944 question on restoring deleted A/C

[Bdude93]

Hello all!
New to the 944 game. Bought an 87’ 944S a few months back. Beautiful car, well maintained with 120k miles. While replacing the front engine seals, I noticed it has a Porsche OEM a/c delete mounting bracket. BUT, the lines that WOULD run to the compressor are zip tied out of the way to the frame and there’s an old a/c service sticker by the dryer, so it came with and HAD a/c at one point and i would like to restore this function while the car is out of service this coming winter. What I’d like to know is, what are reasons someone would delete the a/c from a car that’s not tracked or souped up or anything. My fear is that something in the system was busted and it was more costly to just get rid of it. IE the evaporator or something like that, that’s a tremendous amount of work to get to and the part itself is about $1100!!! Is there any way of checking if any of the a/c components are faulty prior to making the investment in the brackets and compressor etc.
thanks for any help you can provide on the matter!

Brandon

[944 Ecology]

Man, tricky question.

There is no way to test the components of an AC system without reinstalling the whole thing first.

The prior owner may have found the cost of repairing the malfunctioning component (e.g. the evaporator) to be more than the value of the car.

If you want air conditioning, the cheapest way may be to sell the car that you have and find one with the AC that works.

[Bdude93]

Originally Posted by 944 Ecology

Man, tricky question.

There is no way to test the components of an AC system without reinstalling the whole thing first.

The prior owner may have found the cost of repairing the malfunctioning component (e.g. the evaporator) to be more than the value of the car.

If you want air conditioning, the cheapest way
may be to sell the car that you have and find one with the AC that works.

Ugh… I was afraid of that… say the issue is a faulty evaporator. How would that make itself known? Just no cool air or could leak into the interior? Thanks

[944 Ecology]

A faulty evaporator might allow the refrigerant to escape to atmosphere, resulting in no cooling. Any leak in the system would result in no cooling.

For AC to work properly EVERYTHING has to work properly...

There are a bunch of youtube videos of mechanics diagnosing and repairing automotive AC... watch and learn.

[wwdwgs]

You can't just assume that missing AC compressor (with an AC delete bracket) is a sign of faulty system. I've a guy, who deleted AC (and acquired new bracket and new belt) for driving purposes - he doesn't care much about cool air and wanted to remove unnecessary moving part.

[Bdude93]

Originally Posted by wwdwgs

You can't just assume that missing AC compressor (with an AC delete bracket) is a sign of faulty system. I've a guy, who deleted AC (and acquired new bracket and new belt) for driving purposes - he doesn't care much about cool air and wanted to remove unnecessary moving part.

I come from a background of fox body mustangs, 5.0s and it was very common for people to delete the compressor to free up power on the belt drive. I didn’t know how common a practice that is with 4 cylinder 944s, and without hearing from previous owner (bought through a brokerage house, never met owner, but wrote a friendly letter to address on title and yet to hear back) I have no way of knowing WHAT the reason was for deleting. And sounds like no way to know without sinking money into a bracket and compressor and hopefully the evaporator doesn’t leak or whatever could happen. Just preparing mentally for worst case scenario as my first big objective is to get it functioning

[TibetanT]

Hello there:

FYI

I am only providing this because some people removed their respective A/C due to the R12 that was required in the past.

If not mistaken, today's cars use R134 refrigerant making some of the older cars, such as yours and mine unable to utilize it. In my case, I would have to replace parts of the A/C system but not all of it.

I have an extra A/C compressor if you need one. Just PM your contact information and we can go from there.

Hope this helps.

[Monkey Wrench]

I almost never need or want AC here in Vancouver BC, it gets hot but normally I can cope without it by driving with windows open. I can see removing it, less unnecessary features means greater reliability . In hotter climates I can see it being more useful.

[originalowner]

If you can buy or fabricate a way to seal the ends of the hoses, you can test (or have tested) the ability of the system to hold a vacuum, before spending any money on a compressor, brackets, o-rings and receiver dryer. I would be concerned about dirt and dust in the system if the hoses were left open, as any grit would soon destroy a new compressor. If open, I would do some research about the best way to flush the system out. And I would probably do it 4 or 5 times.

[Bdude93]

Originally Posted by originalowner

If you can buy or fabricate a way to seal the ends of the hoses, you can test (or have tested) the ability of the system to hold a vacuum, before spending any money on a compressor, brackets, o-rings and receiver dryer. I would be concerned about dirt and dust in the system if the hoses were left open, as any grit would soon destroy a new compressor. If open, I would do some research about the best way to flush the system out. And I would probably do it 4 or 5 times.

Thanks for the info! Yes they were just left open, unfortunately

[TheSecondChris]

There is a business called Griffith's that specializes in Porsche AC. You can source many or all of the parts needed to rebuild the system, if you desire. Not sure if the cost is justified, but you can make that decision.