Good morning, Team,
Changed from working on the XJ-S to the Series 1 Daimler VDP Double Six, variety is the spice of life. Anyway, my replacement A6 compressor started leaking after very few years, about 5. It was an Alma Products unit, who apparently make a good job of repair: certainly not in my experience. I had a spare which was on my donor series 2 V12 engine: unfortunately, also unable to hold pressure. Thus, time to refurbish both, which after watching a very good You Tube Video "Century Bob" who goes through tear down, repair and reassembly of the A6 in detail.


I have started on the Alma one as that was the one I had out of the car. Following Bob's video, I have stripped the compressor down to the major components, which was really quite easy, although I did notice that the Alma refurbished unit was missing the rear seal and had quite significant scoring on the front seal shaft. Unsure if the scoring happened when I had it or was on the original repairable unit.


So, I am now at the stage when I need to start re assembly. Just for info I enclose shots of the kits needed for the repair: a ceramic front seal and a bunch of 'O' rings as below.


There are also a few tools required which I picked up very cheaply on eBay.

The last item required for re assembly is the compressor oil. Does anyone have a reliable source of 125/150 cST PAG Oil compatible with R134a refrigerant. Having said that, I do remember that Top North Air Conditioning in Darwin, the Northern Territory used a butane refrigerant in my refurbished system, which in hindsight may have been the downfall of this unit?
Anyway, interesting stuff. Looking forward to completing the project as I understand these compressors are widely used in US, UK, Australian, and probably European cars of the day.
Cheers, Chris

 

If you're going to be using butane ( which is actually an excellent refrigerant), then you should use the original mineral oil. I use a mix of propane-butane, about 25% butane and 75% propane. It cools well, it has a slightly higher heat capacity than R12.