AC High Side Valve Removal?

[TMHark]

It bubbles on the aluminum block at the bottom of the two nuts, I thought valve was above this...

I'd love it if a $6 valve would fix this! (a mechanic friend thought whole line would be needed)

 

[Big T]

It bubbles on the aluminum block at the bottom of the two nuts, I thought valve was above this...

I'd love it if a $6 valve would fix this! (a mechanic friend thought whole line would be needed)

If it bubbles at the junction to the aluminum block, then you're going to need a whole new hose assembly. Who knows, I could be joining you.

 

[WarWagon]

AC shops - Some like AAPAK here in Phoenix can replace the rubber part of the lines including the rubber junction to the metal that is leaking cheaper than a new set. Hose sets are not that expensive.

The bubbles at the base would be stress crack. Metal fatigue. You don't want your head under there when the part completely fails - bang! hiss! Frostbite and blindness are possible. One hit with the hammer could split the entire part at the crack. This failure is not fixable and I would not weld it myself. leaks out and 1/4 the cost of a hose set is gone in freon. Then you drive the rest of the day with the windows down in 115 degree heat, here anyway.

You are holding 250 PSI or 5 times the pressure in your tire. You know what a blowout looks like. But that is a lot of pressure to contain. At rest it can be 40-250 PSI. So it may not leak at 40 PSI until the compressor kicks in and it sees 250 PSI.

 

[restoguy]

Well I'll be! You learn something new everyday! I had a problem with my A/C leaking at the port and spent hours on the internet trying to figure out how to repair it. All I could find was that the rubber ball valve is just to keep the stuff in long enough for you to get the cap on. The stuff I read said the cap was the primary sealing device. So I went and bought new caps (one was cracked from being over tightened). Problem solved. I wonder why in all the searching I did, no one mentioned that the ports come apart like that? I was on A/C-refrigertion sites where they should have known......... Well thanks for the education guys, I'll remember that for next time!

 

[Big T]

So I'm at the AC shop going through the system. No leaks, so we pulled a vac and charged it. The rear AC works, but not the front. The line from the condensor to the orifice is hotter than it should be, indicating a restriction. So we pull the orifice and it looks like this:

That was just installed and it did not go in looking like that. Fingers are crossed as we charge it again.

AC appears to be fixed. We got 46.9 F on a digital thermometer at the dash. Drove it 80 miles to Dana Point and back with it spitting ice cubes the whole way.

 

[Big T]

And here is why this has been the coolest summer in 77 years along the California coast:

La Nina, which where the ocean temps are cooler than average. Note the deep blue off the California coast: that's much colder than normal ocean temps. The offshore fishing has sucked off of SoCal. We're experiencing spring type fishing in August: Cold green water and lots of wind on it.

 

[ak diesel driver]

that blue coming up the Aleutian chain to AK explains alot here too.