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1972 Buick Skylark

You should be able to turn the compressor by hand, or with a socket on the nut, 1/4" drive ratch.
Should turn smoothly and no noise. Your going yo turn it fast enough to make pressure.
A6 like to leak from the front seals.
Post up a picture of the hoses and any parts near the evaporator. Do we can see what style metering it has. Could 1 of 3 styles that era
 
Here are some pictures of the components.

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I have a serpentine setup I'd like to get installed in the C10 which would mean ditching the C6 compressor in it now. It's a new compressor so it would be a good unit to put in the Buick. So I'm not terribly worried about the compressor in his car now.
 
That is a POA valve with a thermal expansion valve system. The POA valve would need to be re-calibrated to work with 134a. This in the past would restore and calibrate, but it seems they have stop this. They do offer a solution, https://www.originalair.com/valves.

The 3 wire cube on the compressor bracket is a thermal limiting fuse/switch, one item missing on my system, which I need to wire in before next summer.
 
I know from actually seeing it in the past that some people would remove the A/C belt to make sure that it wouldn't come on in order to help fuel economy.
So I would do as Wade said, test to see if the clutch works, then go from there.

FYI, you can still find R12. I have seen it pop up lately. I also have a case of cans, plus a bottle which I don't know how much I will actually use.

And I used some R12A in one system with good results, until the old original evaporator core let go.
 
Patrick isn't getting any climate control functions. I checked out the vacuum pod thingy on the firewall and there is no vacuum coming out of it. Vacuum in from the engine is good. I'm assuming there should be vacuum out, but can anyone confirm that for me. It seems odd to me it failed but I have no idea what it really does. I'm assuming it holds a reserve of vacuum so there must be a check valve inside. Also what it's actually called so I can try to find a replacement.

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We called them vacuum reservoirs. Have you tried to blow into the engine side port to release the check valve?
 
ktmoutfront said:
We called them vacuum reservoirs. Have you tried to blow into the engine side port to release the check valve?
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That helps, now I'm getting some search results for replacements. Looks like good old Year One has my part.
 
I have checked those with a manual vacuum pump with a gauge. I haven't seen a check valve, but plugging one port and hook up port to the other will show if a check exists or if it is just cracked and not holding. Switch things around if you suspect a check valve.
 
It doesn't seem to be leaking. My evidence for this is that when I unplug the vacuum line from the engine, there's an immediate idle change due to the vacuum leak. If I pull off the hose going through the firewall, there's no change and no suction on the port.

I was thinking I should check the hoses are on the correct port.
 
switch the lines and see what happens. I have never seen one with a built in check valve, normally the check valve is in the vacuum source line before the reservoir.
 
Wes Harden said:
switch the lines and see what happens. I have never seen one with a built in check valve, normally the check valve is in the vacuum source line before the reservoir.
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I ordered a new check valve. Amazon had ACDelco versions. The ports are a different size on the vacuum tank so I think it's connected properly but it is still worth playing around with it.

We had to replace the fan switch on the climate controls so that gave us an opportunity to examine the vacuum lines behind the dash. They all looked good.

I still hate working on that dash. Hands are all scraped up.
 
My son has been driving the heck out this car. Still going on the old Buick 350. It burns a little oil and he likes to let it run down til the lifters are ticking from time to time. We never really finished the exhaust. It has just been an open muffler at the axle and he has mentioned getting exhaust smell in the cabin. I never finished it because it's going to be pretty difficult for me to accomplish with my skills and equipment. There's shocks, coils, and a pan hard bar to deal with plus the gas tank.

So I decided that since it's a crew cab it wouldn't be a big deal if the exhaust exited in front of the rear tire. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The clearances are still pretty tight, but it should clear as well as the muffler does.

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Wes Harden said:
don't remember the rear disc brakes, nice update.
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Yeah we bought it with those. I'm guessing based on the receipts we found when we pulled the interior apart I think someone was daily driving the car in the early 2000s. So I think they did the brakes because of that.


82355 said:
This his main mode of transportation?

Martin
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It is. Although a majority of the time he's driving his girlfriend's car if they're together. He's probably putting about 150 miles a week on it.
 
Back in the fall of last year, Patrick decided he wanted to put an overdrive transmission in the Buick. He made quite a bit of money over the summer working for the town's public works department and it was burning a hole in his pocket. I had a conversation with him about buying a beater car he could drive to and from work and school so that he could work on his Buick without needing to worry about not being able to drive it if something went wrong. He's 19 so he didn't listen to me. Instead he went out and bought a 4l60e from a guy on marketplace. He also purchased a standalone trans controller. I had tried to caution him to take his time finding a transmission, but again he's 19.

He felt like everything was good with this transmission so I helped him and a buddy install it. We had to beat the shit out of the transmission tunnel to get it to clear. We also had to modify the transmission crossmember. We got it all installed over a couple of weekends. Lucky for him he had an extra vehicle he could drive. Surprise, surprise, the 4l60 is shot. No 3rd or 4th gear.

I helped him and his buddy put the TH350 back in. Now his plan is to use tax return money to get a rebuild kit for the 4l60 and do it himself with my help. I'm fine with helping him do it, I just keep trying to get him to slow down and think things through. I do think the overdrive would be a good thing for the way he's using the car. Hopefully we can get it all squared away for him.

Obviously he still really likes the car and wants to keep driving it.
 
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