AC dash switches + ancient computers thread

[roach711]

Can any of you Eldorado short bus owners tell me how you turn on your air conditioning compressor? Do you use the Ford dash rotary switch or use a switch on the add-on panel that Eldorado installed on the motor cover?

I'm just about to re-work my engine mounted air conditioning and I want to have the wiring right before taking it in to be recharged. Naturally, I can't try turning on the compressor until the system is pressurized.

[roach711]

Well, I started out tracing a few wires and ended up dismantling almost the entire HVAC system in the Ford E-450 engine compartment. The mechanical stuff was easy enough but the control circuits sure had me talking to myself. I now have a pretty good understanding of the E-van HVAC system. Working on a bus conversion is nothing if not a learning experience.

To answer my own question, the front blower fan and AC compressor are, in fact, controlled by the dash switches - at least on the Aerotechs. In my explorations I found one bad dash switch, a blower fan on it's last legs and a broken fan resistor so it wasn't a total waste of time.

I also rebuilt the van air conditioning and removed 60 feet of AC hose (while cleverly absorbing quite a lot of compressor oil with my T-shirt ). Not bad for someone who didn't know diddly about auto air conditioning three weeks ago.

[roach711]

Another thing I learned:

Don't use penetrating oil in plastic parts. The resistor connector was being stubborn so I sprayed on some PB Blaster and waited 10 minutes. The connector came out all right, but in little pieces.

[bansil]

I had nothing useful to say, so I didn't

but watching the onesided question and answering....I figured someone had to break in

never ssen PB break down plastic, i have melted some with old skool sprays

[roach711]

Originally Posted by bansil

I had nothing useful to say, so I didn't

If the rest of the world had that attitude there'd be one TV channel with three hours of programming a day.

[Malkieri]

Originally Posted by roach711

If the rest of the world had that attitude there'd be one TV channel with three hours of programming a day.

3 hours a week I would say.....

[bansil]

Originally Posted by Malkieri

3 hours a week I would say.....

See the perfect world already has an editer .......... remember when the internet was only museums and porn? except for the "weirdo's" typing at each on a black or green screen

[roach711]

There were museums ??

[Malkieri]

Originally Posted by roach711

There were museums ??

I bet they had porn too if you looked hard enough!!

[bansil]

Originally Posted by Malkieri

I bet they had porn too if you looked hard enough!!

Those were called classic paintings

[roach711]

This may date me, but when I first started using computers there weren't pictures of any kind, it was all green screen text. No Internet either. Later my online experience was Compuserve or AOL at $12.50 an hour. Playing Zork was a major thrill! If you wanted porn you had to fire up your imagination.

We live in a different world now.

[Malkieri]

It's been a while for me as well.... I started with a 600 Baud modem connecting to BBS both local and not so local.... Man I remember when DOOM first came out and you could play over the phone lines with friends...... Yelling "PUT DOWN THE PHONE, I'm ONLINE!!!!" and then being dead...lmao those were great!!

[bansil]

My online was about 1992 so ya'll had me beat,I knew about it just being in the military we couldn't own our own computer

Around 1985 our neihbor a full bird col. In the air force had comp (it cost more than a new car he said)
We played an adventure game for hours on end

The white text told a story"you are in center of room with 4 doors" ...mmmm...okay "open north door" "it is locked"..mmm. okay "unlock door and open"

"A boogie man comes out and eats you,restart game"

And so on,we would have to walk to were ever,hell it would take an hr or 2 to walk to a castle

[roach711]

In honor of our total abandonment of the original subject, I've renamed this thread.

[bansil]

Originally Posted by roach711

In honor of our total abandonment of the original subject, I've renamed this thread.

This happens a lot here

Atleast people don't run to moderator police

Kinda on track,was the switch just brittle like dried out UV plastic or did it actually look like a gummi bear left on the dash?

[roach711]

It looked like white plastic but I will say that the plastic receptacle it plugged into didn't fall apart when I sprayed it. Who knows what it was actually made of. Didn't melt so much as just crumble when I tried to pull it out.