Testing AC Components

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Kilian

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Mar 25, 2018
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Location
Wisconsin
First Name
K
Truck Year
1983
Truck Model
C2500 hopefully converting to K2500
Engine Size
350
Hello all, starting a project to add AC to my 83 GMC using parts from a couple of donor trucks. As neither of them ran in order to check how well the AC was operating before disassembly, is there a way to test these components off of the vehicle?

AC condenser, evaporator
Vacuum actuators
 

75gmck25

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Northern Virginia
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Bruce
Truck Year
1975
Truck Model
K25 Camper Special TH350 NP203
Engine Size
5.7
Condenser and evaporator would just be a pressure check and good clean out with A/C flush. Pressure has to hold up to nearly 300 psi, or whatever the setting is for the high pressure cutoff switch. The evaporator is mostly a leak check, but the condenser has smaller passages and could plug up much easier.

It is also very common to have a a lot of junk that has fallen into the defroster vent and ended up around the evaporator inside the plenum. Also check the orifice inside the evaporator fitting because the screen around it catches all the small junk in the system and it’s easy to clog it. Its also common with R134a conversions to switch from the GM white orifice to the Ford blue because it should work better with R134a.

Connect engine vacuum to the line that runs from the vacuum can under the hood to the controls, and then move the controls to each position and see if the motors move correctly. Several of them (3 that I can recall) are easy to see, but there is one that is between the plenum and the firewall. IIRC that one may have two vacuum fittings.
 

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