HELP!!! A/C Valves on a '93 XJ, NEED HELP!!!

Oh yea... ahead of time:
I have done all the searching I can and I also have spoke with Scrappy (a really good friend of mine on here) over the phone, I even talked with a local a/c place up the street (in Fresno) and still no luck.

Hello People: Newbie to this forum and I have a few ?'s for any one who knows of the A/C valves on a 93 XJ.

I am currently trying to convert over to R-134a from my stock R-12 with a kit I bought at Kragen for about 40$.

I began to open the valves on the back of the compressor and recovered the r-12 in my brothers shop r-12 charging/recovering system. The unit recovered 2 lbs, 11 ozs. the needed amount according to the label is 2.33 ozs.

So after all that was done, i got my little cheapo Kit from Kragen, put the retro fit valve fittings on and hooked it up to the bottle of 134. After discharging an entire 12 oz bottle into my system, i disconnected the bottle and "WOOOOOSH" out came the r134 I JUST injected.

so I though maybe the vales on the side of the fittings are not open the right way since I have NO CLUE to what position they are required to be in. so I opened it up some more and tried it again with another new bottle of R134. after about 5 seconds of discharging into God knows what, the fitting blew off in a mad rage thus making me drop the bottle and run all about.

So my question is: what position do the side valves (they face the engine block, the low side and high side fittings face my fire wall) need to be in so that I can successfully inject R134a into my 1993 XJ?

THANK YOU!!!!

About 1/2 way between open and closed, when your done and before you disconnect turn the valve OUT counter clock wise untill tight.

so I hook up the bottle to the fitting and then open the valve 1/2 way out then open the bottle, fill the line, then one the bottle is closed, open all the valve way out? is that right???

which way does the valve invert the direction of flow? as in all the way out means the fluid is going where? and all the way in means???
thanks again!

Never close the valve, working position is all the way OUT. Connect your can, turn the valve 1 1/2 turns in. When the system is full turn the valve back OUT then remove the can.

is that for both the high and low side or just the low side????

You don't want to mess with the HIGH side. The High side port is for testing. Anyway yes valves work the same.

ok the valves were turned all the way IN at 1st when i removed the r12, and now I have them both OUT 100%, I turned the bottom one (the blue fitting is the low wide, right? it's the longer nipple one) and began to fill but nothing is really happening, do i need ot have th A/C on inside the XJ on full so that way it cycles the compressor and pulls in the r134???

The blue blue is right, the low line is the large line. Yes the system must be running on high.

This needs to be archived or made into a sticky because it's no where to be found on here at all, Thanks Langer

From the '93 FSM:

STEM-TYPE VALVES
This manually operated service valve has adjustable stem located under a protective cap. Valve stem must be manually positioned when making gauge connections and/or reading system pressure on the gauges. See Fig. 4.


Fig. 4: Identifying Stem-Type Service Valve Positions

Back-Seated (Operating) Position This is the normal operating position, which is also used for connecting and disconnecting manifold gauge set. Stem is turned fully outward to seal the service gauge port.

Mid (Test) Position After installing manifold gauge set (valve stem in backseated position), turn valve stem 1 1/2 - 2 turns inward. This positions valve stem midway, allowing full system operation and permitting refrigerant pressure to reach gauges.

Front-Seated (Off) Position With service valve stem turned inward, valve blocks refrigerant flow through system, isolating compressor for service.

CAUTION: NEVER operate A/C system with service valves in front-seated position, as the compressor will be damaged.

Note: if you google the FSM, you'll find it.

yup, this just made my top 5 post on here. thank you SO MUCH Saudade! pictures help me... lol.
and the wierd thing is... that when I went to open the high side, it was closed all the way in and the low side was opened all the way out. would there be a reason for this? I ran my a/c like this before too... hmmm... maybe that's why it didn't run so great.

Both valves need to be back-seated (all the way out) in order for the a/c to work. I'm surprised your comressor is still good.