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1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
If the high pressure relief valve let loose, you should get an exciting spray of refrigerant. When the compressor is running, the pressure relief valve is under at least 250 psi of pressure at idle on a hot day. At that pressure, a leak is not just going to trickle. I think that if your relief valve was really leaking, your system would have drained itself pretty quickly. You would notice a difference in cooling.
A fast leak can produce oil to form at the leak. Slow leaks don't seem to do this as dramatically. So, a release at the pressure relief valve would produce oil. However, I can't see a leak producing that oil going un-noticed by you, or not effecting the cooling.
I bet that when your last compressor died it blew its guts into the condensor, which blocked refrigerant flow at the condensor, and caused the build up of pressure at the compressor which triggered the relief valve. The relief valve blew and released pressure before the compressor turned itself into a grenade. The pressure release was a symptom, but not cause of your problem. So, while you may have anxiety associated with the pressure release valve, I don't think the current situation indicates that you are about to lose another compressor, except.....
If the flushing of the system was not done sufficiently after the last compressor blew, you could still have compressor guts in the system. I suppose that this could lead to random blockage of the condensor, which would cause a pressure build up at the compressor and trigger the valve.
The biggest problem you have right now is the lack of a high side service port. Without a high side reading, it is impossible to do anything but guess at what is going on in your ac system. You will not even be able to tell if the system is leaking.
I think you should either forget about the ac as long as it keeps working, or find someone who can adapt a high side service port to your current setup. What you might do is find a used Saab Sanden SD709 at a junkyard or Saab repair shop and have the back part from that compressor put onto yours.
posted by 64.91.16...
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