Orifice Tube Install

[Bitsyncmaster]

Dave - Are you saying the photo in my last post has it in backwards? I can definitely slide it in way further, and very easily, if I flip it around. All the previous posts though indicate I'm installing it the proper direction.

Your photo shows it correctly. I must have been remembering another car I worked on.

[Ron]

I had one break off with nothing left to grab. I pressurized back at the compressor and blew it out with about 100 PSI.

My little stainless friend.

SSScr.jpg

[dmc6960]

I dont know what your condenser>evap hose looks like, but if it will attach there without forcing the orifice any more it should work like that.

I remember more evap hose sticking out of the firewall though.

[DMCTek]

You do have to OT in the correct direction. It should also go completely into the evaporator.
Some go in easy and others are a struggle. There is a tool to aid install. I have broken these myself, the tool can help a lot. You should be able to find one at a Napa or Carquest. If you have trouble finding one I can send a photo of ours or try and locate one for you.

[DavidProehl]

You do have to OT in the correct direction. It should also go completely into the evaporator.
Some go in easy and others are a struggle. There is a tool to aid install. I have broken these myself, the tool can help a lot. You should be able to find one at a Napa or Carquest. If you have trouble finding one I can send a photo of ours or try and locate one for you.

Thanks for the tip, I had no idea there was a custom tool for this. Is yours similar to this: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...aller/_/N-262y

[Ron]

FWIW- I have a set similar to that. They have been sitting in the same place in my recovery station cabinet for years...As an extractor, if the pipe is distorted rather than dirty, my experience is that the tool will just break the tabs off. It's simpler to gut what you can with needle-nose pliers and use a long screw. When you pull the metal tube out it leaves a perfect pilot hole...
As an installer, you don't need it at all if the pipe is not out of shape. If it's so bad that you are breaking one with new 'plastic', forcing it in there can ruin the o-ring on the tight sides and/or leak on the other, a SOB later.
I guess it's worth a try if you don't get carried away, but it seems to me that you ought to reshape the pipe -- fix the problem rather than use the 'get a bigger hammer approach'.

Different strokes I guess...

[David T]

There is a picture in the Workshop Manual at N:02:02 fig 16 & 17. Good luck using them! If the tube is going to be difficult you will be digging it out in pieces. Not a good thing to have to do with that soft aluminum pipe. VERY easy to puncture the pipe and now you're f-cked! As for installing, if it doesn't go easily the pipe is bent or otherwise distorted. You can try rounding it with a round tool close to the internal size of the pipe. Again, you must be REALLY careful with the soft aluminum pipe. If you just bought all of this stuff you should be talking to the vender you bought it from. BTW most orifice tubes were installed and then the pipe was bent installing the evaporator into the car. It is VERY difficult to remove the old tubes once the pipe is bent. If you do not know what you are doing it is probably best to just leave the old one in if the inside of the system looks clean. I have heard of some people trying to fry the old ones out with a heat gun. I have not tried that myself (yet).
David Teitelbaum

[DMCMW Dave]

This is the tool we use to put it in. You may need to cut a couple of the tabs off the end of the tube as the "long end" goes into the tool. This presses it in at the bottom near the o-ring so you don't break it.

orifice tool.jpg

[Ron]

You may need to cut a couple of the tabs off...

So you guys are the ones...

[DavidProehl]

This is the tool we use to put it in. You may need to cut a couple of the tabs off the end of the tube as the "long end" goes into the tool. This presses it in at the bottom near the o-ring so you don't break it.

orifice tool.jpg

Dave - Where can I find a tool like that? Haven't come across anything like that while searching.

EDIT: To be more specific, I've seen tools like that, but with the notch towards the end of the tool rather than the handle like your photo. Such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Neck-Ori.../dp/B004FEHXXO