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Back to the Dakota..
"Eisboch" wrote:
"F.O.A.D." wrote in message ... Ducati produces beautifully made motorcycles that are super fast, handle well, and are reliable. I've had Honda and Kawasaki motorcycles and have found their reliability no different than "The Duc." --------------------------------- I think the reliability of all modern vehicles .... cars, trucks, motorcycles and even boats .... are vastly improved over the ones produced 20 or 30 years ago. Only problem is, they have become so complex that they can't usually be worked on by us "shade tree mechanics" of yesterday. I just bought a 2002 Saturn for a local "kick around" car. It's about as basic as you can get but the price was right and it's in amazingly good condition. Looks new ... even the interior is spotless. But, the AC didn't work. Popping the hood I noticed that the clutch on the AC compressor wasn't pulling in. I had a old Pontiac LeMans (probably a '65 or thereabouts) years ago in Puerto Rico that had the same problem. Something was messed up in the controls that engaged the clutch. I simply hotwired a fused and switched wire from the battery to the clutch connector and it worked fine, except I had to remember to cycle it on and off. Not so on the Saturn. Now they have a pressure transducer that senses both the high and low pressure sides of the AC system. If either are out of spec, it doesn't allow the clutch to pull in. Ok. So, I figured maybe it needed a charge and headed off to Auto Zone and bought one of those DIY charging kits. Sure enough, the low pressure side was low when measured with the included gauge. I carefully and faithfully followed the directions on how to charge it. But it didn't make sense because the clutch wouldn't engage. Tried it several times getting the low side up to the specified pressure reading without success. So, out comes the multimeter and I started checking all the voltage points. Everything is fine, except no power to the clutch. I was about to give up and do the "hot wire" thing to see if the clutch worked at all but decided to Google the wiring schematics for the Saturn's AC system. Turns out there's a diode in the fuse box that is supposed to protect the AC fuse from spikes in the line when the clutch disengages. Checked it in forward and reversed biased positions and it was shorted. Back to AutoZone and got a new diode, thinking I had found the problem. Still didn't work, so I decided to give the recharge one more try. This time I ignored the warnings about overcharging and brought the pressure up above above the specified level. That did it. The clutch suddenly engaged and the tank of R134A started getting cold, meaning the AC system was drawing the refrigerant out of the tank and the low side pressure dropped to within the specified range. Within 5 minutes the car vents were blowing nice, ice cold air and I felt pretty proud of myself. Rechecked the new diode and it's fine, so hopefully it will keep working. You are waywayway beyond my car mechanic abilities... 😄 |
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