A/c ?
 

SO im tired of sweating my ass off in the summer. I recently fixed the problem with the heat coming in all the time so it is about 700 degrees cooler in the car already. Anyway I started playing with the a/c and noticed that when the air is turned on the rpms jump up telling me the compressor kicks on. Is it true that it must have some degree of refridgerant in the system for the compressor to engage, and if it is holding some refrigerant must not leak? When I was driving it home last night it was about 70 outside and it felt like cool (not at all cold) air was blowing out when the a/c was switced on (maybe it was just the fan). I am just trying to see what the worst case is before I spend the $$ to convert and recharge the system.

ALSO: when i depress the high side valve i hear something coming out (like air coming out of a tire)

-nathan

Other than you letting refridgerant out of the system it sounds like you also have a leak. This is a closed system. It seems as if the charge is high enough to activate the compressor, you have a switch that will or won't let the compressor enguage. Charging the system may last 1 day or 10 years, you, we have no idea until the system is tested. ie. a vaccum has been pulled and held, or a die put in the system idicates a leak. However getting the system charged is going to be a pain in the royal arse, even if you can get your hands on R12. Something about the placement of the lowside fitting, how much, can't I do this easier, bla, bla, bla.. This should help some... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/149651-c-madness.html

And for the belts that you'll want to get for the fitting on the compressor to take the PITA factor out.... look here, not my first post, but the second.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/163552-c-conversion.html

Hey nathan, What did you do to fix the Heat problem, My car gets ass hot, I have checked the heat controle valve inside the engine bay and its ok, Any IDEAS??

Wow how young and naive I was then!

To update, I ended up replacing all the hoses, receiver drier, etc. and got a Sanden compressor. Waaaaaaaaay better than the stock Nippondensos that seem prone to leaking and seal failures. Plus you can get to the charge fittings easily (well, more easily than on the Nippondenso!) Anyway, I opted for r12 after researching the heck out of this. You CAN do r134a and many people have had good luck with it on these cars, but the systems are designed for r12, the particular Sanden compressor I got is designed for r12 (the r134a oil requires slightly different seal design), the pressures are designed for r12, etc. It IS very expensive, but if you do the job right you'll only have to pay once.

Best of luck to you, whichever way you decide to go. . .

Following the unseasonally warm weather in WA (and just before driving to SoCal), I bit the bullet and had a local Euro shop that does A/C look at my '86. It had never blown cold, although the compressor always engaged just fine. The PO said "dunno, never bothered, probably just needs charging". I thought "yeh, right!" and didn't bother either.

The shop said it was completely empty of R12, but the system checked out fine and seemed to be vacuum - they suggested I part-charged it with dye in and see how it went. It's been 5-6 weeks now, and it still works fine...

Blows ice-cold. It was great in the desert, and WA was 96 degrees last w/e. Money well spent. I'm looking forward to being able to defog the front screen almost instantly in the winter/spring too.

Facilties guy at work keeps telling me "it's a closed system, shouldn't leak" too, but I seem to recall reading that the hoses are pricked to prevent them exploding on over-pressure too. Bottom line is, who knows what happens to the system in 20 years?

Although you can get an R12 certification with an internet exam and then buy cans of R12 on Ebay perfectly legally, I'd suggest you take it to a shop where they can check the system properly, evacuate if necessary and put the right amount of oil etc in - the stuff is just too expensive to waste, and replacing the compressor probably costs even more...

If I had any major components gone, I was going to wait and upgrade to R134 if I ever got to it, but everything appears good so far.

Just my $0.02...

That hose prick stuff is total B.S. The ones I got held vaccum perfectly when installed. I think that migh've been true on very early 911s, but I question whether it's even true for those. Nowadays it would be HUGELY illegal to sell any component deliberately designed to leak r12 into the atmosphere. No way that's real in any case for the 944 - just completely false. The system shouldn't leak AT ALL, not even a little. It's completely sealed.

What about this "Freeze-12" R-12 replacement? See eBay auction 7912492104. The guy who is selling is has 99.9% positive feedback with a number of people giving positive feedback for this product. I had never heard of it before, but it should be cheaper than a R-134a conversion.

Ummm. I think this was it (IIRC, the Griffiths folks were/are on Rennlist, and very helpful)

From: http://www.griffiths.com/porsche/ac/944ac/index.htm


The a/c hose lines on the 924 and 944 were made of traditional hose (rubber). This original type of hose was designed during the time period when R12 refrigerant was inexpensive and it's affect on the ozone level was not known. This old fashion hose line slowly leaks (permeates) refrigerant through it's skin overtime. It was common to "top off" or recharge the system on a yearly basis. Today, with the high cost of R12 it's not wise to have leaks of any kind. With the introduction of R134a refrigerant the a/c industry determined that the original type hose leaked R134a at a greater rate than R12. To solve the problem a new type of hose was designed that has inner liner which reduces rate of permeation (leakage) of refrigerants through the hose wall. It's called "barrier" hose. You should inspect your hose lines on a yearly basis, looking for cracks, signs of oil or dirt accumulation on the hose or near the hose fittings. You may notice small pin size holes that are evenly spaced in a line running the length of your hoses. These are "pressure relief" holes which are installed by most hose manufacturers. The small holes allow pressure to escape in the event that the primary inner wall of the hose should fail under extreme pressure. The designers contemplated that it would be better to avoid a sudden eruption in the outer wall that could harm the vehicle or a technician working on the car. Under normal peak operating pressures refrigerant does NOT leak through these holes.

spuggy, can you let me know where you went to have your a/c serviced? i live in seattle and am in need of the same. i tried to PM you but notice you don't have that option. you can email me at;
nize2 at msn.com

thanks!

Apparently the cable was just broken that operates the valve, I just manually shut the valve off until I can get a new cable, If you do that make sure you sdave the clip because I don't think the new cable comes with one.