A/C in grand am not working

[AleroB888]

Originally Posted by Starglow

I found a leak in the compressor today...looks like it's time to replace.

Yeah, this looks like a big PITA, or pay somebody to do it. My cars are running like crap in this muggy weather.

[RalphP]

Originally Posted by AleroB888

Yeah, this looks like a big PITA, or pay somebody to do it. My cars are running like crap in this muggy weather.

Actually once past the money spent for the parts, and the poor location of the low pressure fitting, it's not that bad. I've worked on worse ...

(I do have a flush kit, a vacuum pump, and a gauge set. And most of a 30 pound canister of DuPont Suva(tm) R134a. And most of a bottle of Nylog for the O-rings. That may make a difference in my take on it ...)

RwP

[AleroB888]

Originally Posted by RalphP

Actually once past the money spent for the parts, and the poor location of the low pressure fitting, it's not that bad. I've worked on worse ...

(I do have a flush kit, a vacuum pump, and a gauge set. And most of a 30 pound canister of DuPont Suva(tm) R134a. And most of a bottle of Nylog for the O-rings. That may make a difference in my take on it ...)

RwP

My condenser is in bad shape, too, many of the fins are damaged or clogged. My only gauges are for home refrigerators, no other tools available since I retired. The company took them back. But I might try to replace the compressor, it's about to become a safety issue.

[Cliff8928]

Originally Posted by RalphP

The vacuum pump and gauge set MAY be available on a loan-a-tool, the flush kit certainly is at Advance and Auto Zone. If not, Harbor Freight has a perfectly servicable set of both gauge set and vacuum pump (hint: For a single car, you don't need the big pump, just let the little one run longer.)

The refrigerant - ideally, you'll weigh the charge going in. That's a bit hard to do on the small cans, but I doubt you can possibly justify a 30 pound canister of R134a (like I could with the *counts* six or seven cars I help maintain in the family ... )

I got a vacuum pump and gauge set as a loaner from AutoZone. I just used the small cans, each one is usually 3/4 lb.

Originally Posted by AleroB888

Yeah, this looks like a big PITA, or pay somebody to do it. My cars are running like crap in this muggy weather.

The compressor isn't a horrible job. It's just bolted to the block with 3 bolts, one bolt holding in the line and 2 electrical connections as I recall. The older V6s were much worse.

[RalphP]

Originally Posted by AleroB888

My condenser is in bad shape, too, many of the fins are damaged or clogged. My only gauges are for home refrigerators, no other tools available since I retired. The company took them back. But I might try to replace the compressor, it's about to become a safety issue.

The condensor being in bad shape means you also get to drain the coolant - if it's exactly like my Malibu, it's bolted to the radiator, and the radiator comes out to get it out.

Well, maybe no - my nephew and I managed to coax my condenser out when it failed on me about six years ago ...

RwP

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted by Redog

Every compressor I replace had a little hole in it

Can you elaborate on this some more and exactly how you found the hole?
I'm pretty sure that mine is leaking from the compressor (at least that's what my electronic leak detector and VU glasses suggests).

That and is this as easy as it looks to replace? The factory service manual suggests that it's pretty easy. Reference page 1-42 of the 1999 Factory service manual, and it says remove the lower splash shield, serpentine belt, electrical connector, hose connection, and 3 attaching bolts. My compressor is very messy since my LIM gasket leak leaked onto it. I just did one on my other car and it was easy except one bolt was really hard to get to. That and the 2oz of PAG oil on the install. By the way, when I did the one on the other car the old compressor seemed to have no PAG oil in it. It worked fine, just leaked r134a, but when I tried to drain it, I got nothing. I guess 215K miles can do that, but I was at least expecting something.

Does the replacement brand matter? I'm tempted to just get something like the cheapest new one I see on eBay or Amazon ()
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Cond...dp/B001O005L4/
Which I see for $128, and it gets good reviews. It it's cheaper to buy in the middle of the winter I might buy it then.

Yes, on the other car I used a junkyard A/C compressor that only had 63K miles on it, and now my r134a on that car last for 2-3 weeks instead of 3 days! I will be getting a new one for the Alero.

Mine 1999 V6 Alero still has it's original compressor at 39K miles. But these things seem to go bad with time, irregardless of mileage, and the few rebuilt ones I have seen at auto parts store look terrible.