My '86 240 wagon is not going to be of much use this summer if I can't get the air-conditioning working again. I've replaced the compressor in the past, then a couple of hoses when they started leaking due to wear (on the power steering belt, as I recall) but this time I'm stymied.

The last time it was charged, last year, the charge leaked out and the tech told me the leak was in the passenger compartment, so I'm guessing I need to replace the condenser. It was late summer/fall and there was no urgency to fix something on a car that might not make it 'til spring, but my misgivings were unfounded, the brick still ticks, and I now find myself facing an Iowa summer with no air but the open windows.

Has anyone faced and conquered this problem and can I get some advice as to what it's going to take to do the job?

thanks for the help

Thanks for the input, guys.

I guess I misspoke with regard to the condenser/evaporator issue. The leak is inside the passeger compartment and it looks to me that there is corrosion, scale, etc. visible on a tube up under the dash leading into what must be the evaporator behind the fan on the passenger side.

I'm reasonably capable but I wonder about the difficulty of getting that puppy out and a replacement or repair back in. Would I be better off cutting a hole in the firewall? Is the problem perhaps the hose/tube and not the evaporator? I would think that would be an easier fix.

I have a friend in the HVAC industry who has a super vacuum pump so evacuation and re-charge is not an issue. I'm just faced with the r/r problem.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Well, for sure the condenser is not leaking into the passenger compartment but I hope it is not the evaporator which is in there. And an '86 245 is just in its prime so take the bull by the horns and fill it with R134a or freeze 12 and see how long it holds charge. If necessary, get the hoses rebuilt at a hydraulic shop and see if you can't get it through all 3 weeks of the Iowa summer until it cools off in September and thice fishing picks up in October or so. That is what I would do, trying a refrigerant with stop leak next time. I would not pay anyone to do this, since it is easy to learn to charge as needed once you have the fittings and gauges.n

"...since it is easy to learn to charge as needed once you have the fittings and gauges..."

Don't you pull a vaccum on the system to remove moisture and air?

Greg

Only if you want it to WORK.
Seriously, getting the AC working in a 17 year old car, is likely to be an expensive nightmare. It could be a $1 o-ring.... it could be a $300 compressor, $300 condensor and 3 - $100 hoses.
Any system that's been down for any length of time has condensation all through it and that's impossible to get out without a vacuum pump.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '86 244DL- 215K, 87 244DL- 230K, 88 744GLE- 198K, 91 244 180K