[s-cars] a/c capacity...recharge

[James C. Mairs]

Greetings Tom, 

Excellent information, I have been following the AC threads for some time
now, trying to determine if anyone actually has followed through with a
recharge without going to the dealer.  Lots of information but not a lot of
BTDT with answers...

Appreciate the info, side note the charge in the system was working fine
before I tore the entire front end out and apart for a head rebuild, coupled
with a lot of while I am in there fixes and replacements.

AC in the car was working before breaking open the system, however I wish I
had gone through the diagnostics to see how well it was working (HVAC codes
and such) before taking it apart.  Alas a compromised head was leading me to
not wanting to run the car for long periods of time.

AC system was sealed back up after replacement of the dryer and new Variable
Orifice Valve.  All lines separated were put back with new seals, and of all
the lines only 1 was I able to flush completely before reassembly, mostly
due to being to far into the project to want to spend more time and money.
The others were just disconnected and compressed air to blow out whatever
black sludge wanted to go flying out from whatever end wasn't pointed
downward.

Hope some other folks post up information if they have completed this as a
DIY job.  Especially the fittings and procedure when not having the correct
VAG tools...

Thanks again Tom, if anyone else has any links or key words of wisdom to
offer I am more than all ears.  Or if you happen to have any good archive
thread searches I can use, mostly looking for BTDT's or things to watch out
for, it would be appreciated.

Thanks, 


-Jim 


-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Green [mailto:trgreen at comcast.net] 
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 11:14 AM
To: s-car-list; jmairs at cetaq-americas.com
Subject: Re:[s-cars] a/c capacity...recharge

Jim,

Capacity is 21.2 to 23 oz refrigerant and 8.5 oz of Pag oil.  The
high presssure port on the passenger side of the condenser is the only
port used and evacuated and charged with engine off.  You can only
measure the oil charge if you drain the oil (at the condenser) and
change the accumulator since an unknown amount collects there.  The
real trick is accurately measuring the refrigerant charge.

If the system is in good condition with all fans and flaps working  
correctly in
recirculate mode, the result should be about 40 F duct temperature at
95 F ambient.

The system base pressure is 113.1 psi at 95 F (engine off) and 290 psi
operating pressure with a full charge.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
> Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 18:24:47 -0400
> From: "James C. Mairs" <jmairs at cetaq-americas.com>
> Subject: [s-cars] AC Capacity...Re-Charge
> To: "'s-car-list'" <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Message-ID: <015801c7d48a$c4c727b0$0b03a8c0 at CeTaQJCM>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>
> Greetings all,
>
> Bentley Manuals are in route via shipping, so I can not confirm the
> following, or even if its listed.
>
> Does anyone know the capacity/recharge pressure amount for a 93 //S4?
>
> I have been following the threads here as much as possible on the  
> whole AC
> snow flake conversation, as well as a quick search in the archives.
>
> I have a HVAC friend who is willing to run a vacuum test on my  
> system before
> recharging it.  He doesn't seem to think it will be an issue, but  
> informed
> me I should confirm what amount of R134 should be in the system.
>
> He has a large amount of fittings/adapters and such, its possible  
> we may
> even just plumb in a connector with a generic fitting to make this  
> easier in
> the future.  If/when I come up with a solution I will be sure to  
> post up my
> findings... However in the mean time sitting in 93 degree heat in a  
> black on
> black S4... I have to ask...
>
>
> Anyone care to toss out a number?
>
>
>
> -Jim