Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum (Archives)

wolfsburged on Wed July 20, 2011 9:45 PM

Year: 1984
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Jetta
Engine Size: 1.6TD
Refrigerant Type: R134

I purchased a Mastercool 71550 manual crimper along with all the bulk hose and fittings I needed to make up new lines for my '84 Jetta. After doing so, I noticed that the crimps made by the Mastercool seemed to "oval" out the ferrules when I tightened to the "finish" line scribed on the tool.

Anyway I made up 3 lines with a total of 8 crimps. 6 of the 8 are leaking. One very very badly, the others marginally. Not sure what to do - should I crimp tighter? Rotate 90* and crimp again? Take them to a local shop with a hydraulic crimper and go back over?

Very frustrated after having spent a small fortune on the parts and tools required only to have leaks!

Here are some photos of the finished lines:

chris142 on Wed July 20, 2011 9:53 PM

Those ferrels are not crimped enough. Are you using the correct dies for the hose size?

wolfsburged on Wed July 20, 2011 10:57 PM

Yes, I used the dies included with the crimper which were #6, #8, #10, and #12. I have #6, 8, and 12 hose for each of the three lines.

First, as the current crimps were to the indicated "finish" line on the crimper, how far is far enough and how much further is too far? My experience has been that the ferrules tend to get increasingly "pinched" looking as they were tightened. The worst leak of all is on one of these crushed/ovalled/pinch points.

TRB on Wed July 20, 2011 11:07 PM

Crimp it until you can't go any further with a 1/2 impact gun. As Chris stated, looks like poor crimp depth. We have used the hydraulic version for years without these issues. That is unless a die has worn out.

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chris142 on Thu July 21, 2011 12:27 AM

Our crimper says to crimp untill theres .060 left between the 2 parts that hold the dies. Theres something definatly wrong with your crimps. Not crimped enough or wrong dies used. The crimps should be very noticible where yours are just indentions.