MR_Loyale

When your system reads 25-30 psi what is the ambient temp? Higher than 65F? If so then you need more refrigerant.

I replaced hthe 20 yr old hose and it seems to work better. I am going to inspect the condenser fins too.

Bottom line is my car kept running and got me where I needed to go.

After getting my AC working I volunteered to help a friend out installing a backup sonar system on his mini van. He lives about 90 miles away so I though it would be a good exercise for the Loyale to stress test it since I am planning on a trek to Eastern Wa for the 4th and if there are any issues, I want them sorted out before I trek across the state. I drove from Bremerton to Sammamish the long way around. Car behaved really well the first 60 miles. Then I noticed that it appeared that when the AC was on, the temp gauge would rise. This continued for about 20 miles or so. Each time I put on the AC the temp gauge would move to the halfway mark and when I turned it off it went to about the 1/8th mark, slightly above the C. It wasn't until about the last 10 miles or so I noticed the temp started to climb to the 75% mark. I finaly just turned off the AC and it held steady at 75%. I was able to pull over at McDonald's and then looked under the hood. I could see something had splashed on the undersde of the hood - it looked like coolant. I could find any leak. I started the car and again couldn't find a leak. I filled it up with my reserve bottle of coolant mix that we all carry in the trunk . It took almost the entire bottle. I drove the last 10 miles and again when I got to Samammish, the temp was at 75% and the overflow was bone dry. I turned the car off and let it sit thinking it was some sort of small leak. We went to O'Relliy's to get some things for my friend's van (in his van) and I got some coolant and stop leak (no lectures about using stop leak please). Anyway I put in the stop leak and the coolant mix and then started it up. Nothing hapned until after about a minute I revved the engine and had a gusher of fluid from the upper radiator hose. Stop leak won't fix that one . I got the hose at O'Reilly's, replaced it and when I drove home I was aggressive with it. This was the original 1993 hose so my bad for not replacing it when I did the lower hose 5 years ago. This is one Subaru part I can truly say I got my money's worth! So for a great bit of the time I was driving with a burst upper hose and what must have been almost no coolant. Why didn't my engine overheat? It never once hit the H. How is this possible? Could the air flow alone have been enough?

I had them three months after purchasing the car new in 1994. Dealer got two garbage bags full of stuff out of the vents. I ended up buying screening material and put it over the vent inlet of the cowl. Caught many a meece with snap traps under the hood too. The place I live now has lots of cats on patrol. Shreds the meeces to pieces.

Compressor must be running and system on max.

Is that the interdynamics (IDQ) refrigerant? My R12 to R134a kit was from them and it included a dvd. It stated the pressure must be measured with the compressor running. The value it reads is dependent upon the ambient temperature. Here is a video that might help. It has temp/pressure charts: http://video.oreillyauto.com/v/23351/how-to-re-charge-ac-system-interdynamics-af1-r134a/

LOL. None of use are a/c experts, we just play them on the internet. I can say for a fact I think you know more about a/c (at least Loyale a/c, which is the only one I care about right now) than the "expert" that "fixed" mine in 2006 - only for it to leak out a week later.

I think you are supposed to take the readings when the compressor is running. Are you measuring pressure with a manifold guage set or the little can top things that come with the refrigerant?

Me too.

It appears I have seeping oil from the cam towers where it meets the head and lower portion of my headgaskets. My head gaskets don't appear to be "blown" in that they I am not burning coolant and my coolant levels are fine, no overheating engine runs fine. It wouldn't even be much of an issue except the oil eventually puddles and either hits the passenger upper CV boot or drips directly onto the exhaist which then causes a smoke cloud to start coming from under my hood as if my engine is on fire. Makes a nasty smell. So far I have been just cleaning the area with degreaser and topping up the oil levels. Are there any easy fixes for this or am I looking at an immediate head gasket replacement?

That makes sense. The second time I charged my system, it didn't immediately come on until after a good bit of refrigerante had been loaded.

So how is it determined when to cut off the compressor? Is there a temperature sensor the ECU reads or something?

I was watching my compresser run after I got home from work with the AC on all the way. The pulser system must be working because it cycled the clutch on and off a few times as I watched.

Do you have dye in your system? That is the easiest way to find leaks. Also if you use refrigerant with leak stopper and the oil then you will have less leaks. But the leak sealers don't make up for undersized gaskets that you may have paid a shop $600+ to install in 2006. Yeah I am a teensy bit bitter about that. But hey if I can fix my AC it shows any goober can, right? LOL. Do not overcharge your system whatever you do. Good luck,

LOL. Yep that is the exact one I used. As I said it was hell finding a place locally that had it is stock. But damn I wanted my AC. I got the entire bag of em minus one large fat one.

Yes, that is exactly what I did. I touched it to the positive on the battery with a jumpr. The clutch clicked. I did it also while the engine was on and it engaged. If this doesn't happen for you then it isn't working. Once you get that test working, if your still cannot get it to engage when you hit the MAX A/C then look to the AC Relay on the passenger side. Grounding the red/black wire (you don't need to cut it, but rather create a jumper wire with each end stripped, shove one end up into the red/black wire of the AC relay connector and then touch to ground.). If the compressor engages, then the pulser system needs adjusting. Loosten the large bolt on the pulser bracket and then the smaller one. Pivot the pulser bracket to the left as the smaller hole is oblong. Adjust until the sensor is 3mm from the detector arms and then tighten the bolts.

Really? The drier needs to be replaced? Mine is the original on the car from 1993. Do you think I ought to change it?

If your system still has R12 in it, any shop should evacuate it for free as the R12 is like money in their pockets. Once you have put everthing back together you will also need to put a vacuum on the system to remove any moisture. Also, if you have gauges, you can tell if the system wll hold a vacuum for any length of time before you put in refrigerant.

Here an excellent article on the pulser system and why it is needed: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northursalia.com%2Ftechdocs%2Fpdf%2Fengine%2Fljac.pdf&ei=U6DIUYL7NOG1iwKTuYCgDQ&usg=AFQjCNHejKNkFCPCZVT7zeAFmDd86KKuiA&bvm=bv.48293060,d.cGE

What is the pulser delete mod?

Well mine hadn't had refrigerant in it since it leaked out in 2006. I recalled at the time I could see the dye coming out from the top pipe that goes through the firewall into the evaporator. My compressor clutch didn't engage so I knew I had work to do. I first started by evacuating the system for an hour using a vacuum pump to remove the moisture. You need a vacuum to cause the boilng point of the water to go down and it will boil away. I knew I didn't have any refrigerant so I wouldn't be dumping into the environment. Then I added some refrigerant but the clutch would not engage. I then started testing things beginning with seeing if the compressor clutch would engage by opening the connector to the clutch and jumpering it to 12v. It engaged. Next I checked the Ac fuse on the passengers side of the engine bay. Then my Haynes book mentioned the pulser system. You can check it by jumpering the red/black wire of the AC relay to ground. The clutch engaged and I held it there while my AC was on max. It did start getting cold so that was when I knew there was life left in the system. When I removed the jumper on the AC relay, the clutch stopped engaging. I looked at the pulser and it was way away from the sensor prongs. It is supposed to be at 3mm between the prongs and the sensor. I adjusted the sensor and tried it again and it worked. Then when I shut off the engine I could hear hissing and saw the oil leaking out of the upper firewall evaporator coupling. That was when I knew I needed an O-Ring. Next day I pulled it apart and saw the undersized O-Ring the previous shop used. I replaced it, evacuated and charged the system and it has worked ever since. The kit I used had oil and sealer in the cans of refrigerant. If your clutch is engaging and you see bubbles, I would suspect a low charge. But make sure you have something with a gauge on it to help you be sure to not overcharge the system. R134a only requires 85% of the charge of the old R12.

Yes. I had to replace the one on the upper large pipe coming from the firewall to the compressor. Turns out that was the one that the shop I paid $600+ to in 2006 got wrong. It was undersized and leaked a week later. But this one is holding so far. Time will tell. Trying to find the A/C O Ring set locally was like trying to find beluga caviar at Safeway. Autozone, O'Reilly both had it (assorted bag of em) for ordering online (O'reilly wanted twice the price ) I had to drive 100 miles round trip from Bremerton to Federal Way to get it today. I got them coming out of my ears now $8 for an assortment. Not a difficult job. If you are intending to do it, check out this excellent vid:

I finally got my 93 Loyale A/C converted to R134a and got it working. The last time it worked was the summer of 2006. Back then the refrigerant had leaked out and the fellow at the shop had convinced me to refill with R12 which was expensive even back then. I recall it was over $600 to refill and repair it back then when I was in Spokane visiting relatives. It all leaked out about one month later and since I was on the other side of the state in Western Washington (Spokane is Eastern Washington for all you non-Washingtonians), I didn't go after them for a faulty repair Then yesterday in Walmart I saw a conversion kit for $44 and picked it up. No worries about properly disposing of old nasty r12 as that bridge was crossed 7 years ago (don't blame me folks, I didn't put in an undersized O-ring that leaked, call tuneTech in Spokane to complain). The big concern was moisture that accumulated in the system. I got a vacuum pump and manifold gauge set at Harbor Freight, evacuated the system and after some fiddling with the pulser system and the A/C relay it now blows icy cold. Makes me wonder why I didn't do this years ago. I guess I had thought you needed special training or something lol.

I will check those out. Thanks.