On Thu, 11 Aug 94 13:21:29 CDT Steve Johnson said:
>Any useful tips before I take it to VW?

well, get a wet rag and a flashlight and go look in the left rear wheel well,
behind the tire, kinda toward the front (i think they are all in the same
place). there should be a cylinder there, with hoses going into each end.
up near the top should be a little round glass window, all covered with dirt.
use the rag to clean this off, then run the a/c and look at the window with
the flashlight. if you see a whole mess of swirling bubbles (looks like one
of those front-load washing machines), you are low on freon.

also check the tension of the a/c belt. it might be real loose.

and for all:
i used to have to add two little cans of freon every june to my system. then
i heard about the Miracle of Winter A/C Running. Now I are Happy again. :)
i tried it and it really does seem to work. what is it? running the a/c
system for about 15-20 minutes every week or so throughout the year. yeah,
i know. seems really stupid in january. but this is the middle of august and
i'm still in alabama and i haven't added ANY freon this year at all.

considering the cost of freon these days, i think i'll keep running the
system this winter.

the story i got was that doing this keeps the compressor seals lubricated
and they don't leak the freon out to the atmosphere. whatever the reason,
it seems to help a bunch.

joel
<maybe it's just the grits i stuffed around the compressor?>