Evening! hoping to get some insight here.
Trying to make sure our daughters 2004 RX330 is ready for a new life in Florida. Originally we had a failing AC expansion valve that was making noise. As the summer got hotter the system failed to hold necessary pressures and the system would fluctuate between warm and cold air. I replaced the expansion valve and it took care of the noise and performance. Unfortunately it introduced a new problem to the system where the system would thunk and screech on first ac clutch engagement of the day.
The mechanic that did the recharge thinks there may be debris in the system that the compressor is trying to move on the first start, but I'm not convinced. The reason I don't think that is the issue is because if you start and let the vehicle idle for a few minutes and then start the AC on the first start of the day, the clutch engages silently. Instead, I think it is a worn AC clutch. What I don't understand though is why this issue only showed up after I swapped the expansion valve and the system was recharged. Also worth noting that there are a bunch of accounts of Toyota's on the internet that have this exact same issue, some of them from brand new. All were in the same range of early 2000 years. Some stated that it was compressor slugging.
The AC clutch is hidden by a frame component and you cannot get feeler gauges behind it because it is recessed to the pulley. The way that you measure engagement travel is with an end gauge, but there is not room to get one without pulling the compressor. Vehicle has 170,000 miles on it so I figured I would replace the compressor and condenser anyway.
The plan was to do that work on Monday, but today our daughter went to start the car with the AC off and she said there was a brief sound of screeching, like nails on a chalkboard, that then went away. Even though the AC clutch wasn't engaged, I can't help but think that it's related to our AC clutch issues. I told her to not drive the car until I swap the compressor & condenser. The sound that she described makes me think of a faulty pulley somewhere in the drive belt system. I think it would be too much of a coincidence for it to be anything other than having to do with the AC compressor.
When I changed the expansion valve, I did change the dryer element as well. I have picture of that that I will attach. It had a bit of a gray color to it but no chunks of metal or anything silly like that. The new condenser of course will include the new dryer, as it is attached.
Here is my question... how do I know if I need to flush the system or not? I do not believe that the AC compressor has failed. In the sight glass I see no metallic bits or gray or questionable material, just a slight off green liquid. Because I've already replaced the expansion valve I would rather not dig back into the dash to pull it again to flush the evaporator. Because I'm replacing the condenser, I believe anything that is settled in that will be pulled out obviously. Of course I can view the quality of the oil that I drain out of the compressor, and however clean it is should give me an idea I guess.
Lastly, the best system capacity for oil that I can find is 4.5 oz (although under the capacity specifications page for the manual that I'm using it lists 4 oz, the instructions for compressor install list a different amount which I show below). I believe it is 1.4 oz in each of the condenser and the evaporator and the remainder goes in the compressor. So for my process I'm going to put 1.4 oz in the new condenser, and then drain out what is in the old compressor and drain and fill the new compressor with that amount. (The 2004 rx330 manual that I have found does not list oil amounts, but the 2003 RX300 manual does. So I am going off of those values for oil. Here is the 2004 rx330 instructions for oil on a compressor install:
Am I missing anything?
Trying to make sure our daughters 2004 RX330 is ready for a new life in Florida. Originally we had a failing AC expansion valve that was making noise. As the summer got hotter the system failed to hold necessary pressures and the system would fluctuate between warm and cold air. I replaced the expansion valve and it took care of the noise and performance. Unfortunately it introduced a new problem to the system where the system would thunk and screech on first ac clutch engagement of the day.
The mechanic that did the recharge thinks there may be debris in the system that the compressor is trying to move on the first start, but I'm not convinced. The reason I don't think that is the issue is because if you start and let the vehicle idle for a few minutes and then start the AC on the first start of the day, the clutch engages silently. Instead, I think it is a worn AC clutch. What I don't understand though is why this issue only showed up after I swapped the expansion valve and the system was recharged. Also worth noting that there are a bunch of accounts of Toyota's on the internet that have this exact same issue, some of them from brand new. All were in the same range of early 2000 years. Some stated that it was compressor slugging.
The AC clutch is hidden by a frame component and you cannot get feeler gauges behind it because it is recessed to the pulley. The way that you measure engagement travel is with an end gauge, but there is not room to get one without pulling the compressor. Vehicle has 170,000 miles on it so I figured I would replace the compressor and condenser anyway.
The plan was to do that work on Monday, but today our daughter went to start the car with the AC off and she said there was a brief sound of screeching, like nails on a chalkboard, that then went away. Even though the AC clutch wasn't engaged, I can't help but think that it's related to our AC clutch issues. I told her to not drive the car until I swap the compressor & condenser. The sound that she described makes me think of a faulty pulley somewhere in the drive belt system. I think it would be too much of a coincidence for it to be anything other than having to do with the AC compressor.
When I changed the expansion valve, I did change the dryer element as well. I have picture of that that I will attach. It had a bit of a gray color to it but no chunks of metal or anything silly like that. The new condenser of course will include the new dryer, as it is attached.
Here is my question... how do I know if I need to flush the system or not? I do not believe that the AC compressor has failed. In the sight glass I see no metallic bits or gray or questionable material, just a slight off green liquid. Because I've already replaced the expansion valve I would rather not dig back into the dash to pull it again to flush the evaporator. Because I'm replacing the condenser, I believe anything that is settled in that will be pulled out obviously. Of course I can view the quality of the oil that I drain out of the compressor, and however clean it is should give me an idea I guess.
Lastly, the best system capacity for oil that I can find is 4.5 oz (although under the capacity specifications page for the manual that I'm using it lists 4 oz, the instructions for compressor install list a different amount which I show below). I believe it is 1.4 oz in each of the condenser and the evaporator and the remainder goes in the compressor. So for my process I'm going to put 1.4 oz in the new condenser, and then drain out what is in the old compressor and drain and fill the new compressor with that amount. (The 2004 rx330 manual that I have found does not list oil amounts, but the 2003 RX300 manual does. So I am going off of those values for oil. Here is the 2004 rx330 instructions for oil on a compressor install:
Am I missing anything?
