Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

I finally changed out the compressor's control valve today. It was a PITA but I got it done. I did notice that my OEM control valve didn't have a screen on the very end of it like the aftermarket control valve did. I looked carefully in the hole to make sure that it didn't come off the CV and stay in the compressor. I couldn't see a screen in there.


Next, I unbolted the hose so that I could replace the orifice tube. This is what I found:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/xi ... UB2xbXAwiz

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/oh ... z_bLJL7e4R

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/Az ... 0yDlhUNFNH

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/S7 ... D6bjKVGwX0

Honestly, I've never seen a used orifice tube before but I'm guessing that they're not supposed to look like mine. I'm also guessing that all of that gunk came from somewhere and it's contaminated my entire ac system. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to replace a whole lot of my system but I'll let you guys tell me what you think.

BTW, I did seal the system back up and pulled a vacuum for an hour. Probably a waste of time but I did it anyway.

Looks like "black death" to me, meaning the compressor is destroying itself internally and sending burned oil, aluminum particles, and ground-up teflon downstream. You'll need to replace the compressor, condenser, accumulator, obviously the OT, any lines with mufflers, and thoroughly flush the rest. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

JohnHere wrote:Looks like "black death" to me, meaning the compressor is destroying itself internally and sending burned oil, aluminum particles, and ground-up teflon downstream. You'll need to replace the compressor, condenser, accumulator, obviously the OT, any lines with mufflers, and thoroughly flush the rest. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Thank you for the confirmation of what I had already told my wife: "I've got to replace everything but the evaporator." I do have a gallon of ac flush solvent to clean my evaporator.

Al9 wrote:That poor thing is plugged up. Severely starved evaporator and a destroked compressor also. You should have heard a low droning sound inside with the comp running.

Yes. Completely plugged up.

I never did hear any weird noises coming from the ac system when it was running.

Good morning to everyone. With the arrival of fall and much cooler weather here in the north Houston area, auto air conditioning has taken a back seat.

Anyway, I've been gathering up funds to purchase all new ac components for my car. The only item that I will keep will be the evaporator. I'm going to flush that. I have a gallon of air conditioning flush solvent that I'm going to use.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/9Q ... BkrjufzYHU

Six weeks have gone by since my last post. The weather has been much cooler during this time and air conditioning isn't front and center. However, I've been devoting time and money to buying all of my parts. I purchased all AC Delco parts and a genuine Delphi compressor. As of two days ago, all of the parts are now here at my house.

The good news is that the Delphi compressor is made in Korea like the OEM Delphi compressor. The AC Delco condenser is also made in Korea. Unfortunately, all of the other parts are china made. I'm not happy about that but I don't think there is anything out there for my car's ac system that isn't china made.

Yesterday, I removed the OEM condenser. accumulator and started removing the OEM compressor. I had trouble with the compressor but I finally got it out today. The instructions with the new compressor said to drain the oil from both compressors and measure how much was in them. The new compressor had 8oz of blue colored PAG oil. The old compressor had about 1/2oz . The Delphi instructions told me to add 2 oz of the blue oil back into the new compressor. The instructions sheet has a chart telling me how much of the oil to add to the accumulator, evaporator and condenser as well.

I'll try to get some more work done tomorrow and I'll post what I've done. I'll probably add some pictures, too.

Al9 wrote:Great news.

A few tips for the best results possible:
1)When adding oil to the compressor, adding it through the oil drain hole and not through the suction port is critical to ensure proper lubrication. The new Delphi compressor has a drain plug just like the OEM. I used the drain hole.
2)Adding the required amount of oil to the accumulator is equally critical.I will be sure to do that.
3)Rotating the clutch hub by hand a few times after loading the new compressor with oil and before engaging the new compressor for the first time is also a critical step.I rotated it about 10 times after adding the proper amount of oil and tightening the drain plug.
4)I'd recommend you replace all the factory installed blue PAG with a "double end capped" commercial PAG oil of the required viscosity (likely PAG 150). Double end capped PAG is simply so much more moisture resistant than anything else.I'm linking a picture of the other PAG150 oil that I have.
5)Ideally speaking, the full system's refrigerant charge amount has to be inside the system the moment you turn the new compressor on for the first time, in order to achieve the best oil flow and compressor run-in process.

Don't worry too much about Chinese parts. In fact i'm running a Chinese compressor, compressor control valve, condenser and receiver dryer with absolutely no problems on my car. In my honest opinion, the only time you have to worry about Chinese parts is thermal expansion valves.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/Ds ... syR88yLTH9

The compressor is already mounted in the car and it has 2 oz of the blue oil that came inside the compressor. I'd rather not remove the compressor again.

Here are a couple of links of me draining the brand new blue oil out of the Delphi compressor:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/9G ... cBb2G1tOMH

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/JJ ... OO72V8FgAR

Since the blue oil is already in the compressor and the compressor is mounted into place, I'm just going to go with the blue oil that Delphi supplied.

Yesterday, I started the flush process of my evaporator. I used this Supercool flush solvent: https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/SB ... MSQjn-OUhz


I did about 4 flushes. I used a small funnel attached to a hose to pour some of the solvent into the evaporator. I then used compressed air to blow the solvent through the evaporator. The exit side has another hose going into a clear, plastic 2-liter soda bottle. I'm able to see all of the particles and UV dye coming out.

After 4 flushes, I'm still not satisfied as more debris and UV dye was still coming out. As I ran out of time yesterday evening, I added one last fill of Supercool solvent. I was surprised that it didn't take but a handful of ounces before the evaporator was full and solvent was coming out of the exit side. For some reason I assumed that the evaporator would hold maybe a quart of solvent but what do I know? Anyway, I left the solvent in overnight and I'll work on it some more later today.

This is the "recovered" solvent from evaporator flush 5:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/X4 ... FUCwMG0TUz

Here is the sludge that came out:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/ej ... Qnxz1Ebqoe

I kept flushing until the solvent was pretty much clear then I blew a lot of compressed air through the evaporator to dry it out.

About to add oil to the accumulator:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/C7 ... sEGqmQOuX1