Date:         Tue, 7 May 1996 16:51:49 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Ian Webb <ian_webb@virginia.edu>
Subject:      Air Conditioning problems on 90 Westy

        Are there any AC experts out there?  I took my 90 Westy in to my
local shop today to get the freon recharged and we found a problem bigger
than just needing freon.  First off, this was just a corner garage, not the
VW dealer or an AC place.  I took it ther because a friend recommended them
as they recharged his vanagon AC for about half of what the dealer wanted.
He spent 15 minutes looking for the 2nd valve to hook his recharger up to
before finding that this model has only one hookup for recharging.  He then
sucked all the freon out, made sure there weren't any big leaks in the
system by putting a "vacuum test" on it, then recharged it.  Then I turned
on the AC, only to have the AC clutch turn on then immediately turn off,
turn on then immediately turn off, turn on then immediately turn off
repeatedly.  After calling around town to several AC buddies, we talked to
my VW mechanic (of all people) who told him that his 86 vanagon did the same
thing and that after replacing the receiver dryer and a few O rings, that it
now works fine.  My VW mechanic suggested that we feel around on the
reciever dryer and we might find that one end was cool and one end was warm,
suggesting that it was clogged and needed to be replaced.  Sure enough,
thats what we found.  
        I called Camelback VW and they quoted me a price of about $113
(compared to my local dealer @ $171) for a new one, but I don't know if I'm
satisfied with that level of diagnosis.  I mean, I just don't feel $113+
sure that we pegged the problem.  Any suggestions?  Anyone else had this
problem?  Anybody got a Bentley that addresses this kind of thing?  Someone
mentioned not too long ago that the conversion to R134 required a new dryer
and rubber.  Should I think about making the conversion since I may be
buying a dryer anyway?  has anyone actually DONE the conversion?

thanks!

ian


Ian Webb, Assistant Director
University of Virginia Roanoke Center 
Phone: (540) 857-7922
Fax: (540) 857-7936
ian_webb@virginia.edu