Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 09:58:56 -0500
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Maintenance
In-Reply-To: <506D0231.6070104@gmail.com>
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---- JRodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Got several maintenance projects coming up on my '88GL 'Ol Red.
>
> (4) Locate squeaking wheel. Driving me nuts going down the road going
> wow-wow-wow-wow-wow. No vibration, no out of alignment - just makes a
> noise as the wheel turns. The wow-wow changes speed as the vehicle
> changes speed. Swapped off three wheels so far - one more to go. Hope
> it's in the last one - otherwise it's a running gear/suspension problem.
Wheel bearing?
>
> The AC was rebuilt last fall and performed well until middle of the
> summer then slowly lost it's refrigerant charge. Recharged it and by the
> time the weather began to cool off the charge was down again. Will have
> to find and fix the leak. There are times in winter here in the south
> when the AC needs to be run to keep the inside of the windshield from
> fogging. Sounds kinda counter intuitive, but that the way it is. Turn on
> the AC, turn on the fans, and stir that air!!
The defogger on my camper works fine, with a little heat. No AC needed. On my Toyota the instructions for defogging do include using the AC setting. But on my VW and Honda, the defogger with heat clears the windows.
Besides - in a Vanagon
> (and prol'ly all other cars) you need to run the AC once a week for a
> bit to keep the seals lubricated so they don't dry out and lose
> refrigerant during the winter. It frequently happens just as summer
> arrives and you need it or the first time since last fall.
I know we are told this. But what happens when you turn the AC on when the temperature is way down below freezing, which it is in some places most or all of the time in the winter? Won't the compressor pound itself to death? We don't turn on home AC in winter to save seals. We keep it off to protect the compressor from destroying itself. Just wonderin'. I generally do try to run automobile AC occasionally in winter when it is warm enough that I think the compressor can manage, as advised. But I have had automobiles go all winter without running the AC. It still works on my Honda, no bad seals, and the thing is now 15 years old with 200k miles. Since the AC on my camper has been rebuilt, I can't say that it has had no bad seals. It probably did, but I can't see how one can run the AC when the outside temperature is down around 0 F, or even 30 F, without beating up the compressor.
McNeely
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