Venting referring to me, although all my refrigerant is gone too.
I was headed home from an appointment here in SoCal and decided to turn on the AC. First time in a few months. After a few minutes I smelled something burning and heard a strange grinding noise. Since my fan was on high, I shut the AC off so I could hear it better. The noise went away but not the smell. So I flipped the AC back on and whammo, the noise is back. So I shut the AC off, opened the windows instead, and continued home.
When I got home, I opened the hood, started the heep and turned on the AC. Now I got a loud screeching (like the mother of all loose belts) and smoke is pouring off my AC clutch. After shutting everything down, I tried to turn the compressor by hand. It turned about 15 degrees and locked. Back and forth, no go! Took out my AC gauges to check the charge level, ZERO. All gone.
So now I got to decide if I'm going to fix it or junk it.
OBA is NOT an option. It's 2wd and a "no wheeler". Good news is that the clutch itself seems OK and it freewheels just fine so it's drivable. I'll check some yards and see if someone's got a junker replacement. But, I'll need to replace the drier (still the original), probably change all the o-rings, flush the system, and bend over when I get it charged with R-12. I'll also consider an R-134 conversion.
Not that this by itself is that big a deal, it's that I also need a cat, muffler and tailpipe and some other odds and ends. I'm almost at the point of preferring to spend the $$ on an "upgrade" (AKA newer XJ), than continue to pour money into this one.
More good news (for me at least). The real heat where I live is still a ways off so I have some time to price things out and decide.
I was headed home from an appointment here in SoCal and decided to turn on the AC. First time in a few months. After a few minutes I smelled something burning and heard a strange grinding noise. Since my fan was on high, I shut the AC off so I could hear it better. The noise went away but not the smell. So I flipped the AC back on and whammo, the noise is back. So I shut the AC off, opened the windows instead, and continued home.
When I got home, I opened the hood, started the heep and turned on the AC. Now I got a loud screeching (like the mother of all loose belts) and smoke is pouring off my AC clutch. After shutting everything down, I tried to turn the compressor by hand. It turned about 15 degrees and locked. Back and forth, no go! Took out my AC gauges to check the charge level, ZERO. All gone.
So now I got to decide if I'm going to fix it or junk it.OBA is NOT an option.
It's 2wd and a "no wheeler". Good news is that the clutch itself seems OK and it freewheels just fine so it's drivable. I'll check some yards and see if someone's got a junker replacement. But, I'll need to replace the drier (still the original), probably change all the o-rings, flush the system, and bend over when I get it charged with R-12. I'll also consider an R-134 conversion.Not that this by itself is that big a deal, it's that I also need a cat, muffler and tailpipe and some other odds and ends. I'm almost at the point of preferring to spend the $$ on an "upgrade" (AKA newer XJ), than continue to pour money into this one.
More good news (for me at least). The real heat where I live is still a ways off so I have some time to price things out and decide.
