A/C on my 964

[Bubbling well]

Hello guys,

My A/C does not work. It blows air but it's not cold at all. The belt is new and the compressor engages when the ac switch is on. I assume the gas in there is nearly empty. Does any one know a good independent mechanic in my area? Can I take it to any ac specialist or Porsche? BTW, is this a DIY?

Thanks,

BW

[bazar01]

Any automotive A/C specialist can work on it. It does not have to be a Porsche shop.

You can diy too if it has been converted to R134A already. If it is R12, you will need a set of gauges for R12 and 2 cans of R12..
For R134A converted system,
1. Check first if the sytem still has any charge left. Take off the blue cap off the low side charging valve on the compressor in the engine compartment. Depress slowly the schrader valve and feel if it releases a small amount of refrigerant. If it does, that is good. You don't have to vacuum the system. If it is empty, you cannot diy until you get a vacuum pump and a set of gauges.
2. Check the a/c charge amount in the refrigerant sticker.
3. Charge 50% of the recommended charge quantity using the charging hose that you can buy in auto parts stores.
4. Watch the low side line for any condensation and it should feel a little cold.
5. If it does not sweat after charging 50% of total charge, keep charging up to 75% until the low side line starts sweating then stop.
6. Drive the car and observe how long it will hold the charge.
7. If it keeps the charge for a month and it still cools, you got lucky, the leak is very small and may last the whole summer.
8. Plan on leak detection after the summer and fix the leaky component during the colder months.
Good luck.

[Bubbling well]

Hi bazar,

Thank you very much for taking time to write up the instruction. I wish it had R134A
As far as I can tell from the service record, last time the ac was serviced was 5 years ago. It was still little cold when I bought the car 2 years ago. But last summer it only blew hot air.
How hard would the repair be if it's still R12? Wondering if I should just leave it to a/c specialists...

BW
　　

Originally Posted by bazar01

Any automotive A/C specialist can work on it. It does not have to be a Porsche shop.

You can diy too if it has been converted to R134A already. If it is R12, you will need a set of gauges for R12 and 2 cans of R12..
For R134A converted system,
1. Check first if the sytem still has any charge left. Take off the blue cap off the low side charging valve on the compressor in the engine compartment. Depress slowly the schrader valve and feel if it releases a small amount of refrigerant. If it does, that is good. You don't have to vacuum the system. If it is empty, you cannot diy until you get a vacuum pump and a set of gauges.
2. Check the a/c charge amount in the refrigerant sticker.
3. Charge 50% of the recommended charge quantity using the charging hose that you can buy in auto parts stores.
4. Watch the low side line for any condensation and it should feel a little cold.
5. If it does not sweat after charging 50% of total charge, keep charging up to 75% until the low side line starts sweating then stop.
6. Drive the car and observe how long it will hold the charge.
7. If it keeps the charge for a month and it still cools, you got lucky, the leak is very small and may last the whole summer.
8. Plan on leak detection after the summer and fix the leaky component during the colder months.
Good luck.

[964TargaC2]

Unless you have a local source for R12 about the only place you will find it is fleabay

Since the system is empty now is the time to change it to R134..

[RW964]

Just a few words my a/c was doing the same thing the fact that
" The belt is new and the compressor engages when the ac switch is on. I assume the gas in there is nearly empty "
the comp comes on when the a/c is turned on seems like the low press. swtich is made and telling you that there is some charge left.
After checking my car doing the same thing I just added some charge waiting till the suction like started to sweat and checked the low press. gauge and blows a/c cold a$$ air like there is no tomorrow. Good luck with it ....

Hello guys,

My A/C does not work. It blows air but it's not cold at all. take it to any ac specialist or Porsche? BTW, is this a DIY?

Thanks,

[Newsboy]

I'm in a similar situation. I re-charged with R-12(not hard to do with the correct gauges) The AC was cold for a few days, then stopped blowing cold air. So, seems like there is a leak, which is what you could have. You would need to re-charge, with dye in the system or use a sniffer to locate the leak. Usually done by an AC shop or mechanic with the proper equipment.

[Bubbling well]

Thanks for the feed back and comments guys!

How often do you guys top off the system normally? My service record from previous owners shows it needed to get recharged once every 3-4 years. No leak was found for the last 2 services by ac specialists.

I will probably buy a kit with a red dye leak finder from ebay to see it works. 3 REFRIGERANT / R12 ADAPTER + HOSE/GAUGE +DVD A/C KIT | eBay

Wonder how you folks think about this product.

Thanks again,

BW

[Bubbling well]

***Update***

I have re-charged the system with the gas mentioned above. It now blows cold air for the first time since my ownership though it's not as cold as my wife's toyota. The gas contains red dye but leak is not visible so far at least in the engine compartment. Where else should I look for the leak? BTW, this gas is compatible to either R12 or R134. Hoping to hold the gas until the end of summer.
Thanks for the inputs guys!
bw

[bazar01]

Originally Posted by Bubbling well

***Update***

I have re-charged the system with the gas mentioned above. It now blows cold air for the first time since my ownership though it's not as cold as my wife's toyota. The gas contains red dye but leak is not visible so far at least in the engine compartment. Where else should I look for the leak? BTW, this gas is compatible to either R12 or R134. Hoping to hold the gas until the end of summer.
Thanks for the inputs guys!
bw

Hey BW, if it blows cold and lasts until the end of summer, you are good for that price.

I do not like R12/R134A compatible refrigerants because there are so many characteristics unknown (mixed refrigerants, flammability, no ph chart available, seal compatibility, etc). I would rather convert to R134A and be done with it.

The usual leak area is the evaporator coil and it is behind the gas tank so you can't see the dye if it leaks. Maybe you can see it with the UV lamp and glasses in the condensate dripping down the drain tube under the car.

Good luck.

[kuehl]

"Dye/UV" leak detection limits you to inspecting only components and connections that are easily accessible, such as compressor area and hoses in the engine compartment. I would suggest you have a shop use an electronic leak detector and sniff the areas where connections are not easily seen, such as the rear engine compartment bulkhead fittings in the LH rear quarter, drier area in the LH front fender, condenser in the front, hose connections at the expansion valve and more commonly is the cockpit vents (leaking evaporator). Naturally the system needs a reasonable refrigerant charge to find these so it's time to convert to R134a.

[Bubbling well]

*****Update******

It's been an year since the system was recharged and it still blows cold.

Thanks everyone,

BW

[bazar01]

You have a very slow leak. Enjoy the summer.

It's cheaper to recharge it until the leak gets real bad like when it starts losing the charge in a month or worst in a week.

You are a lucky one.

[naidoo2610]

Just picked up my car yesterday, converted to R134a. It was almost 100 deg yesterday and the AC worked pretty well compared to how it used to be. Not icy cold like in the new cars but good enough.

[stevepaa]

The only way I could find a slow leak on two cars I had was to disassemble all the fittings. On one car I found a pinched o-ring from the factory. On another the evaporator was the culprit. I replaced all o-rings on both cars.