The further adventures of #2613

[Farrar]

I changed my mind and decided that, as long as I'm trapped at home, I might as well work on the rear lights. I've decided to replace the circuit boards rather than try to refurbish them. I also plan to come up with an alternative attachment method for the rear light housings, since #2613's fascia is so badly warped that more than half of the screws don't work anymore. I'm sketching some ideas now.

[dn010]

#2613's fascia is so badly warped that more than half of the screws don't work anymore. I'm sketching some ideas now.

Put a block of 2X4 between the bumper and the inside of the fascia, then let it sit in the Florida sun for a while. Mine isn't perfect but much better now and I can get all of the holes aligned.
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?9591

[Farrar]

Dan,

Two things --

1. Thanks!
2. Holy moly, someone still reads this thread?!

#2613 is in quarantine at the moment... I thought about removing the rear fascia, sitting it upside down, and then hitting it with a heat gun until it "deforms" back in the right direction, but I like the plywood idea. My workbench is small (crammed into the corner of a one-car garage), but I might be able to cut something that size if I'm careful.

Good thing I read that thread -- the LH taillight housing has been removed from the car for a few days. I'm going to go and put it back in right now!

[AugustneverEnds]

I read this thread. So there

[Farrar]

People who want projects to work on while they're stuck at home can be glad for the internet. Every single part that I'm using for my new taillights has been ordered online and shipped to my door.

- Delrin
- light sockets
- wire
- terminals
- connectors
- fasteners
- LED lights
- aluminum

Someone on Facebook provided templates for the taillight circuit boards, but I don't have any paper that is 16 inches long (!) and I can't figure out how to split a single image across multiple sheets of 8.5"x11" paper, so I'll just have to trace the boards I have and hope I got it right. I have enough Delrin to make at least two sets, so if I mess up the first time, I won't be stuck.

Thanks to everyone reading for hanging in there with me. I hope you are all safe and well.

[Farrar]

Today was a really bad day, so I decided to take the car out this afternoon for a quick drive in an attempt to lift my spirits. I fired up the car and turned on the a/c, and the compressor started clicking on and off very rapidly. It was 92 degrees outside; no way I'd drive without a/c. So instead of going for a drive, I filled the system -- or tried to. It should have pressurized all the way up to about 50 PSI suction side, but when it was reading about 42 PSI it seemed to stop sucking any more refrigerant in. I would probably have kept trying to fill it, but at about that time a cop came up to me and told me that one of my neighbors had filed a noise complaint and I'd have to shut the car off. I've lived in apartments for over 20 years and have learned to put up with noise. I guess some people haven't. (I wonder if they've called the cops on the motorcycle guy two doors down -- when he revs his engine, the entire building shakes. Probably not. He's young and cool. I'm old and grumpy.)

Virus-induced sequestration, one of my friends dead in a road accident, and an anonymous phone call to the cops because evidently people can't just walk over and say "Hi, can you do that some other time, please." Just one of those days, I guess. I hope tomorrow's better.

Anyway, back on topic. I haven't driven the car or run the engine since October. Since then, the system was able to lose almost three cans' worth of refrigerant. That's a pretty bad leak. When I replaced the condenser about a year ago, I installed all new O-rings up front. I thought everything was shipshape, but I guess it isn't. I'll have to go over everything I did again.

DeLorean ownership is always an adventure, but never quite the adventure we plan for it to be... just like life, I suppose.

[Rich]

Looks like you know how previous recharges normally go. Listing some ideas just in case something changed. Hoping it's not actually a bad leak there.

Reasons it might seem to stop filling:
a. Refrigerant tank near-empty. Fill rate will slow way down as tank is depleted.
b. Tank/line valve not fully open.
c. Compressor not engaged.
d. Refrigerant is leaking out of the system as fast as you're adding it (the theory you are working from).

To see if it's really leaking you can run it again today and in the coming days to check the suction side pressure with compressor on.
If it doesn't show signs of much leakage you can check to see how well it works with 42psi at your ambient temperature there. That may not be a long term solution but it may at least be a way to get on the road sooner than later.

[Bitsyncmaster]

You can not tell amount of charge by looking at the low pressure. But if you put in three cans I'm surprised you had any pressure to start with.

[Farrar]

You can not tell amount of charge by looking at the low pressure.

Then I guess I'm flying blind.

I was using a chart that included both high and low pressures for a given ambient temperature, but only using the low pressure column of that chart.

Here's why:

#2613 has John Hervey refrigerant hoses installed. The hoses are about ten years old but still in good condition. (I replaced all of the seals last year when I replaced the condenser, accumulator, and orifice tube.) For R-134a refrigerant hoses, Hervey apparently made hoses with R-12 connections, and then installed R-134a adapters with red thread-locking compound. On this set, the R-12-to-R-134a high pressure service port adapter cracked, causing a leak, and was removed.

This car therefore has a system with an R-134a service port on the low side and an R-12 service port on the high side. My manifold gauge set only has connections for R-134a service ports. As a result, the only gauge I can use right now is the low pressure gauge.

(Insert heavy sigh here.)

I was planning, in the later "cooler season" this year (it's already in the 90s and will be hotter soon), to make and install a new set of hoses with R-134a service ports on them. I may have to change my plans.

[Ron]

Why not install another 134a adapter? You can get them with or without a valve.