high side A/C charging port P/N?

Discussion on Air Conditioning/Heat & electronic controls for the same, radiators/fans/engine cooling and related items.
CrashTestDummy
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Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:31 pm
Location: Pearland, Texas

Re: high side A/C charging port P/N?

Post by CrashTestDummy »

The answer to the question of 'what size socket does it take' is 'it depends'! It depends on your point of view. The charging port itself is all 8-sided, and on the OEM charging port, it is easy to miss that when staring at the 16mm 'double' hex fitting on the extension. It just looks like you have a 16mm hex on the extension to hold things in place, and a 16mm hex at the base of the charging port. Noooooooooooooo.

I got some time out in the shop this afternoon, and decided that I'd need to recharge the A/C in the car so I can go 'drive cycle' it for the stupid O2 sensor thing, so figured I'd replace the fitting while it's low.

The tube-side fitting is a 16mm hex. That's way down the extension for the charging port. If you look carefully just inboard of the slot for the gauge hose connector to catch onto, you'll see another 'flat-sided' flange. THIS is the 8-point flange some engineer decided NEEDED to be 8-sided and not a hex fitting. Also note, that the flat sides are neither metric, nor SAE. A 16 mm socket will fit loosely, but when you turn it, it'll jamb against the rounded corners, and still get you nowhere, except with a stuck socket. I used a 16mm open ended wrench to hold the tube-side of the extension, so I didn't break anything there and a smooth jawed Crescent wrench on the charging port itself. As David mentioned, it didn't take much to break it loose, and I likewise didn't put too much torque on it putting it back together.

I did drop a drop of PAG oil on the o-ring, just in case, and a couple of drops of oil into the inverted charging port before turning it over to insert into the line extension. I hope that takes care of any oil I may have lost with this process.

Pulled a vacuum. Charged it up. It didn't take quite 2 LBS of freon to make the air coming out the vents about 52 deg sitting still in our shop. We'll see how it does on the road.
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
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Pursuit
Administration Staff
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Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:39 pm
Location: Omaha, NE area

Re: high side A/C charging port P/N?

Post by Pursuit »

FYI, The high side port socket is a MASTERCOOL 98234 Socket. Available from Jeff Bezos... :lol:

Regards,

Maurice
Maurice Sheil

mhsheil@gmail.com

2011 Caprice Phantom Black 9C3
2012 Impala 9C1
1995 9C1 Caprice
1996 GMC Sierra C1500
1996 Chevrolet K2500 Extended Cab, long box, 454, 91,000 rust free miles
1974 SJ Grand Prix 455 well optioned with factory moon roof
CrashTestDummy
Posts: 2300
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:31 pm
Location: Pearland, Texas

Re: high side A/C charging port P/N?

Post by CrashTestDummy »

Pursuit wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:11 am FYI, The high side port socket is a MASTERCOOL 98234 Socket. Available from Jeff Bezos... :lol:

Regards,

Maurice
Isn't that how Jeff made his first Billion??
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
Do YOU have my SPID?
smwalker
Administration Staff
Posts: 2201
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 1:44 am
Location: Azusa,CA

Re: high side A/C charging port P/N?

Post by smwalker »

Coming up on some AC work and the gist I have been getting is those high side ports are problematic. Meaning you only get one use out of them. They come from the factory with a rubber type of ball valve that cannot be removed if it starts leaking after you do a recharge (have to replace the entire valve assembly, so have to be able to recover your charge) . Peoples advise in the HVAC community is to put in a new one at every evac. And some have opted for a doorman part that replaces the ball valve with a tradition Schrader valve that can be removed. And there are tools that allow you to change out a Schrader valve that is leaking without losing your refrigerant charge so that is an advantage. I think maybe those these ball type ones may be less restrictive which is why GM chose to use them to speed up evac on the factory line.

Here is what the ball valve looks like inside. Just a black piece of rubber.
ball Valve.jpg
ball Valve.jpg (8.31 KiB) Viewed 4614 times
Looking at the Doorman site the SS or PPV is not listed as firring this part but the description seems to be dead on with thread size. So not sure. (UPDATE: tried it and the doorman part works and fits great)

Here is description of the the doorman part:
Dorman 800-955
GM Air Conditioning Schrader Valve M12 X 1.50

And here is the description from the GM parts catalog or part 52458184 :
VALVE,A/C REFRIG HIGH PRESS SERV(INCLS O-RINGS, CORE, FEMALE FITTING & SEAL)(PART OF 1)(M12X1.5 THD)(INCLS FITTING & SEAL)(9.177)(ACDelco #15-5438)

But looking closer at that AC delco part number that also seems to have a Schrader valve. And it is pictured with a serviceable valve in the catalog. Huh. Have to go see what part was recommended in this thread earlier.
Steve Walker
Azusa, CA
'11 PPV 9C3 Huron White
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