vagabond

My hi side hose blew last summer, and I didn't replace it until 2 weeks ago so the system had been basically open almost a year. I didn't have a vacuum pump so I just started a can of 134 on the low side and purged from the hi side the a/c will freeze you out if you don't turn it down. Like some of the others have said all the change over hooey was just a way to make an easy buck, I think there is a difference in the oil so you might want to change that. By the way I specialized in a/c and electrical for over 25 years with ford and Datsun/Nissan

even without airtools it shouldn't take over an hour

sorry to get into this so late, but that is about what I did on mine last summer when I replaced it and since I had a little over 50.000 miles on the T belt I replaced it at the same spent about 3 hours altogether. I picked up my hi pressure hose at Kragens for about $58.00 and it matched all the bends of the original hose. Hope this helps someone in the future

Find the leak and repair it ( bubbles in the sight glass shows the system is not fully charged) then all you need to do is purge the system change the oil evacuate the system and recharge it. I did the one on my 88 pathy about 4 years ago when I finally ran out of r12 and its still working great on the original charge and it will freeze you out if you keep it set to max. I run the system at least once a week year around to keep the seals lubed

something else to think about on the earlier pathys and hardbodies, the resistor wires were held together with a plastic bolt and nut. Sometimes the heat would melt them and you would only have hi speed on the blower. We went through quite a few of them at the dealership I worked at and we finally just started just replacing the bolt and nut saved the customers a little $.

looking for the light codes on the eccu of a 3.0 88 pathy anyone?

An old mechanics trick, 3M yellow weatherstripping cement. A thin bead on the pump place the gasket on the pump wait a couple of minutes and you will not have to worry about the gasket slipping. Even silicone or a grease will help hold the gasket in place.

condenser is mounted between the radiator and the grill, the evap is mounted under the dash right behind the glove box between the fan assembly and the heater box, the receiver dryer is located on the passenger side of the condenser. If the system has been left open the receiver dryer should be replaced as it will be saturated, I've heard of people drying them out in an oven but your better off replacing it, also if the compressor grenaded you going to have metal particles all through the system so it should be flushed