I blew off Pep Boys and the next shop told me about 1200- compressor, dryer, exp. valve and flush but said they had to diag. first. That's when they told me 600 for condenser before they could even test the compressor. But they looked at the stock condenser (with thermal camera) which is plugged and not part of my AC system. There's an aftermarket hitop, rear AC and side condenser added right out of the factory for conversion to medical transport van. I told them and asked for just the compressor and stuff- they said OK and that came down from "about" 1200 to 1150.. I'm good with that. If there's a problem with the aftermarket condenser after that work they are going to hook me back up to the stock condenser as I never use the rear AC.

 

Hi, So I had new compressor, receiver/dryer, expansion valve and duel fans (on aftermarket side mounted condenser) installed with evac. and recharge. System is not cooling as well as before the bearings went on my previous compressor. It does cool but not enough. If possible could anyone answer 3 questions?
1) I was advised in this thread to replace the"orifice tube" but shop says van only has expansion valve- are they right? (2001 DRV 3500 5.9L)
2) Van has after market rear AC I never use. Would it normally have it's own exp. valve which could be clogging things up and should have been replaced even though I never use it?
3) Below is photo from the factory service manual concerning AC pressures. Garage ambient temp. was about 90. The 3 pressure types shown have quite a large range. Would anyone know what side of each of those ranges should be favored to get colder AC. This might come down to what will keep the compressor "on" cycle longer and/or "off" cycle shorter. Thanks

 

Sounds like the system is under-charged. What are the gauges reading and how much R134-a was installed?

 

I don't know how much the shop put in or what the gauges read. I'm scheduled for Fri. morning in 2 days to go back and have that checked and will show them the pressure chart in photo above. For better cooling especially at idle do you think they should aim for the higher numbers on that chart? I'm realistic and not expecting real cold.
Thanks