Year: 1998
Make: Chevy
Model: C-3500
Engine Size: 5.7
Refrigerant Type: 134a
Ambient Temp: 95
Pressure Low: 38
Pressure High: 225
Country of Origin: United States
Got a belly leaker. Truck has 205,000 miles and have never had one bit of a/c trouble. Cooled great until the day it leaked out the refrigerant. Thinking of replacing with the Sanden. Have not opened the system yet, but expect it to be pretty clean due to good pressures, great cooling, and quiet but leaky compressor. Have read plenty about system flushing, and not sure whether or not I need to. If the orifice is clean, and no evidence of black sludge, what do you guys think? Have checked condenser, evaporator, and hoses for leaks with electronic detector and dye, and can only find leaks in the compressor. Planning on replacing the receiver/drier, low pressure switch, orifice tube, and fan clutch. What oil is recommended for the Sanden, and will it be compatible with the factory oil used by GM? I understand that I cannot be sure of how much oil will be left in the system, but planning on using full recommended charge. Biggest question is whether to flush or not. If I find evidence of black sludge or trash in the orifice I may try and flush the evaporator and replace the condenser and hoses. What purpose does the muffler serve on the hose assembly? Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. RT
I have the same year truck with the same engine except mine is a K1500. I had the same problem last year. My compressor was a bad belly leaker and leaked out the refrigerant.
It was recommended to me then to flush the system out since I would not know how much oil was left in the system and that the correct oil amount was important. My system was clean but I flushed it anyway. I bought a Seltec/Valeo compressor, condensor, manifold hoses and OT from this site. I replaced the condensor because I wasn't sure if it could be flushed good enough and it was kind of beat up and I replaced the manifold hoses because you cannot flush through the muffler.
The only thing I really had to flush was the evaporator since everything else was new. I replaced all of the O rings as well as the accumulator and the beformentioned parts, added oil, vacuumed down the system and then recharged.
I would recommend flushing but you may get by, by just draining the oil thats currently left in your compressor and add that much back into your new compressor. Maybe add an ounce in case you lost some oil also. I'm sure someone with a lot more experience then me will chime in. Good luck.
Wayne
70monte, seems like a pretty knowledgeable response to me!
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