Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum (Archives)

miwitte on Sat February 18, 2012 10:34 PM

Year: 2001
Make: Chrysler
Model: T&C LXi
Engine Size: 3.8L
Refrigerant Type: R134
Ambient Temp: 60
Pressure Low: 80
Pressure High: 120
Country of Origin: United States

I replaced my compressor last year because it was locking up and burnt out 2 clutches and the compressor was very hard to turn after it got hot. I figured the compressor left a lot of residual metal in there so i knew I had to flush. I took the entire system apart and flushed real good with compressed air, followed by a flush with 2 cans of DuraFlushII with a pressurized flush gun. I did all hoses, front and back evaporators, condensor, replaced the expansion valves and accumulator and compressor. Pulled a great vacuum of 29.8 and it held overnight. Charged with 46OZ of R134. Added the correct amount of PAG46 to compressor accumulator etc. Blew cold and readings looked real good don't remember off the top of my head. The car has the AC come on when the defrost is on so it really hasn't been used too much over the winter.

Anyway wife picked me up at airport a couple weeks back and it was making a racket. Sure enough i look at it the next day the compressor is making a racket. I spoke with the person i got the kit from and he was real nice and sent me a new compressor and accumulator. He said if you are lucky it wont have too much metal you should be able to change out the compressor and accumulator. I pulled it apart today and as you turned the compressor on the bench you could feel binding. In fact it looked like scoring on one of the vanes if you looked inside. The oil looked real clean actually coming out of the compressor I wanted to measure so I knew what to replace. However the accumulator had a bunch of metal in it it was silver looking and had flakes not a ton but definitely metal. So what are my next steps? Did i not do a thorough enough flush? I worked real hard at flushing it but that Duraflush evaporates pretty quickly so you don't get a whole lot. I used 2 cans its pretty pricey. Should I flush again with air then some solvent then Duraflush? Its a lot of work on that car getting to the rear evaporator and to take it apart for the flush. Anyone with experience on this car please chime in.

miwitte on Sun February 19, 2012 8:38 PM

So doing some more reading maybe I should replace the condenser as I have been reading that you cannot really clean a condenser after a catastrophic failure.

HECAT on Wed February 22, 2012 10:51 AM

Blowing with air is not flushing. The Dura atomizes and quickly evaporates with the air operated flush gun and that is not flushing either. You will need gallons of flush and a high flow method to properly flush this system. Without that, you are right; the contaminated components will need to be replaced.

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