hello, i just replaced the compressor and condencer. I bought the kit on ebay for about 300 dollars. My problem is i somehow forgot which way the orifice tube goes in. I tried sliding it in both ways, but it dont seem to want to go in. Is it keyed or something. Please help, I just left it out and put the old evaporator on and pulled a vacuum so that the air dont stay in system. I ended up breaking the new orifice tube trying to force it in thinking the new o ring was just tight. Is it normal to be that tight?
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01 blazer, orifice tube
- Thread starter jstutz
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I think the screen side is the inlet, so it goes pointing toward the condenser. In other words put the other side (non screen side) into the line that runs to the evaporator (low side). It should not be that hard to slide in. Maybe there is debris in the line, also oil the orifice tubes orings with compressor oil.
Let me add, it should have an arrow on it, point this toward the evaporator and away from the condenser. the tabs that lock o-tube in place are on the screen side/ condenser side.
Let me add, it should have an arrow on it, point this toward the evaporator and away from the condenser. the tabs that lock o-tube in place are on the screen side/ condenser side.
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Originally Posted By: jstutz
okay, thanks very very much. could you reassure me which piece is which. Meaning, what is that silver can that i replaced with the low pressure port on it?
That is the accumulator. It's sort of like a reciever/drier, but is installed on the low side since you have an orifice tube setup instead of an expansion valve setup.
You are suppose to replace the accumulator when you replace stuff like the compressor. I don't know if you measured the oil that came out of the compressors but you will probably want to add at least 5 oz of PAG150, but make sure the new compressor doesn't already have oil in it first.
okay, thanks very very much. could you reassure me which piece is which. Meaning, what is that silver can that i replaced with the low pressure port on it?
That is the accumulator. It's sort of like a reciever/drier, but is installed on the low side since you have an orifice tube setup instead of an expansion valve setup.
You are suppose to replace the accumulator when you replace stuff like the compressor. I don't know if you measured the oil that came out of the compressors but you will probably want to add at least 5 oz of PAG150, but make sure the new compressor doesn't already have oil in it first.
I bought the entire kit. It did come with the accuulator. The compressor came with 8 oz of oil in it. Some came out when i poped that switch out. The orifice tube does have an arrow,i think the long end, which you are calling the screen end, went in first, toward the firewall. The arrow would then be pointing toward the front of truck. Is this correct. Also, that tube isnt keyed or anything right. I think it is just supposd to just slide in.
Originally Posted By: jstutz
I bought the entire kit. It did come with the accuulator. The compressor came with 8 oz of oil in it. Some came out when i poped that switch out.
OK some compressor come dry, so if it ahd 8oz of oil in it you should be good on oil.
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The orifice tube does have an arrow,i think the long end, which you are calling the screen end, went in first, toward the firewall. The arrow would then be pointing toward the front of truck. Is this correct.
No I think that is the opposite of how it should go. The arrow should point towars the firewall where the evaporator is.
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Also, that tube isnt keyed or anything right. I think it is just supposd to just slide in.
It's not really keyed in but it has tabs to catch on the dentation in the line it installs in. It sounds like you put the o-tube in backwards and the tabs were hitting on the pipe indentations maybe.
I bought the entire kit. It did come with the accuulator. The compressor came with 8 oz of oil in it. Some came out when i poped that switch out.
OK some compressor come dry, so if it ahd 8oz of oil in it you should be good on oil.
Quote:
The orifice tube does have an arrow,i think the long end, which you are calling the screen end, went in first, toward the firewall. The arrow would then be pointing toward the front of truck. Is this correct.
No I think that is the opposite of how it should go. The arrow should point towars the firewall where the evaporator is.
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Also, that tube isnt keyed or anything right. I think it is just supposd to just slide in.
It's not really keyed in but it has tabs to catch on the dentation in the line it installs in. It sounds like you put the o-tube in backwards and the tabs were hitting on the pipe indentations maybe.
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Thanks so much. When i took that out, i said to myself, pay attention to how this comes out. Low and behold, i pulled it out and 3 seconds later im standing there thinking "did i flip this over as i was pulling it up out of the car or is it how im holding it" I was in a rush, trying to do it in an hour before my wife went to work. Well putting it in backwards, could explain why it wouldnt go in then.
If your looking at your tube and you see the O-Rings. The short end goes in 1st.
The compressor pumps the refrigerant into the condensor, then to the Orifice tube, then to the evaporator, then to the accumulator, back to the compressor.
The compressor pumps the refrigerant into the condensor, then to the Orifice tube, then to the evaporator, then to the accumulator, back to the compressor.
Update, Well i installed the orifice tube the correct way and everything slid together like it should. As of now, no leaks. A couple things are a little weird to me though. The compressor seems to be running cold where my last one was running hot. It also kinda makes a little racket on the front of it as it is running. It isnt much but there is some noise there. So far everything seems to be working as it should. Thanks for all your help and hopefully this compressor lasts a while.
After listening to this for a bit, i decided to explain it a little better. It really is not a racket, but a clicking/ticking kinda. It is not as loud as the actuator that clicks the compressor on and off but kinda similar. It only happens when the compressor is running. If the AC is off it dont do it.
You have to have the correct amount of oil in the system.
New systems put some in the accumulator, and some in the compressor. Too much oil causes knocking and poor performance - you can also blow out the compressor.
Too little will burn out the compressor.
It can take a while to get the oil distributed. You have to let it run for a while.
New systems put some in the accumulator, and some in the compressor. Too much oil causes knocking and poor performance - you can also blow out the compressor.
Too little will burn out the compressor.
It can take a while to get the oil distributed. You have to let it run for a while.
well my compressor is definatly bad. When i turned it on today, i thought it was going to scatter. it shakes violently as rpms increase. could this have to do with my installation or did i just get a bad compressor? I made sure to vacuum every time i opened a port or anything. The compressor had 8 oz of fluid in it so i did not add any. I guess there could be too much oil, meaning there was already some spread thru the system, and then the 8 oz in the compressor may have been too much. When i first installed it, i ran it for a good 30 mins as i went for a drive. It did not make these noises. This morning somehow it is much worse than it was last night.
Originally Posted By: jstutz
well my compressor is definatly bad. When i turned it on today, i thought it was going to scatter. it shakes violently as rpms increase. could this have to do with my installation or did i just get a bad compressor? I made sure to vacuum every time i opened a port or anything. The compressor had 8 oz of fluid in it so i did not add any. I guess there could be too much oil, meaning there was already some spread thru the system, and then the 8 oz in the compressor may have been too much. When i first installed it, i ran it for a good 30 mins as i went for a drive. It did not make these noises. This morning somehow it is much worse than it was last night.
What is your high and low pressures? I'm thinking if you replaced the compressor, accumulator and condenser then the majority of the oil is out of the system and there shouldn't be more than a couple onces left in it so you wouldn't be over by much more than a couple of onces and this should cause much problem. You probably got a bad compressor.
What was the reason you replaced those parts? Did the old compressor just leak or did you have a bad compressor failure with gunk in the lines?
well my compressor is definatly bad. When i turned it on today, i thought it was going to scatter. it shakes violently as rpms increase. could this have to do with my installation or did i just get a bad compressor? I made sure to vacuum every time i opened a port or anything. The compressor had 8 oz of fluid in it so i did not add any. I guess there could be too much oil, meaning there was already some spread thru the system, and then the 8 oz in the compressor may have been too much. When i first installed it, i ran it for a good 30 mins as i went for a drive. It did not make these noises. This morning somehow it is much worse than it was last night.
What is your high and low pressures? I'm thinking if you replaced the compressor, accumulator and condenser then the majority of the oil is out of the system and there shouldn't be more than a couple onces left in it so you wouldn't be over by much more than a couple of onces and this should cause much problem. You probably got a bad compressor.
What was the reason you replaced those parts? Did the old compressor just leak or did you have a bad compressor failure with gunk in the lines?
I can measure the high side pressure, but low side on max AC is 35psi. I measured the pressure of my old system when it was on and that is what it was. My old compressor just started to make noise while it was running and it had 183k miles on it so i figured i would change the compressor and stuff before it went completly bad and got [censored] all thru my system. I was trying to take a proactive approach and it appeared to bite me in the arse. I bought the kit about 3 months ago and just got to putting it on. Unfortionally it only had a 15 day warranty so im pretty much out of luck and will have to buy a new compressor i guess. I may wait until spring as i dont need the ac now. Ill just unplug the compressor so it dont kick on during defrost. Thanks agian for all your help.
First, take it apart and see how much oil is in the compressor now. There are probably specs for your compressor that will tell the normal oil distribution between the components. Secondly, while the system is uncharged, rotate the compressor shaft and look for binding or noise.
Third, once those two items are dealt with, get a set of gauges. This begs the question, how did you draw a vacuum if you didn't have gauges? Then vacuum, and charge using either a scale, or high specs for the outside temp, actually measured by a thermometer.
Bottom line, I think you were off in either the oil, air in the system, or possibly too high a charge.
Third, once those two items are dealt with, get a set of gauges. This begs the question, how did you draw a vacuum if you didn't have gauges? Then vacuum, and charge using either a scale, or high specs for the outside temp, actually measured by a thermometer.
Bottom line, I think you were off in either the oil, air in the system, or possibly too high a charge.
I bought a vacuum pump that you can set the vacuum on it. I found the vacuum spec somewhere and just drew that amout of vacuum. I know one guy that has an s10 truck that has the same system in it and he bought the exact same kit as i did. He didnt even vacuum it out, just replaced the parts and charged it up. That was 2 yrs ago and his is still going strong. I also know i didnt over charge it. I was very careful to check the pressure on low side to insure it was never over 35psi when the system was running. Is it possible that the orifice tube is not installed correctly, not meaning backwards, but just not in far enough or something. Really the orifice tube being not set right or something, too much oil, my charging method, or bad compressor is the only stuff it could be i think.
I don't think the O-tube is the problem since your low side sounds OK and I don't think you are over-charged with r-134a or oil from what you've described. Generally these orifice tube systems are slightly harder to screw up when charging because you have the accumnulator on the low side to catch liquid before it gets to the compressor. I don't want to say get a new compressor though but that's what the problem sounds like to me and the fact they only gave a 15 day warranty suggests they didn't believe in the compressor either.
Before you put a new compressor on it, I do think Toomanywheels suggestion is good, to double check how much oil comes out of the system, the r-134a charge, that a set of manifold guages would serve you well etc.
What is your r-134a capacity around, 2lbs? If you put say 2 12 oz cans in it'd be slightly undercharged but should work OK and not make noise. if it's a nice round 2.25lb capacity 3 cans would be the right fill, but I'm sure you understand that concept.
I also assume you got the old broken o-tube and any debris out of the line.
Before you put a new compressor on it, I do think Toomanywheels suggestion is good, to double check how much oil comes out of the system, the r-134a charge, that a set of manifold guages would serve you well etc.
What is your r-134a capacity around, 2lbs? If you put say 2 12 oz cans in it'd be slightly undercharged but should work OK and not make noise. if it's a nice round 2.25lb capacity 3 cans would be the right fill, but I'm sure you understand that concept.
I also assume you got the old broken o-tube and any debris out of the line.
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yea, the old orifice tube, come out with no problem. I broke the tip off trying to put it in backwards. The part that i broke didnt come off or anything, it just cracked in my finger. Also there wasnt a lot of debree on the old orifice tube. I have had a bit of other trouble with the blazer lately so this ac work will go on hold for a little bit. Thanks guys for all your help. I dont know what people did before computers and websites. I guess take stuff to mechanics.
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