A/C compressor recommendation ???

[oyajicool]

My A/C system is original system converted to R134a. I didn't use A/C for last two month, but when I turned it on last week, it didn't cool down.
Today, I checked system pressure and is reading 0 psi. Evacuated system and checked for leaks, and found there is a leak some place.
Since I am planning and building an engine for the car, I will replace components/parts on A/C as well at the same time.

For compressor:
Local parts store wants $200 to 300 for Everco with 3 month warranty.
Online A/C parts store wants $195 for reman. with 12 month warranty.
One store on eBay wants less than $100 for Ready-Aire with ??? warranty.

My question is if any one has suggestion or recommendation on which brand to go with.

[Fleetw00d]

First you need to identify where the leak is; it may not be a problem with the compressor. If there is no refrigerant in the system, it will not engage the compressor clutch.

[oyajicool]

Thank you for your comment.

I know I need to find exact location of the leak. I also know the compressor assembly is 19 years old. I don't feel like doing the work now only to find out the compressor crapping out in the middle of summer. So, I am going to change compressor, expansion valve and drier with new/reman parts at this time. Hoping these parts will have better chance of lasting longer than 19 year old parts which was designed to work with R12 instead of R134a.

I am an FAA certified A&P, IA. I run my own shop. I know about turning wrenches for living but I don't know which brand/manufacture is better than the other when it comes to automobile A/C system.

[accordztech]

Thank you for your comment.

I know I need to find exact location of the leak. I also know the compressor assembly is 19 years old. I don't feel like doing the work now only to find out the compressor crapping out in the middle of summer. So, I am going to change compressor, expansion valve and drier with new/reman parts at this time. Hoping these parts will have better chance of lasting longer than 19 year old parts which was designed to work with R12 instead of R134a.

I am an FAA certified A&P, IA. I ran my own shop. I know about turning wrenches for living but I don't know which brand/manufacture is better than the other when it comes to automobile A/C system.

Well when you put 134a...did you do a performance check? You will see a bad compressor on the guages because the needle on the high side will be moving rapidly up and down. But when you did a pull into a vac before you put in your freon (hopefully you did) you would of saw a leak if it was big. But then after when you put in 1 lb of freon, you should of used a sniffer to find other leaks.

A aftermarket compressor isnt that great to a oem compressor...even with r134a. I replaced so many aftermarket compressors to know just to leave the oem one in there unless its bad. I sometimes go to the junkyards and pull OEM ones to replace the aftermarket ones.

I would of sourced out R12. There are cans on ebay from 15 dollars and above, many of them in the 25 dollar range.

[oyajicool]

Conversion was done already when I bought the car. PO told me that there is light leak in the system when I bought it many years back. I have been checking and adding R134a once a year or whenever I felt like doing it. High side was always stable while low side would fluctuate with clutch function.

So what you are saying is that 19 year old OEM compressor is better than new/reman compressor. If that is the case, I don't mind keeping mine if it was not a leaker. At the same time, thinking of using 19 year old seal on the compressor is not appealing to me.

Yes, it was rather big leak. After pulling the system for 30 minutes to see how bad the leak, I turned off the pump. 10 minutes later, the gauges were reading 0 psi.