MACS Monthly Newsletter - 2017 - AUG3

Paul Weissler

That often satisfied the customer, and he might not
have told him what he did.
With any of the A/C trim settings, if they were
turned, they would increase or decrease the amount
of cooling, and a motorist who thought it was too
cold could just turn up the temperature setting. But
the "it's too cold" is not an unheard-of complaint
either. With heating, there's just too much individual sense to determine satisfaction. So, keep these
trim settings in mind on premium level cars. And
of course, don't be surprised if you find the trims
come in on models below the luxury level, too. ■

Figures 6: Old AC Delco control head had a manual trim adjustment, but
once set there was no indication it had been made.

BUYING A RECOVERY/RECYCLE/RECHARGE MACHINE
The prices of R/R/R equipment aren't in the
pocket change category, and most shops (hopefully) realize that the "street" prices typically are
well below list. And with R-134a on the market for
a quarter century and designed to remain in service
indefinitely (no retrofit to R-1234yf), many shops
are in the market for a replacement machine. This
is particularly true if their R-134a equipment is not
performing well, certainly if it pre-dates the SAE
J2788 Standard (2007). And even those early J2788
machines are perhaps over a decade old and unlikely to have their original accuracy and performance.
Yes, EPA has listed R-134a for complete OE phaseout by 2021, but that's four years away and a lot of
vehicles with that refrigerant will still be produced
and sold in the interim, and they (and older vehicles with R-134a) will remain in use, likely beyond
2035. Even if you have a recently-purchased R-134a
R/R/R machine, there's very little chance it will be
performing well until the end of the R-134a era.
The equipment makers also are developing and
marketing new generations of R-134a R/R/R machines, in most cases with faster cycles. And now
we have machines that meet J3030, which covers
both R-134a and R-1234yf. You have more choice
and more to consider before you buy. One type of
J3030 machine made by Ritchie Engineering (Yellow Jacket brand) starts out as an R-134a machine
and can go through a one-time, tamper-resistant
conversion to R-1234yf.
But the R-1234yf equipment, as we hope you realize, raises the issue of refrigerant identification.
That is, it won't work without a valid R-1234yf signal, which as we've noted, can be provided by a
built-in identifier or a hand-held via a USB cable
(with Wi-Fi connectivity also possibly available).
The manufacturers have been developing R/R/R

August 2017

Bosch/Robinair

equipment for several price points, both with and
without a built-in identifier. See Figures 7 & 8. And

Mahle

Figures 7: This is a Robinair 34288NI economy R-134a Recovery/Recycle/
Recharge machine. It skips many features in the 34788NI and can charge only
from the low side. However, it also meets the SAE J2788 standard.

Figures 8: This is the Mahle ArcticPro 1250, much less expensive R-1234yf
machine than the 1280. It does not have an identifier or printer, and is not as
easy to service.

when you consider a machine, you should learn
the difference vs. the "standard" higher-priced one
from that manufacturer.

MACS Service Reports

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MACS Monthly Newsletter - 2017