Newport air conditioning

[Old Mike]

Recently acquired ‘71 Newport, 383 2bbl from first owner. One of the few options on this car is a/c. Got a folder full of paperwork and receipts. At some point, he converted the a/c to r134a. Fan wouldn’t blow and fuse was blown whe I got the car. I disconnected the compressor and changed the fuse and fan blows, but reconnecting the compressor blows the fuse again. What should I check first?

 

[Davea Lux]

Recently acquired ‘71 Newport, 383 2bbl from first owner. One of the few options on this car is a/c. Got a folder full of paperwork and receipts. At some point, he converted the a/c to r134a. Fan wouldn’t blow and fuse was blown whe I got the car. I disconnected the compressor and changed the fuse and fan blows, but reconnecting the compressor blows the fuse again. What should I check first?

The magnetic coupling for the A/C Clutch is probably shorted. Check that the fuse that was in the unit is the proper size, if so the unit is probably bad unless it is also blowing fuses with the clutch unhooked. Check the compressor to be sure it will still turn by putting a socket on the clutch hub and turn to rotate the compressor shaft one full rotation. If the compressor is seized, it is bad also. A seized compressor will not be the cause of blown fuses, but if it is seized, this would be a good time to find out. RV2 compressors have a high fail rate running R-134a, so if both the compressor and the clutch are bad it would be a good time to consider converting your A/C system to a Sanden rotary vane compressor as it will "live" running R-134a. There are a number of threads on this site for making this change.

Dave

 

[Old Mike]

Will do. Thanks