Beefing up air con

[chimpboy]

I like it COLD inside my car... what options are there for improving air con performance in my LWB GQ without forking out too much money?

Anyone know much about this side of things?

Jason

[RV80]

Fill the cab with expander foam to the desired diamentions

[HotFourOk]

If you haven't done it recently.. get an air con regas and service..

Put some really dark tinting on the windows...
and remeber to wind your windows up
or even board up the rear of the cab.. be colder up front then .. lol

[Dozoor]

Probly sounds oldboy , But first thing i like to get on my trucks is a sunvisor , we just ordered one $280 painted and fitted ,
next will be the tinted windows , and the air will be super cool i hope
Its already exellent

Comfort before style when you need to do 7hrs in the middle of the day .

[murcod]

Clean the muck out of your condensor (radiator part of aircon) and fit a higher flow electric fan in front of it. Inlaws GQ has only got a tiny fan fitted. Make sure it's got plenty of airflow over it.

[nicbeer]

Regards boarding up rear. i have seen some people use a cargo barrier and cover with perspex.

cheers

[HJ60_HEATHUS]

The freon used in consumer aircons is only a lower grade kind of stuff. see if you can find someone that services industrial refrigerators/freezers. they can hook you up with the good stuff

[RaginRover]

The freon used in consumer aircons is only a lower grade kind of stuff. see if you can find someone that services industrial refrigerators/freezers. they can hook you up with the good stuff

WTF ?

automotive gas is R134a and most commercial/indoor air con runs on R22

My best advice is that if it is working poorly have it stripped down, all the rubber lines replaced and re-crimped, new o rings, and put a really large condensor. Make sure they put plenty of air con oil in the system - makes it very simple to detect leaks and helps the system out.

Measure the vent temperature with a air con themometer and see what the temp is, mine was about 6 degrees at the vent and close to 4 at the evaoprator - this will give you a good idea on what is going on.

Tom

[Mousie]

carnt find the trekkers on the simex site any links?

[F'n_Rover]

what about re-gassing with propane? dont know if it's better than the patented r-type stuff, but its supposed to work.

[Utemad]

Some cars aircon just suck. My Rodeo will make my knuckles numb if I don't adjust the vents away from the steering wheel and it is 8 years old. Whereas our F250s at work don't know the meaning of cold. It is like they forgot to install the aircon. This is from brand new This is in Brisbane.

I think your best bet would be to check the temp at the vents to find out if it is either not coming out cold enough or if you need to insulate the car more (tinted windows etc). Should be able to tell by holding your hand in front of it for a rough guess.

One way to tell if you could do with a better condensor fan is does your aircon get better on the hway? As this is what happens in our F250s. Better air flow through the condensor gives better aircon cooling on those oversized utes. Still crap but better.

[RaginRover]

The other thing I did in the two rangie I had was to insulate the floor a heap better, I ended up buying 4 or 5 cheaper windscreen reflective covers and two rolls of self adheasive bonnet covers/blankets and took the whole interior out of the car.

I then make a mat out of these - relective covers first face down and then then blankets cut up over the top - made a really big difference to the heat rising through the floor. This would probably only make a big difference in older cars - the newer vehicles have very good insulation IMO.

Tom

[bru21]

dual circuit ac. i know top line pajero's and crusiers have it, never looked at a ti patrol. might be worth looking into.

edit, speak to haultec its their trade. get a big truck farkker that takes up half the cabin

[HotFourOk]

Fiddling with the thermostat can also make a difference...

My dads VL commodore's thermostat stuffed up on the coldest setting... and it blew ice particles out of the main air vents... frickin cold as!! The temp out of that used to be around 0 deg. Sometimes even minus a couple.

[happygutz]

as opposed to perspex across your cab divider.. just put up a cotton flag of your chosen specifications.. it does the same job but wont add heat like perspex does when the car is locked up in the heat for a few hours.
you dont really need to stop the air flow to the enire car.. just slow it down so that it cools up the front first

[meiamaro]

Had same prob when i bought my lwb GQ.
took it to a/c people and,
evapoator was cloged(common problem) now clean.
a/c system serviced/re-gas ect.
had windows tinted.
now have to turn vents away,much better.
and 'm in FNQ.

Cheers IAN.

[chimpboy]

Had same prob when i bought my lwb GQ.
took it to a/c people and,
evapoator was cloged(common problem) now clean.
a/c system serviced/re-gas ect.
had windows tinted.
now have to turn vents away,much better.
and 'm in FNQ.

Cheers IAN.

Awesome info from everyone... I know the LWB aircon isn't up to full power because it BLOWS just as hard as my SWB, but it doesn't blow as COLD in the same conditions, most noticeable when it's hot outside.

So I will take it to an AC guy and ask him to make it as good as it can be...

Thanks.

Jason

[meiamaro]

Yeah the "blowing power"is a bit sad, the minister's(wife)
camry wold keep an eskimo happy.
must be a nissan thing.

[familybus]

carnt find the trekkers on the simex site any links?

dumbguy! how does not finding trekkers help with aircond? very dumbguy!

[Nev62]

Has anybody played with the thermostat??? I had a cordia turbo many moons ago that had a buggered thermostat controlling when the compressor kicked in and out. Basically the compressor ran all the time. After 15 min, I had to turn it off because it got too cold. It was so cold that the air vents would ice over. Was strange when outside temp was 35c and inside you could see every breath being exhaled.

[suzy]

The freon used in consumer aircons is only a lower grade kind of stuff. see if you can find someone that services industrial refrigerators/freezers. they can hook you up with the good stuff

WTF ?

automotive gas is R134a and most commercial/indoor air con runs on R22

My best advice is that if it is working poorly have it stripped down, all the rubber lines replaced and re-crimped, new o rings, and put a really large condensor. Make sure they put plenty of air con oil in the system - makes it very simple to detect leaks and helps the system out.

Measure the vent temperature with a air con themometer and see what the temp is, mine was about 6 degrees at the vent and close to 4 at the evaoprator - this will give you a good idea on what is going on.

Tom

WTF...r134a is actually a frig freezer gas
r22 is a domestic gas for air con's.different properties.
it can be retro fitted to run on a r134a system but the seperator has to be changed.

most new cars are r134a because of CFC's and it's in everything now.

my advice witch is wat i did is if it is a r12 system get SP34E put in it.it is a mineral based oil gas witch the comm loves and doesn't work as hard and it will drop straight in..

any advice on putting a bigger fan on is a load of crap...if you do that it will over condensate and f*%k the compressor.

only other improvment would be to insulate the discharge line that goes into the fire wall.

[Nev62]

my advice witch is wat i did is if it is a r12 system get SP34E put in it.it is a mineral based oil gas witch the comm loves and doesn't work as hard and it will drop straight in..

Can you explain how to tell what system is installed in a vehicle?

[Utemad]

my advice witch is wat i did is if it is a r12 system get SP34E put in it.it is a mineral based oil gas witch the comm loves and doesn't work as hard and it will drop straight in..

Can you explain how to tell what system is installed in a vehicle?

The sticker on the radiator support panel

[HotFourOk]

Has anybody played with the thermostat??? I had a cordia turbo many moons ago that had a buggered thermostat controlling when the compressor kicked in and out. Basically the compressor ran all the time. After 15 min, I had to turn it off because it got too cold. It was so cold that the air vents would ice over. Was strange when outside temp was 35c and inside you could see every breath being exhaled.

Fiddling with the thermostat can also make a difference...

My dads VL commodore's thermostat stuffed up on the coldest setting... and it blew ice particles out of the main air vents... frickin cold as!! The temp out of that used to be around 0 deg. Sometimes even minus a couple.

[suzy]

my advice witch is wat i did is if it is a r12 system get SP34E put in it.it is a mineral based oil gas witch the comm loves and doesn't work as hard and it will drop straight in..

Can you explain how to tell what system is installed in a vehicle?

should be a sticker on the seperator or on a sticker on the inside of the door.where the interior light switch is..

other than that you would have to look up the year off the car and make sure it is origanal..

[suzy]

Has anybody played with the thermostat??? I had a cordia turbo many moons ago that had a buggered thermostat controlling when the compressor kicked in and out. Basically the compressor ran all the time. After 15 min, I had to turn it off because it got too cold. It was so cold that the air vents would ice over. Was strange when outside temp was 35c and inside you could see every breath being exhaled.

Fiddling with the thermostat can also make a difference...

My dads VL commodore's thermostat stuffed up on the coldest setting... and it blew ice particles out of the main air vents... frickin cold as!! The temp out of that used to be around 0 deg. Sometimes even minus a couple.

OMG...if u do this it could whats called (iceup)..that means that the gas if it is to cold it will not evaporate in the evaorater and be sent to the compressor as a liquid and it will hydro look the compressor...so maybe not a good idea..

if u want cool air just get it seviced and clean the coil and make sure it's alright..

to much gas is not good...it will cause iceup...
not enough gas will cause it to run at a low pressure and not to it's full potential..

a dirty condensor or evaporater will restrict air flow causing the aircon to workharder.

[GRINCH]

as opposed to perspex across your cab divider.. just put up a cotton flag of your chosen specifications.. it does the same job but wont add heat like perspex does when the car is locked up in the heat for a few hours.
you dont really need to stop the air flow to the enire car.. just slow it down so that it cools up the front first

the reason why they use perspex is because its clear so you can see whats behind you

[cj]

Had same prob when i bought my lwb GQ.
took it to a/c people and,
evapoator was cloged(common problem) now clean.
a/c system serviced/re-gas ect.
had windows tinted.
now have to turn vents away,much better.
and 'm in FNQ.

Cheers IAN.

Awesome info from everyone... I know the LWB aircon isn't up to full power because it BLOWS just as hard as my SWB, but it doesn't blow as COLD in the same conditions, most noticeable when it's hot outside.

So I will take it to an AC guy and ask him to make it as good as it can be...

Thanks.

Jason

Don't forget that it takes more to cool down a LWB than SWB as you are trying to cool a larger volume.

[RaginRover]

WTF...r134a is actually a frig freezer gas
r22 is a domestic gas for air con's.different properties.
it can be retro fitted to run on a r134a system but the seperator has to be changed.

I had my gasses wrong, my mistake - If the other poster had outlined what gases he was talking about then it would have made more sense.

my advice witch is wat i did is if it is a r12 system get SP34E put in it.it is a mineral based oil gas witch the comm loves and doesn't work as hard and it will drop straight in..

so are you saying that this can be done on an r134a system legally with no modifications or only on an r12 system ?

any advice on putting a bigger fan on is a load of crap...if you do that it will over condensate and f*%k the compressor.

I never mentioned the fan, I mentioned perhaps fitting a larger condensor might help - I should have elaborated as another poster did and say that if he noticed improved air con on highway runs then the condensor could be an issue

only other improvment would be to insulate the discharge line that goes into the fire wall.

Just on this - the discharge line would be hot - your insualtion here is to reduce heat in the cab yes? Would it be of benefit to insulate the charged line from the compressor as well ?

Thanks for the info

Tom

[suzy]

so are you saying that this can be done on an r134a system legally with no modifications or only on an r12 system ?

an r12 system can have sp34e dropped straight in legally providing that whats left of the old r12 is reclaimed by a vac unit and disposed off according to aus standards.

to get r134a in an r12 system you have to change the seperator and a couple of other little things.

I never mentioned the fan, I mentioned perhaps fitting a larger condensor might help - I should have elaborated as another poster did and say that if he noticed improved air con on highway runs then the condensor could be an issue

i didn't mean to direct that comment to your post i was replying to the other.....but i don't think a bigger condensor would help as one of the main principals of refrigeration is gas pressure and temperture and most car a/c's are regassed by a dail gauge that measures the weight of the gas and if theres a bigger condensor you would have to work out the gas for that system...but not impossible...

Just on this - the discharge line would be hot - your insualtion here is to reduce heat in the cab yes? Would it be of benefit to insulate the charged line from the compressor as well ?

the charge line should be insulated but in my car the lines go under the carpet a bit and you can feel them..

If you want to check and see if it's all working
Here's a chart that may help you out. Sometimes you can have a combination of problems and some problems appear different on a fixed metering device versus a TXV but this is a pretty good reference.

LOW ON CHARGE
head low
suction low
compressor amps low
superheat high
subcooling low
delta temp low

OVERCHARGE
head high
suction high
compressor amps high
superheat low
subcooling high
delta temp high

POOR EVAPORATOR
head normal or low
suction low
compressor amps normal or low
superheat low
subcooling normal or low
delta temp high

POOR CONDENSER
head high
suction high
compressor amps high
superheat high
subcooling low
delta temp low

RESTRICTION (liquid side)
head normal or low
suction low
compressor amps low
superheat high
subcooling high
delta temp low

BAD VALVES
head low
suction high
compressor amps low
superheat high
subcooling low
delta temp low

I pulled this from memory real fast so I hope I didn't mess it up too bad. I'm sure someone will correct me if I've got a mistake.