DanG144
Top Post Dawg
mopower was kind enough to swap VCDS cables with me for a while.
So now I have a HEX-CAN cable to talk to the newer cars.
So now I have a HEX-CAN cable to talk to the newer cars.
Doin's at Dan's
- Thread starter DanG144
- Start date
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Woops. Oh, well.
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Friday June 26, Saturday 27, Sunday 28th
Friday morning we will be working on Zeb's friends A/C - New Beetle Gasser.
No action Saturday and Sunday - working.
Friday morning we will be working on Zeb's friends A/C - New Beetle Gasser.
No action Saturday and Sunday - working.
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DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Tuesday June 23, 2009
Richard55 is coming by this evening (about 4:30 pm) to put a new hose, and drier on his A/C.
This was rescheduled from Friday evening.
Richard55 is coming by this evening (about 4:30 pm) to put a new hose, and drier on his A/C.
This was rescheduled from Friday evening.
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Saturday and Sunday June 27 and 28
No activity. Working unexpectedly.
No activity. Working unexpectedly.
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Richard55 came by and we put a new hose and drier on his A/C system.
Added about 25 cc of PAG oil, evacuated, filled, and got it working again. It had been out of service for just a few weeks with a pin hole leak.
When we first tried it, it looked as if the compressor control valve or perhaps the expansion valve was not working properly. Then it came unstuck and he was getting some operation - he was getting 200 psi compressor discharge, but his suction pressure was staying high - about 45 psig, when we expected about 27 psig. It was also cooling only moderately - maybe 50 degree air.
He said that on drive back home ( about 3 hours) that it started to work better - that he was having to add heat to keep it comfortable in the cabin. Maybe the controls came unstuck?
Anyway he's happy to get the A/C back!
Added about 25 cc of PAG oil, evacuated, filled, and got it working again. It had been out of service for just a few weeks with a pin hole leak.
When we first tried it, it looked as if the compressor control valve or perhaps the expansion valve was not working properly. Then it came unstuck and he was getting some operation - he was getting 200 psi compressor discharge, but his suction pressure was staying high - about 45 psig, when we expected about 27 psig. It was also cooling only moderately - maybe 50 degree air.
He said that on drive back home ( about 3 hours) that it started to work better - that he was having to add heat to keep it comfortable in the cabin. Maybe the controls came unstuck?
Anyway he's happy to get the A/C back!
dieselfueler
Veteran Member
Richard just needs to add heated seats in that bug.
visionlogic
Veteran Member
Hey Dan, have you ever tried this PAO oil? A tad expensive, but really good stuff - mixes with everything and doesn't absorb moisture: Cliplight CLP51105DanG144 said:
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
No, I have not tried PAO oil. I just used what the manufacturer recommended.
I am a Babe-in-the-Woods with this AC mechanical system work; I still have a lot to learn.
Do the professionals use this stuff? I am a bit leary of some vendor's claims.
I am a Babe-in-the-Woods with this AC mechanical system work; I still have a lot to learn.
Do the professionals use this stuff? I am a bit leary of some vendor's claims.
visionlogic
Veteran Member
Always a good course to follow.DanG144 said:
I don't know any a/c professionals, so I don't know if any use PAO or not. I have read web comments both praising and condemning it for various reasons. My personal experience has been that I've used it several times with no ill effects whatsoever. I was just curious if you had used it. FWIW, Hella makes the same product.
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ncroadwarrior
Veteran Member
Dan, PM sent about the ceramic glow plugs
terrydtdi
Veteran Member
I am a Babe-in-the-Woods with this AC mechanical system work; I still have a lot to learn.
Dan,
You sure seem to be satifying a bunch of people to be just a Babe-in-the-Woods
. If I have any AC problems , I'll be nockin on you door.
Dan,
You sure seem to be satifying a bunch of people to be just a Babe-in-the-Woods
. If I have any AC problems , I'll be nockin on you door.
terrydtdi
Veteran Member
BTW where has Richard55 been ? I haven't seen any post from him in a while .
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
He has been busy, new axles, a new ball joint, he is starting to go through his front end.
He posts only a few times a month, I think.
He posts only a few times a month, I think.
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Sanden SD7V16 compressor control valve replacement
Got up at at noon, 3.5 hours sleep after working night shift.
Did some work on a 2.0 gasser NB. We thought it was a candidate for an air conditioner compressor displacement control valve replacement.
The Sanden SD7V16 compressor has a mechanical diaphragm control valve in it that is supposed to control compressor suction pressure by varying the angle of the wobble plate.
This is a fairly common failure on these compressors from what I have read.
Simplistically speaking, if everything else is working right, and you have a full charge of refrigerant, and you are not able to get suction pressure down to about 26-27 psig at 1500 rpm in an A4 with one of these compressors, then this might be the issue.
If the compressor clutch is working properly, turns smoothly by hand (no clicks or catches) it has no vibration, is not noisy, has plenty of oil in it, and has not been overheated, then it is a candidate for this repair.
I had previously evaluated this car's compressor:
clutch was good.
Turned smoothly by hand with no catches or clicking.
No vibration.
No abnormal noise.
So it was a likely candidate, but I still had one more criteria to meet.
When we dismounted the compressor and turned it upside down to drain the oil we were looking for about 30 cc of clear amber oil with no metalic particles in it.
What we got was three thick drops of heavy black tarry goo, with metallic particles in it. The Black Death of compressors. Dark oil has been overheated, black is aluminum oxide and burned oil, and it had aluminum powder in it. And essentially no oil.
We disassembled it for practice and found another very common issue. The reed valve assembly was cracking badly at the flex points. Some reeds were only held in place by1/10th the original width of the base of the reed.
The entire compressor was coated in aluminum powder, with a few slivers for good measure.
So this one is trash. I saved my gasket set and new control valve for someone else's compressor.
I am contemplating ordering a compressor, drier, oil, O-ring set and expansion valve from an ebay dealer that Paramedick had tried a few times and was happy with so far.
We are doing this job as a favor to a 70 year old lady, so we are trying to keep the bucks down on parts (and providing free labor). That means we will violate the normal recommended practice of replacing the condenser on this car, and have to depend upon flushing to clean it, along with the rest of the system.
I will insert a few pictures when I can.
Got up at at noon, 3.5 hours sleep after working night shift.
Did some work on a 2.0 gasser NB. We thought it was a candidate for an air conditioner compressor displacement control valve replacement.
The Sanden SD7V16 compressor has a mechanical diaphragm control valve in it that is supposed to control compressor suction pressure by varying the angle of the wobble plate.
This is a fairly common failure on these compressors from what I have read.
Simplistically speaking, if everything else is working right, and you have a full charge of refrigerant, and you are not able to get suction pressure down to about 26-27 psig at 1500 rpm in an A4 with one of these compressors, then this might be the issue.
If the compressor clutch is working properly, turns smoothly by hand (no clicks or catches) it has no vibration, is not noisy, has plenty of oil in it, and has not been overheated, then it is a candidate for this repair.
I had previously evaluated this car's compressor:
clutch was good.
Turned smoothly by hand with no catches or clicking.
No vibration.
No abnormal noise.
So it was a likely candidate, but I still had one more criteria to meet.
When we dismounted the compressor and turned it upside down to drain the oil we were looking for about 30 cc of clear amber oil with no metalic particles in it.
What we got was three thick drops of heavy black tarry goo, with metallic particles in it. The Black Death of compressors. Dark oil has been overheated, black is aluminum oxide and burned oil, and it had aluminum powder in it. And essentially no oil.
We disassembled it for practice and found another very common issue. The reed valve assembly was cracking badly at the flex points. Some reeds were only held in place by1/10th the original width of the base of the reed.
The entire compressor was coated in aluminum powder, with a few slivers for good measure.
So this one is trash. I saved my gasket set and new control valve for someone else's compressor.
I am contemplating ordering a compressor, drier, oil, O-ring set and expansion valve from an ebay dealer that Paramedick had tried a few times and was happy with so far.
We are doing this job as a favor to a 70 year old lady, so we are trying to keep the bucks down on parts (and providing free labor). That means we will violate the normal recommended practice of replacing the condenser on this car, and have to depend upon flushing to clean it, along with the rest of the system.
I will insert a few pictures when I can.
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
mopower
Veteran Member
Wow, that compressor looks terrible. I took my 200k mile compressor apart because the nose of the case broke and it was all clean and shiny! What a mess!
What do you this caused this one to fail with such low miles??
What do you this caused this one to fail with such low miles??
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
I suspect that it had low freon and the lady kept it on after it quit cooling. The freon carries the oil and provides cooling.
The front end of the car had been tapped hard. The drier had grooves worn in it from being forced back into the AC compressor pulley while running. I suspect it leaked then. It still had at least some liquid R134a in it when I started working on it (had 100 psig), but not much.
So it overheated, turning the oil to sludge, then started milling itself to pieces.
Dan
The front end of the car had been tapped hard. The drier had grooves worn in it from being forced back into the AC compressor pulley while running. I suspect it leaked then. It still had at least some liquid R134a in it when I started working on it (had 100 psig), but not much.
So it overheated, turning the oil to sludge, then started milling itself to pieces.
Dan
visionlogic
Veteran Member
WOW! This is one NASTY MESS!
If you have time Dan, it would be great if you could describe the "1., 2., 3..." steps of your flushing procedure for a case like this. Thanks!
Michael
If you have time Dan, it would be great if you could describe the "1., 2., 3..." steps of your flushing procedure for a case like this. Thanks!
Michael
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
I will record what I do.
I have paid professionals to do my own, in the past. One did a great job, the other did not, ruining a compressor immediately upon startup. So this is my first attempt to do it myself.
Just because I do something, and post what I did, please do not assume I knew what I was doing. Often only time will tell. Or feedback from someone (which I welcome, by the way) which says "Man you hosed that up. Your flush fluid was all wrong. You can expect failure within 10 hours of operation."
About all I promise is to not purposefully mislead anyone.
I have paid professionals to do my own, in the past. One did a great job, the other did not, ruining a compressor immediately upon startup. So this is my first attempt to do it myself.
Just because I do something, and post what I did, please do not assume I knew what I was doing. Often only time will tell. Or feedback from someone (which I welcome, by the way) which says "Man you hosed that up. Your flush fluid was all wrong. You can expect failure within 10 hours of operation."
About all I promise is to not purposefully mislead anyone.
visionlogic
Veteran Member
Thanks Dan. You may have seen this already, but if not it's got some good info: HECAT FLUSHING TECHNICAL PAPER
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piper109
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2003
- Location
- Ashe Co NC
Hi Dan,
My wife's NB compressor died with the black death.
I flushed the condenser, evaporator with mineral spirits (gravity feed at arms length, then blew out and flushed again with acetone.
I washed out the expansion valve with brake cleaner(out of car) then put it all back with a new filter dryer and a good used compressor (golden oil).
I found the right amount of oil to use from the Sanden web site and put it in the compressor before installation.
I pulled vacuum for about an hour and recharged with the amount of R134a the sticker said and it has now worked fine for 2 1/2 summers.
Just to encourage you. You deserve a medal. Drop me a line if I can help.
Steve.....another a/c amateur
My wife's NB compressor died with the black death.
I flushed the condenser, evaporator with mineral spirits (gravity feed at arms length, then blew out and flushed again with acetone.
I washed out the expansion valve with brake cleaner(out of car) then put it all back with a new filter dryer and a good used compressor (golden oil).
I found the right amount of oil to use from the Sanden web site and put it in the compressor before installation.
I pulled vacuum for about an hour and recharged with the amount of R134a the sticker said and it has now worked fine for 2 1/2 summers.
Just to encourage you. You deserve a medal. Drop me a line if I can help.
Steve.....another a/c amateur
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Steve,
Good to hear from you.
Thanks for the words of encouragement and tech advice.
The parts did not come in for the NBeetle AC this week, so I am working on another project.
It is an old John Deere 3 cylinder diesel with hydraulic system woes.
How is your Volvo diesel engine swap car running?
Dan
Good to hear from you.
Thanks for the words of encouragement and tech advice.
The parts did not come in for the NBeetle AC this week, so I am working on another project.
It is an old John Deere 3 cylinder diesel with hydraulic system woes.
How is your Volvo diesel engine swap car running?
Dan
DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Zeb and I got back to the New Beetle AC today (he wanted to help out an eldery lady who is on hard times.)
We took out the old compressor and drier, found the black death had gotten up into the condenser, but not too bad. Not out of the drier, and not out of the suction hose. Apparently there was not enough oil to carry the crud too far out of the compressor.
We back flushed the suction, discharge, and condenser with Naptha, and then with acetone, using a liquid then air blast, repeat until a white filter cloth showed no black and no metal. Then purge with air for 20 minutes.
Replaced the drier, and the compressor (cheap chinese stuff).
Tried to draw a vacuum and lost it. It looked as if an oring or seal turned. So gave it a quick shot of refrigerant (less than an ounce), to pressurize the system. Then we were able to draw it down and pull a vacuum, held 29" for 40 minutes.
Then we added about 700 -750 grams of R134a.
It was actually running too cool, air temperature down around 35 degrees. This could cause icing on long trips, but she does not do long trips, and it will be great around town. The too cold air/ too low suction pressure is probably a function of the compressor control valve.
The thermal expansion valve seems to be working fine, providing plenty of flow.
Total cost was about $375, for parts and flush liquids. Motorinar, here on the site, donated $75 towards the job, so it only cost the lady $300 in parts.
Since we essentially did the job twice, we had 24 manhours, 12 clock hours in this effort. It was 6 clock hours and 12 manhours today.
If the black death had gotten throughout the system then the flush effort would have been several hours longer.
Black death is the term often used for the mixture of aluminum oxide, metal particles and burned oil that results when a compressor is run when it is not cooling well (low on freon) or making noise (broken piston, rod, bad bearing - something shedding metal and creating heat.
It can coat the entire system, sometimes to the extent that you cannot recover it - just replace it entirely.
We also donated a used driver's door window switch (installed) and a new serpentine belt (installed.)
So now she can roll down her window if the AC fails.
Zeb seeing her at church with the driver's window up, and no AC in June weather here in South Carolina is what started this ball rolling.
Update:
Zeb reported that on the drive back to her place the air temperature was holding 40 F with the fan in fast speed and 38 F with the cabin fan on the lowest setting. So it sounds as if the control valve is now working properly.
We took out the old compressor and drier, found the black death had gotten up into the condenser, but not too bad. Not out of the drier, and not out of the suction hose. Apparently there was not enough oil to carry the crud too far out of the compressor.
We back flushed the suction, discharge, and condenser with Naptha, and then with acetone, using a liquid then air blast, repeat until a white filter cloth showed no black and no metal. Then purge with air for 20 minutes.
Replaced the drier, and the compressor (cheap chinese stuff).
Tried to draw a vacuum and lost it. It looked as if an oring or seal turned. So gave it a quick shot of refrigerant (less than an ounce), to pressurize the system. Then we were able to draw it down and pull a vacuum, held 29" for 40 minutes.
Then we added about 700 -750 grams of R134a.
It was actually running too cool, air temperature down around 35 degrees. This could cause icing on long trips, but she does not do long trips, and it will be great around town. The too cold air/ too low suction pressure is probably a function of the compressor control valve.
The thermal expansion valve seems to be working fine, providing plenty of flow.
Total cost was about $375, for parts and flush liquids. Motorinar, here on the site, donated $75 towards the job, so it only cost the lady $300 in parts.
Since we essentially did the job twice, we had 24 manhours, 12 clock hours in this effort. It was 6 clock hours and 12 manhours today.
If the black death had gotten throughout the system then the flush effort would have been several hours longer.
Black death is the term often used for the mixture of aluminum oxide, metal particles and burned oil that results when a compressor is run when it is not cooling well (low on freon) or making noise (broken piston, rod, bad bearing - something shedding metal and creating heat.
It can coat the entire system, sometimes to the extent that you cannot recover it - just replace it entirely.
We also donated a used driver's door window switch (installed) and a new serpentine belt (installed.)
So now she can roll down her window if the AC fails.
Zeb seeing her at church with the driver's window up, and no AC in June weather here in South Carolina is what started this ball rolling.
Update:
Zeb reported that on the drive back to her place the air temperature was holding 40 F with the fan in fast speed and 38 F with the cabin fan on the lowest setting. So it sounds as if the control valve is now working properly.
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DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Zeb reported that on the drive back to her place the air temperature was holding 40 F with the fan in fast speed and 38 F with the cabin fan on the lowest setting. So it sounds as if the control valve is now working properly.
dieselfueler
Veteran Member
And the TDI god's said "well done good and faithful servent you shall be blessed with lots of positive tdi karma next weekend!"
Richard55
Vendor
terrydtdi
Yes I am still around, been in the middle of a real mess with ole yeller, I have had several challenges with axles. Bought both new axles from Advanced and the bolts they supply with them are bad, no not bad, junk. they are supposed to be self locking bolts and they are nothing close. They are so soft they will not torque to correct specs. The bolts on both sides backed out and the axle on the left side came loose and knocked a hole in the diff/trans case. Made Advanced replace the axle with VW bolts and the new axle would not bolt up, but I guess 4 out of 6 bolts are ok. lol Demanded my money back for both axles and got it and am now in the process of making a claim, to advanced, for the trans/diff.
Ordered new axles from O'Reilly got the new left side and it fit perfectly, ordered the right side and their boxes are mis-labled, manuel axles in the auto trans boxes, so we went through the order reorder process until we figured that one out.
Yesterday packed the new axle, installed the new bolts with lock tight, installed the axle , drove it about 100 miles and it sounds like the cv joint is blowing apart.
Help I am about to do a Thelma and Louise, but am afraid of heights or maybe a Sudden Impact, but now she won't go that fast with the bad front end. Oh well guess I will just have to figure it out and fix the damn thing.
I checked the axle and some movement in the axle when I twist it, about 1/2" play. Is that normal for a new axle?
What else could cause a clicking noise from the frontend? I mean it sounds just like a cv joint coming loose.
Terry, why did you ask. lol
Crap I am getting afraid to drive out of the front yard with this thing. But the up side is I can change and axle in about 6 minutes flat. lol
Yes I am still around, been in the middle of a real mess with ole yeller, I have had several challenges with axles. Bought both new axles from Advanced and the bolts they supply with them are bad, no not bad, junk. they are supposed to be self locking bolts and they are nothing close. They are so soft they will not torque to correct specs. The bolts on both sides backed out and the axle on the left side came loose and knocked a hole in the diff/trans case. Made Advanced replace the axle with VW bolts and the new axle would not bolt up, but I guess 4 out of 6 bolts are ok. lol Demanded my money back for both axles and got it and am now in the process of making a claim, to advanced, for the trans/diff.
Ordered new axles from O'Reilly got the new left side and it fit perfectly, ordered the right side and their boxes are mis-labled, manuel axles in the auto trans boxes, so we went through the order reorder process until we figured that one out.
Yesterday packed the new axle, installed the new bolts with lock tight, installed the axle , drove it about 100 miles and it sounds like the cv joint is blowing apart.
Help I am about to do a Thelma and Louise, but am afraid of heights or maybe a Sudden Impact, but now she won't go that fast with the bad front end. Oh well guess I will just have to figure it out and fix the damn thing.
I checked the axle and some movement in the axle when I twist it, about 1/2" play. Is that normal for a new axle?
What else could cause a clicking noise from the frontend? I mean it sounds just like a cv joint coming loose.
Terry, why did you ask. lol
Crap I am getting afraid to drive out of the front yard with this thing. But the up side is I can change and axle in about 6 minutes flat. lol
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DanG144
Top Post Dawg
Richard,
Are you sure the play is in the axle and not the differential and transmission?
Are you saying you can move the tire half an inch? Or that the bare axle is moving half an inch? The first does not sound bad, the second does.
Dan
Are you sure the play is in the axle and not the differential and transmission?
Are you saying you can move the tire half an inch? Or that the bare axle is moving half an inch? The first does not sound bad, the second does.
Dan