68 buick a/c

[corey wilkins]

my mechanic is fixing my a/c system. i replaced a lot of parts over the years. poa valve, condenser, compressor, a/c hoses, evaporator core, heater core, recored radiator, water pump, thermostat, blower motor, vacuum lines, vacuum switches in dash. if(fingers-crossed) he gets it right how long will a/c last?

[corey wilkins]

mechanic just called me and said the only thing i need is a shaft seal in the a/c compressor, and is going to replace the front seal too for insurance. is it better to stick with r-12 freon or convert to 134r refridgerant? my mechanic says its better to stay with r-12, but he can convert if i want to. help what shoild i do team buick?

[corey wilkins]

my a/c is not cold enough. passenger duct was replaced. also i noticed i have a 3 row radiator, do i need to go with 4 rows. the temperature light came on briefly than went back out with a/c on. mechanic said bring the car(68 wildcat} back and he will put gauges on and see whats going on. any suggestions team buick?

[carmantx]

You need a temp gauge so you can see what the temperature is really doing with your engine.

the old A/C units just aren't going to cool like the new technology. They can do pretty good. Not much else you can do if your mechanic has set it up to be the most efficient.

[Bob]

It's tough to do these days, but if given the option I would still stick to the R12. The engine overheat is going to be related to an lack of efficiency in the old cooling system, probably the radiator.

[corey wilkins]

took car to local radiator shop(very expensive) in glenside(suburban philly),pa. they told me that my heater box was not put back together right when it was opened up to replace evaporator core and im loosing air through box, therfore not getting strong vent air. there price was 3 and a half beans($350) to fix. can i do this myself? or pay the money and be broke over the weekend(no more disposable income until next pay) also my current thermostat is 195, should i drop to 180?

[BigRivy]

You should not need a four core radiator. A working three core should be able to handle it just fine, unless you're towing a trailer also. Leave the thermostat alone. Going to a lesser temp thermostat has never fixed an overheating problem and never will. No one here knows what kind of mechanical abilities you have so it is impossible to tell whether you can fix your air box on your own. There are a few other things I would check. You have stated that the air is not cold enough. Are you getting a large volume of air out of the vents, like you would expect with the blower on high and it's just not cold or do you have a deficiency in the amount of air also? If you have plenty of air and it's just not cold enough, and you are absolutely sure that the AC is fully charged, then you need to make sure that the temperature slider in the dash is fully moving the "blend door" on the air box. This door is what lets you choose between letting heated or cooled air, or some blended combination of the two into the passenger compartment. It is common, in my experience, for the cable that operates the door to have issues with full travel. This will effect heating abilities in the winter and cooling in the summer as you cannot fully close off one or the other. Any Buick I ever had from a '65 Riviera to my '94 Park Ave, you could dang near hang meat in 'em the air blew so cold when working properly. R12 will cool better but is too damn expensive to fool with any more, in my opinion. Although changing over a car that old to 134A might be crazy expensive also. Depending on what type of repairs they are talking about doing to your existing airbox their is no way of telling if that is worth 350 bucks or not. Make them explain it to you until you understand exactly what they're going to do and ask yourself is that something that I can do or is that worth 350 bucks to me and do they guarantee that this will fix it if you spend the money? It's a crap shoot and all you can do is to try to make the most informed decision that you can.

[corey wilkins]

big rivy how do you make sure the blend door is fully openining or closing? and i noticed i didnt have heat in the winter. also i hear a slight vacuum noise at dash.

[BigRivy]

On a '65 or '67 Riviera they are cable operated and on the firewall in the engine compartment. If you go to the reference section here they have a complete service manual for the '67 model year on there. Take some time and look at the pictures in the air conditioning section. This could take some time. I realize that yours is not a '67, but we gotta work with what we got. You will see that there are several vacuum controls under the dash. You will have to take the info that the manual shows and adapt it to what you have if yours is different. That should not be too hard if you have any skills at all. These systems did not change by huge amounts from year to year, unless there was a major body change. By looking at the diagrams in the manual it shows that most of the doors are run by vacuum. If you can hear a leak, that could definitely be tied to your problem. The manual also shows an "Automatic" climate control system that I had never heard of. It was obviously an option on the high end cars, and looks like a complete complicated pain in the *** to try and fix. Especially today, forty some years after the fact. Hopefully your car doesn't have it. Anyway, dust off the shop vac and vacuum out the foot wells on your car 'cause it looks like you are going to be spending some time on your back looking up under the dash with a flashlight. If you can find the right vacuum can that hooks to the blend door you should be able to move it back and forth by hand. The link that comes out of it, not the can itself. Run the car with the AC on and move the door back and forth and have somebody hold their hand in front of the vents and see if the temperature changes. If you are going to keep this car you might as well invest in a factory service manual of your own. They can be tough to find but they are well worth it. If you are having vacuum issues that could explain alot as far as the heating and cooling problems go. Most of the controls look to be vacuum operated if your vacuum supply hose is off or leaking, those controls will not work. This would be the first thing to find and fix. Then look to see what the next problem is. If you look at the manual and you can't make heads or tails of whats going on and you can't figure out what all that stuff under the dash and on the firewall does then you might just have to dust off the check book and take it to a professional. Ain't old cars fun? Good luck!

[corey wilkins]

thanks bigrivy you have been very helpful. im going to dust off the ole check book. i changed from a 195 thermostat to a 180 and my tempertaure light came on when i took my car to my mechanic to back timing(recent recurved distributor and power timed) from 12 initial to 7. car didnt overheat, but i dont trust car. any suggestions buick brethern.