jtc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (James A. TenCate) writes:
> Fearing for my engine, I quickly pulled over into a local Thai restaurant's
> parking lot. I carefully opened the hood to see what had happened. YUK!
> [...] Well, on a TR8, the air conditioning compressor is a standard GM R4
> style (like in Chevy Citations). The inlet and outlet hoses to the
> compressor are held in with a plate and a long bolt. Well, the compressor
> somehow had built up so much pressure inside that the hoses had literally
> blown the bolt out. It was completely stripped. [...] "THE AIR CONDITIONING
> WASN'T EVEN ON. I HADN'T USED IT ALL MORNING."
> [...] WHY did the compressor blow its hoses out? The clutch/AC wasn't
> running at all. [...] Could the extra air flow and an overcharged system
> cause the system to do that?
Um, how overcharged was it???
Anyway, I don't know if I'd blame the TR8 for this one. The GM R4, or RX-4,
compressor is a HORRIBLE compressor; if I didn't know better, I'd say that
British Leyland designed it to sell to General Motors, and not the other
way around. It is known to develop internal blockages that just cork everything
up, although I haven't heard of one blowing the hoses out before. Any chance
that someone put an imperial bolt in the metric mounting threads? I suggest
that if you replace the R4, you consider two options:
1) Don't bother with a "rebuilt" R4, as their reliability is rotten anyway.
Bite the bullet and shell out for a new one. :-( HOWEVER, see option 2:
2) If space permits, there are adapter kits available from J.C. Whitney and
probably elsewhere that will let you swap in a GM A6 compressor instead.
This is the bulletproof axial-design (internal swash-plate driven) unit
that must be a few decades old by now. It is a hefty, elongated tube shape
that may or may not fit your engine compartment, but if it does, it will
most likely give very good performance and pretty long life. I've bought
them from junkyards and put them back in service for years with no problems.
Make sure if you buy a used one that the pulley turns smoothly, that's all.
Sitting back now to wait for the expected A6 horror stories to filter in... :-)
Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com
441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg
Chicago, IL 60610 FAX: (312) 266-4473
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