I removed my radiator on my 86 Subaru Gl for timing belts. I need to pull the condenser so I can use an impact gun on the crank pulley bolt. Can I just undo the lines or will that release the freon?

You need to use a breaker bar and pipe on the crank bolt.

Rest it against the drivers side fender and bump the starter, with the coil wire disconnected of course.

Undoing the lines will release a lot of gas under a lot of pressure and give you a high you won't forget (if you can even remember it). Way easier to put a 22mm ratchet head on a breaker bar, put the bar in a pipe, rest the pipe oh the previous post explains it well enough :-p .

 

Just don't undo the condenser without at least bleeding the system (there is a relief valve on one of the A/C lines, look near the radiator overflow tank). And I recommend not doing it at all unless you want to then recharge the system. Or do like I did and just take the A/C out alltogether (I left the compressor in for belt routing).

I ended up using an old snap on ratchet and the handle of a full sized floor jack.

I barely leaned into it to make sure the socket had a good seat on the bolt and it broke loose. It was hardly on there.

 

I would like to pull the ac compressor and alternator bracket and the lower water pump line.its all right in the way

 

man if that AC works I wouldn't touch it, there is no way to recharge the R12 system and you'd have to convert to the new 134a

Once you unbolt the AC condenser, just lift it up and out of the way. The rubber lines are there to allow you to move the condenser out of the way for other engine work. No need to remove the R12 or break the refrigeration lines. If you have a working AC system, don't mess with it since R12 is still the most efficient refrigerant available for AC. It is still legal to "top up" an existing R12 system if it's needed.

it's not that hard to do with all that stuff in the way - but it sure does make the first time easier once you see how it's all done.

 

leave it all there.

 

or flip it up out of the way like edrach said - don't disconnect any refrigerant lines, the a/c will actually roll/flip over enough to even pull the entire engine out, so it'll be way out of your way for a simple timing belt job.

 

might help in the future to post what engine/car you're working on - i was confused given EA81 in your name and timing belts which an EA81 doesn't have....an 86 GL can be an EA81 or EA82 i believe - hatch or wagon, which you don't specify. the pictures definitely cleared it up! pic's are great!

on the ea82 I can put my compressor in the battery tray, and have even pulled the engine from underneath the a/c lines etc etc without opening the system

 

maybe what the guys are saying is you can zip tie or wire it back out of your way without cracking it open

 

'illegal' to top the system? I did not know that, I knew a shop couldn't do anything with R12 except evacuate the system... whoops

Sorry about not specifying engine type. Ill make sure to do that from now on.thanks for the tips on the a/c. so I can move the condenser AND the compressor without unhooking any lines?

I got everything out of the way of the front of the engine except the condenser, now that I have the crank pulley off I really dont think I need it out of the way, but I will pull the compressor and set it in the battery tray. It will make things way easier. Thankyou

 

 

If you want to follow up, ill post updates in the thread "I bough this EA82"

 

I figured Id create a new thread for a better chance of feed back.

 

Thank You, Its all greatly appreciated

i don't think you can move the condensor very much....it's only a couple bolts though so you can try, but i wouldn't want to tweak those fittings as much either - i think the fittings on those sides have metal lines on them sometimes and not the more pliable rubber lines like the compressor that you can just flop over on the sides.

 

but - i've never...nor does anyone else really...remove the condensor anyway unless the car was wrecked or it's leaking. so should be fine just leaving it.

 

then again - it's not that big of a deal either to recharge it, but you'll get a lesser "product" so to speak probably because you don't have a professional vaccuum puller nor access to R12 so you'll have to convert.

 

but i highly recommend not opening it if it's a good working a/c system, particularly if it's still original R12, don't touch it.