Xpedition99
Member
Hey all!
For some quick context... a few weks ago I evac'd and vacuum's the a/c system. It held a vacuum which tells me no leaks, a very slow one at worst. Zipped back up and the a/c was rocking. Some days later the pressure dropped a bit with intermittent clutch engagement and needed a little recharge. I assumed it was probably leaking through a valve since it held vacuum with the manifold gauge set plugged up. I was also missing my low side cap, a likely culprit. I found one of those in a kit with valve cores.
So I decided to swap out the valve cores. Got the tool, the low side was easy, in and out. The high side...WTF. I got the valve swap tool on and seemed to have loosened a core, though I could never extract it. Refrigerant would blow out of the valve change tool whenever the valve on it was opened. I tried a longer valve tool and could neither extract nor reinsert a valve core. I had to leave the valve change tool on the port. Some days later I let off what little pressure was left in the system and pulled the valve change tool off the high side port. To my surprise there was NO VALVE CORE anywhere to be seen! The valve core that's supposed to be the proper one only threads into the top, where the cap threads in, and doesn't fit down into the port. I THINK I can see some threads further down in the port but none of the typical cores will fit, either too large or too small. If there were a valve core in there it would have to have been small enough to have blown through the valve change tool, which doesn't make sense that it would be that small. Everything I've seen indicates the pictured core is the proper one. So what the **** is going on here? I've searched and searched and everything indicates there is a valve core for the high side, and I can't imagine it not having one, but I'm at a total loss here.
I'll try to get some clearer pics...
For some quick context... a few weks ago I evac'd and vacuum's the a/c system. It held a vacuum which tells me no leaks, a very slow one at worst. Zipped back up and the a/c was rocking. Some days later the pressure dropped a bit with intermittent clutch engagement and needed a little recharge. I assumed it was probably leaking through a valve since it held vacuum with the manifold gauge set plugged up. I was also missing my low side cap, a likely culprit. I found one of those in a kit with valve cores.
So I decided to swap out the valve cores. Got the tool, the low side was easy, in and out. The high side...WTF. I got the valve swap tool on and seemed to have loosened a core, though I could never extract it. Refrigerant would blow out of the valve change tool whenever the valve on it was opened. I tried a longer valve tool and could neither extract nor reinsert a valve core. I had to leave the valve change tool on the port. Some days later I let off what little pressure was left in the system and pulled the valve change tool off the high side port. To my surprise there was NO VALVE CORE anywhere to be seen! The valve core that's supposed to be the proper one only threads into the top, where the cap threads in, and doesn't fit down into the port. I THINK I can see some threads further down in the port but none of the typical cores will fit, either too large or too small. If there were a valve core in there it would have to have been small enough to have blown through the valve change tool, which doesn't make sense that it would be that small. Everything I've seen indicates the pictured core is the proper one. So what the **** is going on here? I've searched and searched and everything indicates there is a valve core for the high side, and I can't imagine it not having one, but I'm at a total loss here.
I'll try to get some clearer pics...
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