In addition to the usual hand tools required to work on your car, you will need some specialized items that you may not own. Some people can borrow from friends, others can rent some of these tools. Sometims you just have to break down and buy what you need. Depending on the job and tools, sometimes it is just more cost effective to have a professional do part or all of the job.
I can NOT stress enough the importance of owning your own Gauge set. A high quality set will last a lifetime. You need this tool to do any kind of analysis on any A/C system. Even if you choose not to work on your own A/C, a gauge set will let you diagnose your own system properly. Attempting to service an A/C system without pressure information could be DEADLY. A 60.00 investment could save your life!
A/C systems are about temperature changes. Without a good, calibrated thermometer you are just guessing. Any thermometer that will repeat readings can be used, and you can calibrate it yourself. I personally prefer a good thermocouple, and would avoid the 5 buck shirt pocket dial unit.
Any vac pump that will not pull down to the 400 ~ 1000 micron range is not acceptable. NONE of the air powered venturi type units will go below about 25,000 microns - they are no good for this application. Good pumps are usually available for rental in most US cities. The volume rating (cfm) of the pump is not critical, as long as it will reach the required vaccuum. Most weekend warriors will not want to buy a vac pump.
The low side gauge in your gauge set includes vaccuum measurement. This is usually adequate for the occasional user. If you earn a living doing A/C work, then I strongly recomend a thermistor type vaccuum gauge. A unit like the Supco -60 only costs about 100 bucks, and can be invaluable.
Yeah, I know they look cheesy but they have many uses.
This guy has them for less than 10 bucks...
At that price get two!
If you have refrigerant in your system, it needs to be removed, and disposed of properly. These machines are way too expensive for the casual user, so go see a pro for this service.
A great diagnostic tool. You can "look" at the liquid line and judge the quality of the liquid. Usually a pro tool, but you might be able to borrow one.
There are many different units out there. Many will plug into your voltmeter. Thermocouples are accurate, and several can be placed to allow multiple readings on a single system. For those of you with Palm Pilots, a nice 2 channel T/C Datalogger is available from Omega - reads 2 thermocouples at the same time, and prints to an excel file...
The rest of the Stuff...
FLUSHING your A/C System
BLACK DEATH
A GREAT place to ask questions - or buy parts!
PAO Oil Specifications
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