Last weekend I finished the install of my new A/C components.
Parts replaced.
Compressor
Dryer
Condensor
Evaporator
Pressure switches
Orifice tube
hoses and tube.

It worked for a day and a half...then when I started my car after work yesterday, I could hear what sounded like pressure building in the system, then a loud pop and the system evacuate.

After inspection, I found what appears to be, part of the orifice tube had punctured through the bend in the lower tube of the evaporator.


other than the obvious answer (too much pressure pushing on the orifice tube)

what the hell could have caused this? Has this happened to anyone here before?
Now I have to take the evaporator back out and have one of the guys at work weld up the tube for me, as it's fairly thin tubing.

Spent $700 in parts to have a good working A/C, and this happens? I'm beyond f'ing pissed!


WTF?

 

Wow, this makes my bose malfunction after replacing capacitors a few months ago look like nothing.
I am not a A/C expert, but have always repaired my A/C myself. Never seen that. First thought would be plugged orifice tube and or high pressure switch malfunction. Please take a pic after you disassemble.
Again, sorry about the problem. Now I have to unsolder/solder, cuss and drink beer...

 

WOW i have never seen that before, i would suspect debris from the old compressor blocked the orifice tube filter. That could have torn through the orifice and blocked the orifice tube.

Its all guesswork i suppose i would have suspected the low pressure sensor would have stopped the compressor, hopefully all the debris blew out. Was it the white color orifice tube? that is the largest and what i have in my 85.

It could have been any small thing really but i would purge the condenser, pipework and hoses to be sure all is clean.
I recommend you replace the evaporator, it is very thin at that bend however someone may be able to work magic.

Did you evacuate the system before charging? any moisture can freeze at the orifice tube and can block the mesh/orifice tube.

Sorry to hear the bad news hopefully everything that should not be there was blown out. The refrigerant will be in liquid form to the orifice tube, so anything in a pipe or hose will have been carried to the orifice tube.

What refrigerant and oil did you use R12 or R134A? the gas charge has to be only 80% of the R12 charge if you use R134A.
Old rubber a/c hoses can be damaged inside by R134A, the later hoses for R134A have a barrier seal. Another thing to check.

Good luck

 

Whose orifice did you use? The blue FOMOCO or maybe an adjustable one OR ... There's some of the FOMOCO that go to as small an orifice as .047 I believe. FOMOCO's are all color coded I believe. It's obvious that the orifice came apart and the brass core launched and became a projectile.

Did you buy everything from one single vendor? It might be worth the ask if you did. You pretty well documented your work, a conversation with the vendor might yield some satisfaction. Not near enough to satisfy but I'd maybe ask for an evaporator.

 

Sadly, Not all parts from the same vender.

I ordered the Compressor Kit from Rockauto, which included the compressor, dryer, orifics tube as well as condensor, evaporator, a seal kit and heater core.

The orifice tube didn't make th eshipment, so they refinded my money and I went to Autozone and bought one. It was white.

The rubber and metal hoses came from COrvette Central and the hard line from the condenser to the evaporator came from a dealer in Dallas.

I used 124 and Ester oil.
6 OZ of oil, devided up among componets and
I beleive the boo kI foun dsaid the system took 2.75 lbs or R-12, whic I figured was about 40 oz (16+16+8)
I put 32 OZ, or three cans, in the system.


No, while I was charging the system, I walked away for a moment to help my wife carry in groceries...I know, dumb move...and the low pressure side spiked. High stayed normal.

So what would have caused a completely new system to spike the low side?

 

You know that you're redoing it so you might check the information out there regarding performance with the lower dimensioned orifices. A long while ago I recall there were some issues with evaporator construction from some vendor.

It's a very long thread so here is a link and you can "browse" at your leisure. The end result was the evaporator wasn't constructed correctly. There are images. The brand of the evaporator was Vista-Pro.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...-with-oil.html

I don't know that I've ever seen 124 used in an older R12 system, I assumed that 124 isn't a TYPO. That's interesting. OR is it a TYPO and you meant 134?

 

Yes, I'm at work and I typed faster than my brain was working aparently.
my evaporator was GPD Part # 4711355
the orifice tube was Santech MT0097-1

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...7826_270296_0_

I don't know. I didn’t blow out any of the hoses or tubes because they were new. Maybe something was in one of the lines or hoses and it traveld down to the orifice tube and blocked it enough to build up pressure, until it was catastrophic. I'll be investigating more when I remove the evaporator.

 

I don't know if you did this, and I don't know if it has anything to do with your problem, but an empty AC system needs to be evacuated before filling. Air must be vacuumed out so the system in a vacuum state before charging.

 

I totally understand you asking, as you never know what someone's experience lever is. Yes, I vacuumed the system for three hours, then let it sit for another three hours, to make sure it held vacuum before charging.

I'm just going to have to wait until i pull the evaporator out to see if there was a foren object that got on the orifice tube, or if I got a bad/wrong one.

 

I feel your pain!!

Hard to tell what happened without a disassembly, but this kind of looks like the Orifice it-self shot out like a rifle.. I've seen Orfice tube Screens completely obstructed without a catastrophe. Your High side/low side readings might be effected, but that's about it..

I put my money on poor manufacturing.. (China)

Look at the metal tube inside of the "Orifice tube"

http://macsworldwide.wordpress.com/2...ur-ac-flowing/

 

 

Did you flush the evaporator and condenser? It could have been some debris left behind from your old compressor, especially if it failed.

 

There is a crop of bad evaporators out there from China that are made incorrectly and send back liquid refrigerant back to the compressor. it is possible your compressor seals held together and built up enough pressure to cause this. In my situation, I blew up a compressor that was a couple hours old. I think there was a guy in the ZR1 section that cut his evap core open and clearly shows the issue.