DeTomaso Mailing List: March 98, Message #221
     



From: 	"Mike Drew" <mikeldrew@hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: [Fwd: Air Conditioning]

Date: 	Thu, 5 Mar 1998 12:36:18 +0000



FWIW,



I drove John Colombero's Pantera to Las Vegas last year.  The A/C system 

was stock except for a rotary compressor.  In the blazing heat, with the 

A/C on max it would become uncomfortably COLD in the car!  



My Pantera's A/C also worked reasonably well; I never really had the 

chance to ops test it in super-hot weather, but it, too, would make the 

car much too cold when used on max in 70 degree weather.



I was EXTREMELY skeptical when I heard vendors were going to R-134 

conversion kits.  I'd read all this stuff (and parrotted it to The List) 

about how R-134 is only 60% as effective as R-12 or whatever.



But I've been in a few cars with R-134 kits and they seem to work great.  

Shari Stock's car has it, and she says it works very well, much better 

than the R-12 systems she used to work with, and honestly much better 

than Larry had hoped it would.  



That said, if I were you I'd switch to a rotary compressor, have your 

condensor evaluated (they tend to corrode and become MUCH less 

effective, even though they might look okay to the naked eye), replace 

it if necessary, and as a precaution replace the high-pressure hose at a 

minimum (although it certainly couldn't hurt to replace them all--they 

ARE 25 years old after all.)  There's still plenty of R-12 available, 

and if you take steps to ensure your system is sound before charging, it 

should work for many years.  If you just sling Freon into a marginal 

system, you're probably just throwing money away (and wasting a precious 

resource.)



If your entire system is condemned anyway, then switching to R-134 would 

make sense.



An important point often overlooked:  There is a small in-line filter 

near the evaporator under the dash; it's very common for this filter to 

become plugged and effectively shut down the function of the system.  I 

believe many people who curse the stock A/C system design would have 

been shocked at the improvement made by simply replacing this small and 

cheap filter.



Mike



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