AC

[Justin McClanahan]

Just having finished up working on my A/C, I have a decent understanding
of the system (I guess you pretty much have to when it gets over 115:F
where you live :-P).  I'm no master tech, but my a/c's working.
The compressor won't even kick on without any freon (R134a) in the
system.  There's a sensor that monitors this.  You have to have XXX
amount in there already.  It goes off of lbs, rather than PSI, which is
slightly different from some other systems.  There is another oil that
you add to the system in addition to the Freon/r134 that helps lubricate
the compressor.  There are like 6 or 7 different kinds and I'm not sure
the exact kind our system takes, but it's usually available most places,
well, other than your local dealer as I don't think most Nissan dealers
stock it.  I recently bought a new OEM condenser and there was already
some oil in there when I opened everything up (the oil will spread to
the whole system under use so if you replace some parts, that oil will
be lost hence the new oil in there).
You can replace everything in multiple stages, but I'd be leery of
leaving the system open for too long, or even driving around like that.
If you were to get excessive moisture or grit/debris into the system
it'd probably mess with all the components and possibly hurt the
effectiveness of the system, depending on where it ends up?
I replaced a couple lines, receiver/drier, condenser, radiator and made
brackets to mount (and wired up) new fans in one evening (the night
before I left for the convention :-P).  It's not that bad once you're in
there.  I'd assume that it could be accomplished in a weekend without
much fuss at all.
Once you're in there, it's much easier to get it over and done with and
just do it all at once.  Most connections are a bolt or two at the most.

P.S. Even after the drive to and from the convention and track day my
car still's blowing cold air.. woohoo!

Justin

-----Original Message-----
I looked over my FSM a bit in preperation to do Jen's AC... anyone
know if there's a risk of swapping the AC compressor without charging
the system?  I'm wondering because HA-53 states that a lack of
lubricant leads to a seized compressor.  Is the 'lubricant' mentioned
the RA-134 refrigerant or is it referring to lubricant within the
compressor?  What I was planning on doing was to do the swap from old
to new parts over two or three weekends as I have time rather than all
in one shot.  I'm not sure that I'd have the time and/or patience to
do it all at once.  I was going to start by replacing the compressor
and just plugging any refrigerant in/out ports in the compressor.
Then replace condenser/dryer and other components maybe another
weekend and then maybe hoses and o-rings/misc bs another weekend.  So
maybe three weekends total... feasible?