1970 Oldsmobile AC Woes

[tdhill01]

I have a 1970 Olds 442 and as I went through the process of rehabbing her I bought all new/rebuilt AC parts - Parallel Flow Condenser, Drier, AC Box with Expansion Valve, POA Valve, Evaporator, and blower. I also has the POA valve set up for R134a, the A6 compressor was rebuilt and filled with 10.5 ounces of Ester Refrigerant oil, all new AC hoses - again everything was new or rebuilt. The inside AC/Heater box was also gone through - vacuum hoses, actuators and switches were all gone over and everything seems to work great.

My problem is after assembling the AC components in my car and getting a shop to fill it up with 3.2 pounds of R134a it would not blow anything out except for the ambient air temperature. The compressor seems to run fine, I am not hearing anything that would cause me to think there is a problem. The POA valve becomes very cold after the Low Side port and following through towards the compressor. The Expansion valve is warm, I hooked up gauges and got 90 psi at the Low Side port and 150 psi at the High Side port. I had the shop evacuate the system and place only 2.5 pounds of R134a but that produced the same results. I left the shop after I had them evacuate the system so I could take the system apart - this is where I stand at the moment.

Should I have flushed the AC parts before putting them on - I didn't think I needed to since all parts were new or rebuilt and everything was capped so no contaminates could enter. What did I miss? Looking for guidance here.

[bohica2xo]

90 psi on the low side port sounds like a stuck (or badly misadjusted) POA valve.

Here is a video of testing the POA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo

[Dougflas]

Hook up the gauges and unplug the blower motor. The low side should drop to 26PSI. If not bad POA is most probable cause.

[tdhill01]

Thanks, I'll gives those ideas a try.

[tdhill01]

POA was defective - all good now after replacement!

[JohnHere]

If I understand correctly, you had the shop recover the original 3.2-pound charge and then recharge the system with 2.5 pounds. I don't think you mentioned pulling a good vacuum on the system for at least a couple of hours. Was that done as well?