Its finally starting to warm up here and I've been given the ultimatum. "Fix the A/C or you're riding alone", so, here goes. When I got the car the belt wasn't on the compressor, so I took it off to get it out of the way. When I first got the car, the first thing I did (before even opening the hood) was get in and try to turn on the AC... when I did, the car stunk to high heaven of mold or something... First, who can service my AC stuff? I can put the compressor back on, but I'd need the system run through and charged. I dont mind traveling for someone good (I live in the Northeast, close to VT and not far from Mass). If my compressor is bad (not sure why it wasn't hooked up), where can I get it rebuilt or find a new one? Second, Im sure even once I get the compressor hooked up I'll have the smell... what are people doing to get rid of it? Is there any way I can do it without tearing apart my dash and pulling all the vents out? I'm sure this is ideal, but Im not quite ready for that yet... Any other suggestions on getting my AC back up and running are greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Eric, probably the only way to get rid of the smell is take all the ducts apart and clean them with soap and water. Also have you had a heater core leak? This could be a "smelly problem if antifreeze has leaked into the core box as well. Just plug in your compressor and make sure ground wire is attached to upper bracket. Turn system on and see if the front clutch portion of the comp. starts to spin. If it does it is probably Ok but may still leak. If it is seized it will not spin. Check it with sytem not running and then running and you will see the difference. If it needs to be rebuilt there are two places I know. One in Ft. worth Texas and one in Tampa FL. I don't have the names but they advertize in Hemmings MN. It is better to rebuild your comp. if it is an original esp. if it has larger GS pulley. If you buy rebuilt you never know what it came from.
I sort of figured that about the vents. I've only owned the car since last August, and I dont have a heater core leak and never have, but it being 36 years old, it wouldnt surprise me if at some point it did. The odd thing is, when I turn the heat on I don't get the smell - only when the switch has been wiggled into AC (I need to replace those, too). I figured rebuilding it would be better, it is the original but I dont know the difference in pully size as this is the first AC Buick I've had that wasn't from the 80's. My old Skylark was a non-ac car. Thanks for the help, I guess maybe over the next week or two I'll start slowly pulling apart my dash to see what I find (hopefully I'll have it back together by the time my carb comes back) Thanks again
