A Damn Good Day!

[XM-hooked]

Hi All,

I have been having trouble shifting the accumalator sphere on my '93 CT turbo and looking for data with regard to topping up my air con. Also I registered myself on the service.citroen.com website and downloaded the production info' for my VIN number. This told me that my air con was filled with the dreaded R12 Thats 2 lots of depression and many hours of wadeing thro' the net getting further depressed on the subject of R12 to R134a conversions. I was to get a local Citroen specialist to have a go at shifting the sphere but of course he is going on holiday so couldn't do it for a fortnight.
Then the weather changed, the sun came out, and 'er indoors was away for the day (who always has something to say if I go anywhere near to a spanner) and so I got stuck in. Out came my 18" cold chisel and lump hammer and so I set about the sphere. I managed to make a dinge in the side of it and I kept bashing away but to no great effect. Whilst underneath my eyes wandered over to the air con pump. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE!! The Sanden manufacturers label said "R134a ozone friendly" .....so the day got better. I retired defeated regarding the sphere to the kitchen and brewed up. Half an hour later and much refreshed I had another go, the merest of taps got it to spin.... and the day got even better.

My car was produced in April '93 but not registerd until August '93 by Citroen themselves, probably to fiddle the August numbers of cars registered figures. It was then offered on the second hand market with only 10 miles on the clock. Is it possible that Citroen had refitted the air con to the R134a spec. during the summer of '93 or has the car simply had a change of one of the components which then required the change over to R134a? In any event I know I'm very lucky to have a '93 car with a R134a system.

The status of the old "love - hate" is now back to "love", and all evidence destroyed for the return of "She Who Shall Be Obeyed".

All in all a Damn Good Day!

Regards,
Chris

[ItsGrimUpNorth]

This bothers me since my AC needs to be refilled and I have the exact same model as you. Though, maybe I should have an extra check in the engine compartment - maybe I'm as lucky as you!

[XM-hooked]

Hi,
You need to look underneath the car (with it suitably supported on stands) at the compressor. On mine the green manufacurers label states that it is a Sanden SD7H15 Model 7854, checking the Sanden website it states that this unit is for R134a Ozone Friendly and the 7854 relates to a PSA supplied unit.
I hope you are as lucky as I was and find your system also to be an R134a type.
Regards,
Chris

[mouseflakes]

Then the weather changed, the sun came out, and 'er indoors was away for the day

Yup - these are always the ideal conditions for me to set about fixing one of my old crocks too!

Glad to hear you had a fruitful day.

[Dieselman]

Then the weather changed, the sun came out, and 'er indoors was away for the day

Yup - these are always the ideal conditions for me to set about fixing one of my old crocks too!

But what about when you need a cuppa..??

[Dieselman]

Out came my 18" cold chisel and lump hammer and so I set about the sphere. I managed to make a dinge in the side of it and I kept bashing away but to no great effect.

Just use a decent quality webbing oil filter strap wrench, it always works.

I've got a really HD one and never failed yet.

Something like http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... hand-tools should work.

[citroenxm]

RE: Air Con

Sounds like some one has done what I have done to my 1993 V6 12v, and fitted a R134a system from a later car, which is PERFECTLY possible to do, and theres no need to change the Evaporator inside the car, just EVERYTHING else under the bonnet!

R12 remained on the XM untill the Series 2 cars came along in 1994, then they switched to R134a, so if any Series 1 car has a R134a setup, its been either retro fitted, or swapped over from a newer car...

You can get (I THINK) R24 gas that goes straight into an R12 system, and still legal, I beleve, Im no expert on the gasses mind, but interestingly the dryer on a Series 2 1998 Xantia I broke recently has ALL gasses marked suitable on it, that being R12 to R134a!!!!

Hows that!

another way of telling is if your system has the ports compatible with the Hafrauds Top Up cans or not, as the older R12 system has the Fill up ports on the compressor itself...

Paul

Paul

[XM-hooked]

Hi,
Thaks to all who left replies.

To Deiselman,
Sorry but I didn't recount the whole story, just the endgame. I had already tried to shift it with my old srap wrench but it kept slipping, I've been quite used to swopping spheres since my first BX in 1987. I bought a new one and tried again but to no avail. This is why I got brutal with it. At any rate I have got rid of the excessive clicking.
Thanks also for yours citroenxm, Paul,
My car is a 1 owner 42k miler, the 1st owner was 73 when he bought it and 89 when he decided to sell it and go down to a 1 car family! He is totally non technical so no DIY jobs. After your comments I must think that it was converted due to the failure of a component. My compressor, a Sanden SD7H15 is an R134a only unit but does have the low side refill port on the comressor body.
Does anyone have experience of the Halford's or Ebay refill kits?
One of my first posts was concerning poor acceleration from rest, a problem which I still have. I have never had a truly high performance car so I don't think my expectations are too high and I do realise that this is a low pressure turbo but still feel the take off performance to be very poor. At the moment it is a good car spoilt. I am still working on this problem so if anyone has any input to this it would be greatly appreciated. I have just disproved the vacuum input to the ECU from the inlet manifold (Inlet manifold air pressure sensor), and got no error codes when checked with a Gunson's Code Reader.
I will start a new post in the correct place if ayone has any input. Please don't write at length here, just let me know and I will start a new post in the right place.

Thanks to all again,
Chris