Restoring old air conditioning

[chrismoore701]

I have a 79 C10. Factory air. I have the compressor, but the electrical connection broke off. IS there any way to restore this unit? Or could it even be run with todays regs? What would it take to put air on my truck?

[Loco83]

Ask around for an older shop that still handles R12, there's a shop in the next town over that still works with R12, when R12 was banned this old guy bought up all the R12 he could find.

[Bandit130]

Do you have the A6 compressor?

[MJN]

In order to replace the electrical connector you need to remove the clutch and pulley. Good time to replace them anyway, the clutch kits come with a new coil with the electrical terminals on it, Rock auto has them for $65. I used my old compressor but ended up replacing the rest of the system and it still works no problem. You can convert to R-135a but I had mine charged with R-12.

[Corts60]

Re-charge with R12 if you can. If not, you'll need to convert to R134A which is a little more $$$ and effort with less efficient results.

[Dead Parrot]

No problem legal wise with the current compressor. Either R12 or R134 works fine. If the hoses are original, the large ones are probably end of life. I would replace them as part of the process. Especially if going back with R12. Would suck to have $100 worth of coolant leak out of old hoses.

I have had the clutch replaced on the old style compressor without the mechanic needing to break the refrigerant seals.

While replacing hoses, might as well replace the filter/orifice tube.

Most folks recommend replacing the dryer as well but I skipped that when I replaced the compressor 15+ years ago and it is still working fine today. But the system wasn't dead very long before I did the repair. I also stayed with R12 as I had some purchased before the ban happened.

If swapping to R134, the general recommendation is you flush out all the old R12 oil before adding back the oil for the R134 coolant. Apparently, the two oils don't play well together.

[chrismoore701]

thanks guys, I need to find my old components. Not sure if I have the dryer, Sure I don't have the hoses. But I have the condenser. Can I have this system vacuum tested before I move forward?