. Good Luck
jason,,,, I am an old mechanic and I have installed some a/c units but it was back when everything was r12 and not on 1964 Buick rivieras....so I just dont know exactly what the problem is.... but i think you are right , I need to replace the drier, and the stv too.... cant hurt....
did you charge on the high side or low side? did you use one of those little cans of R134a you get from wall mart? or did you use a machine? the reason i ask is if you charged on the low side and used the little can and tipped it upside down then you may have damaged the reed valves in the compressor. however if you had a pressure difference when you were running the compressor then that may not be the case because the compressor would be working. also when you put r134a in a r12 system, you are only supposed to put about 80% of the full r12 ammount. so if you have too much in the system the first thing i would do is suck that stuff out, put the right ammount in and then go from there. when you say you "sealed it" how did you seal it? if you used some magic liquid to do it then it may have clogged the expansion valve or stv. get that crap out too if its in there. like stated before, we need some pressure readings. randy:beers2:
I charged on the low side.... used small cans submerged in hot water.... no upside down.... vapor only.... Resealed the old fashioned hard way.... took the joints apart, cleaned them and put in new o rings.... I did over charge,,, trying to get the thing to cool,,, will have to let some out if it has not leaked since then.... there was a pressure difference,,,, but not much,,,, havent restarted this project yet, so I dont have any specific gage numbers....I get the feeling that one of the valves is stuck open .... whether it be stv or the expansion valve or the reed valves in the compressor.... most all the experience on auto ac that I have was installing new after mkt units back in the 60s and every thing worked on them, because everything was new.... dont have much experience on factory air repair or after mkt repair....
if there wasnt much of a pressure difference then i would say the txv or stv if the pressures were low. randy :beers2:
WOW!!!!!! that is way too high. something is definately wrong. when you get a chance post some pressure readings and ill compare them to what i have on my chart. does the system have a sight glass anywhere?
Something to consider here is the possibility that either the STV or the expansion valve is stuck closed. This will drive the high side very high, and drive the low side into a vacuum. What I am saying is that it may not be over charged, but you will still need to discharge it to replace both valves. How many cans were installed? Ray
