86 930 turbo A/C dryer location? I'm stumped

[davidki]

Ok, So, I decided to look in to my AC system today, thought I'd look for the AC dryer and freon level eye glass and I have to say... Wow, where is it? There is so much in that engine compartment that I just can't see it at all. I found the compressor, hoses in and out ok... .even found what looks like 2 taps on the compressor (Nippondensa) but I could not find the dryer device.... So, I thought I"d ask here for some help!

I'm headed to see Wicky in the next couple of weeks to have the A/C serviced (he suggested a fill with freeze12) but I wanted to see what the level was if at all before I take it up.

So, any help and direction would be great..
Dave,

[white99c2]

On my '79 it is located in the drivers side front wheel well on the side facing the rear of the car. If you want to see if the ball is raised or measuring remember it will only show a level with R12.
If you have converted to refrigerant 134a the ball will not move and will stay at the bottom of the sight glass, assuming you have an R12 dryer. You have to use the gauges to check pressures and estimate the amount of refrigerant + or - in the system with 134a.

[rs6er]

Same place on my 81 SC.

[davidki]

Thanks for the info guys, I looked under the car I can see the hose so, the dryer has to be there I 'll have to get a light and see if I can move my front wheel to see it.

The car has R12, factory AC and I am planning on changing to Freeze12 (well I am talking to Wicky about it) . I haven't had the car charged for quite some time, it cools only to about 1 degree about out side temps now :-) I've seen allot of positive postings here on the forum on the Freeze 12 vs a straight 134 system change over.

I've tried to find R12 locally here in the Nashville area and I have not found a source yet or, when I have it's pretty darn expensive. So, hopefully Freeze 12 is a good direction .... I've picked up enough cans to do the change, and to have enough on the shelf for many years :-) so, having the supply of Freeze 12 for the future top offs won't be a problem..

Thanks again for your help.... hopefully Freeze 12 will do me fine!

[white99c2]

My car has R12 in it also and is getting pretty cold, a 45-50 differential out of the vents vs. outside air temp but...
When I need to recharge next time I am not going with R12 I am going to use
12a Industrial. It is very inexpensive, has larger molecules and will not leak as quickly and GETS COLDER THAN R12, 134a and FREEZE 12.

Look into it here;

http://autorefrigerants.com/co00033.htm

[davidki]

Azrob, well that is one of the sites I had seen the Freeze 12 on .. I guess I missed this one. I"ve already purchased 18 cans of Freeze 12 so I will be able purge the system install the Freeze 12 and have years of stock on hand in the even these get hard to find.

I did although like the info on the 12a that looks pretty impressive.

I am talking to Wicky here in Nashville to do the work, he is the one that turned me on to Freeze 12. So, I went that way this time. I'll probably pick up a set of guages so I can keep an eye on the fill through out the year and top it off if needed. Worse case, I can always evacuate the system, clean it out and change to something else.. but seems like quite a few here on the forum are happy with Freeze12. The area we live worst case is high 90's but most of the time its 90 and under... I like to keep the car at about 67 when driving so so hopefully the freeze 12 will do that for me..

[davidki]

OK, another stupid, but important question. I opened up the engine, tried to follow the line from the compressor and they dive quickly down next to the engine... I haven not got up under the wheel well to look at the dryer yet (maybe today) but I thought I'd ask where the fill ports are on the 930? There looks to be two caps coming directly off the compressor, but I don't see any taps/fill ports on the hoses in the engine compartment. So am I to Assume that the fill ports or taps will be up closer to the receiver.

I'm just curious, I am actually having someone else qualified to do so work on the system in a couple of weeks but I'm interested in learning as much as I can, so I read alot. I have not been ablel to find any good diagrams of the 930 lines and how they run in the car. Perhaps today I"ll take some photos of the egine compartment and post them.

While the car is in the shop I am also going to have to replace the engine blanket, the foam backing on it is deteriorating... so that has to go and I've arranged to have that done at the same time as the Oil change and the AC charge..

So to make this short, where is the taps to fill the AC on the 930? Are they all different.. I hope not :-)

Thanks in advance for helping... I"m learning as quickly as I can.

[T77911S]

the ports are on the rear of the compressor. look under the caps. should be 2 schreder valves.

you can get R12 off ebay. freeze 12 works too. i just charged my brothers 930 with it. contact timc if you want his r12.

you may want to look at changing the expansion valve. if the system is charged and the compressor comes on and it is not cooling, it may be bad. also remove the evap and clean the coils, they get very dirty and clogged. i usually pull the evap and clean it and replace the valve anyway.

you need a box fan on the rear deck lid if you have a rear condensor, and make sure the front condensor fan is working. i set a box fan on the rear glass that blows on the rear condensor.

[davidki]

Thanks for the reply, I went out and looked and there they were, Ports with little black caps on them. (see the photo), they were located on the right side of the compressor looking at the clutch assy. I take it the top one is the High side and the bottom the low / suction side (no pun intended)? Funny, I was talking to someone else that doubted that it would be on the compressor.. I guess because it is so packed in there that was the reasonable place to put them.

The car has and allways has had R-12 in it. I talked with Wicky here in Nashville and he was suggesting the Freeze 12 as well. I did find a location to buy it locally so I went ahead and picked up the cans so I had them, I also had bought extras so I can keep the car topped off.

If I had been able to find a reliable R-12 source at a reasonable price I'd probably had picked it up, but locally I could not find any and I was warned about buying off Ebay for many reasons.

All that I have read seems like Freeze 12 is good in the system. I"ll know more when I take the car to Wicky, I am having him do the work on the car along with a few other tweeks.

The condenser looks real clean, I can see up through it so it does not look blocked at all which is a good thing.

Hopefully we can get the AC charged up so I can get some driving in this summer :-) Thanks again for your help.

Check out the photos attached.