JoePolarBear

About six or eight months ago I received a call from a gentleman named Jim. Jim had an original Studebaker Avanti he was restoring and he wanted the AC to work. He wanted his compressor rebuilt and his drier replaced. The Studebaker Avanti was a sports coupe built by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, between June 1962 and December 1963. It was designed by a team of stylists employed by industrial designer Raymond Loewy. The Avanti was an all new design with radical body... Read Full Story

This is something we hear from time to time, especially when dealing with DIY'ers or with people working on older cars. This usually stems from a lack of understanding of how these systems are energized OR a particular nuance about a specific vehicle. About a month ago I received a call from a customer to whom I sold a BMW Behr Bosch wing cell (rotary vane) type compressor. The complaint was "My mechanic installed it and it worked fine for about an hour and then it quit." "OK, what is the... Read Full Story

A guy came into the store the other day wanting to purchase a new hose or have us fix his old one. Looking at the hose I asked "What's wrong with it?" "It leaks right here at the valve" and he pointed towards the hoses R134A high side access port. "So why don't you change the schrader valve ?" "I can't. It doesn't come out......Never saw such a stupid design......The @@##$#% want you to buy a new hose instead of changing the schrader valve ." I picked up the hose and looked at the high side... Read Full Story

About 2 months ago I received an inquiry about a Sanden SD7V16 control valve from a customer in Malaysia. After exchanging a few emails the order was placed and the product was shipped. The Sanden SD7v16 is a variable displacement compressor used by several different manufacturers, most notably certain Volkswagon and Audi models. Here is a very nice article explaining how variable displacement compressors work . But, I digress ... About 2 weeks after I shipped the control valve, our part... Read Full Story

Yesterday my old friend and neighbor Rob came in and purchased a pulley bearing while I was out visiting a client. Change a pulley bearing on a General Motors compressor ..... piece of cake, right. Wrong.... Rob took the bearing and gave it to one of his employees instructing him to change it. This is a relatively simple task if you know how to do it . A few hours later Rob returned with a clutch assembly in hand and said "it worked perfect before. All we did was change the bearing and now it... Read Full Story

You brought your car in for diagnosis and just got the repair estimate from the dealer. After you regained consciousness and the heart palpitations stopped you decided to do a little research and see if you could get a better deal. But how and where? Well a deal is only a deal if you do in fact need the service. I'll relate a true story to make the point. First let me state that we were never in the actual repair business and that our expertise has been in rebuilding compressors and... Read Full Story

As I state in my BIO, our purpose here is to arm you with the necessary information to either service your own automotive AC system or procure the services of a *QUALIFIED* ac technician. First, you must realize that because your mechanic is a brilliant engine or transmission technician does not mean he is qualified or knowledgeable in the repair of an air conditioning system. Human nature being what it is, we like to think we can do it all and while he may sincerely believe he can perform... Read Full Story