air con charging

[Mjpmark]

Guys

Im going to get my air con charged in the morning.
Now from memory, when i had my previous car charged, they input the speccfics into the computer, and that tells it how much gas etc to put in.

Now im guessing, that the kwik fit coputer doesnt have an Ultima GTR specified.

Any ideas of data i need to give him.?

Mark

[V8Dom]

whoosh... i would ask them to put a dye in at the same time.. if it ever leaks you will be able to tell where it leaks from with yellow glasses and infra red light..



ring the factory in the morning and they will tall you the value.. its only a quick call and richard will tell u immediately

Dom

[Steve_D]

We recently fitted an after market system to a customers car and not having data was not an issue.
I believe having the data is only a starting point which is then fine tuned by the operator and machine.

Steve

[craig7l]

with mine they just hooked up the 2 charge points and viewed the fill through the small view glass in the top of the condenser.
my hydraulic lift kit is proving more difficult as when it all gets warm at the front the lift gets inefficient / non existant... must be air in system?

[Graham-P]

Just had mine done, wasn't sure either so the initial fill was 600g and then as Craig said viewed the fill through the small view glass in the top of the condenser as extra refrigerant was added and when there were no bubbles in the sight glass it was full, which came out at 800g, they also added a dye to detect any leaks.

Graham

[Mjpmark]

Thanks Guys, ill give it a whirl.

[SchimmS]

The latest build manual states

Air Conditioning Gas Requirement- 500gms R134A

[Mr Pid]

Filled mine last year following complete strip down.... spoke to the factory and they said ... "800g of R134a".
The place I went did a leakcheck and added dye as a matter of course.

Stu

[lordburham]

If you have a standard factory set up then talk to the factory as it will be a fixed amount. If you have a one-off non standard set up and you dont know the exact charge then a general rule-of thumb would be to have an off-coil temperature with between 10 - 15 DegC differential to what the air is going onto the coil (evaporator)e.g if you have 20DegC going onto the coil then you should have between 5 - 10 DegC coming off the coil. Sight glasses are OK if the ambient temp is in a certain range (sorry forgot what this range is) in other words dont rely on the sight glass if it's too cold or too hot outside.

[eliot]

Worth asking the question of your chosen vendor if they are using new or recycled gas. Specialists use fresh gas, wheras those all in one units sucks all gas out and then pumps it back in, along with the oil etc.
Well, thats what the guy who did mine told me - and I could clearly see the new gas bottle and the bottle containing what was vacuumed out.

[Mjpmark]

Ahh good point, they do suck out the old.

My system has a leak so couldnt be filled. Not happy at all!!!

But the factory were very helpful, 500 is the fill rate for ls based engines.

[V8 Vum]

Got to connecting the compressor yesterday - what a massive pain!

With the standard hoses it seemed that the hose-ends did not quite orientate properly to thwe LS7 pump and there was little room to play with so some twisting was in order. I did try to reroute a bit but that was nigh impossible now the body band tanks are in place.

Got there in the end, but I am a bit concerned as the valves on the end of the rt angled ends are now very hard to get to.

What is the procedure for filling that is used, does anyone know?

[Graham-P]

You need alteast an inch clear of the service ports for them to connect the charging hoses. That block I got from you put those ports up against the side of the fuel tank and there was no way to charge the air con, so they cut the hoses and installed two new ports in the drivers luggage compartment.





Graham

[V8 Vum]

Thanks Graham,

Looks like that will have to be the story for me also, although I wonder if an option is to put those ports in the cab area instead? The reason is that I have an ally cover over the pipes in the luggage area.

Perhaps I should find a local charing company and talk to them.

Amazing the frikin issues you find - and often you end up three steps forward and three back!

Glad you go over yours.

[Graham-P]

Speak to a local company to see if they can make up different ends on the hoses with the ports at a different angle.
Not over my woes yet, having the ECU looked at as the engine cuts out at idle when the air con puts a load on the engine!

Edited by Graham-P on Monday 18th April 14:11

[crafty]

Is that a stock AC compressor on an LS?

There's 2 different types of block.





http://www.docsblocks.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AA18...
http://www.docsblocks.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AA17...

[Crazy of Cookham]

Wanted to get a good finish on mine so had help from Charles Done who fitted aircon end once pipes in place, has fixing tool to do this. Ended up neat job and made sliding insulation down pipes much easier.

[Mjpmark]

well got my AC fixed today, my install was the biggest f up ever. (not installed by me may i add)

The rad had been connected to the pipe however it was forced so the joint was cracked causing a leak.
Then 3 of the connections were installed without 'O' Rings.

However all that being said, she now has lovely cold air flowing through the cabin, with all issues rectified. Ahhhhhhhh lovely.

[craig7l]

good job.
my little bugger keeps clicking in and out even in this heat with temp set at low...may have lost pressure and the trinary is working its thing?

[AlexCim]

craig7l said:

good job.
my little bugger keeps clicking in and out even in this heat with temp set at low...may have lost pressure and the trinary is working its thing?

What did it end up being?

Mine is ALRIGHT, but nothing really fantastic. In fact, on a 25 degree / sunny day it will struggle to keep me cool.

I've had the gas checked and the pressure / weight is good. I am thinking it's only running at like 25%, compared to full power.

Yes, my hot water valve is closed fully.