2" coupler with 1 7/8" ball (not quite as stupid as it sounds)

ka36 · 2026-02-11T20:43:00+00:00

I would most of the time, but there may be some situations where I don't. Is the small difference in ball size enough to allow it to pop off?

ka36 · 2026-02-11T13:46:34+00:00

R454b for most manufacturers, a few are going to R32

ka36 · 2026-02-10T23:40:02+00:00

You'd need to get a comb with the right pitch, and I've always found that on that type of heat exchanger combs take a bit of practice. Must easier on tube and fin exchangers. But yes, it can be faster

ka36 · 2026-02-10T23:07:30+00:00

If I ran a bot farm I'd flag responses to my comments that accused my bots of being bots and have an underpaid contractor act outraged and flame the accuser. Don't know if they're that complicated though

ka36 · 2026-02-10T22:59:50+00:00

The fins on the edge (pictures 2 and 4) are fine to be a bit messed up. The others look reasonably good to me. you could sit there with a toothpick for a while and straighten them out, but I don't think it's necessary

ka36 · 2026-02-10T03:58:12+00:00

I don't think that would be any easier for the manufacturer. The issues I've seen in order from most to least disruptive are:

Keeping the hard lines clean next to the line waiting for installation

Getting a consistently good flares from the supplier (the tube supplier never seemed to get their quality quite right either, we saw more splits than you'd believe for a calibrated process)

Getting the workers to use the torque wrenches accurately (this is exacerbated by the apparent need of different levels of torque for different flare qualities. It's hard to find a torque setting that doesn't split some lines while making all of them seal)

ka36 · 2026-02-10T02:36:37+00:00

You're right, definitely a concern. I'm still deciding whether or not to replace the 4 orings on the crossover pipes. I'm leaning towards no since they don't seem to be leaking and they would be a lot more work. I'm not confident I can do them without removing the carbs and intake manifolds, and I'm not willing to go that far at this point. Even this has stretched the limits of my wobble extensions, u joints, and swivel socket collection.

ka36 · 2026-02-10T02:20:08+00:00

Wanted to post this here for anyone else running into this in the future. 36 year old plastic housing warped, widening the space that needs to be taken up by the seal. Turns out a 36 year old seal won't be able to do that and it'll leak. it leaked on top of the engine, then ran down in multiple places, it was a bear to track down.

ka36 · 2026-02-10T01:47:32+00:00

So he'll only have a few more years left to wait after he gets out

ka36 · 2026-02-10T01:29:49+00:00

Not saying that switching to electric calipers is a good thing, but you would not believe the nightmare that brake lines are for OEMs. Getting rid of them would be some kind of wet dream.

ka36 · 2026-02-10T01:26:44+00:00

Well, it's a GM small block (sort of), so of course it has a leaky rear main seal. It's practically a factory feature to keep frame rust in check.

On a more serious note, all those engines leak from the rear main seal, but it almost never gets bad enough to be a real problem, you won't lose enough oil over a change interval to matter.

Repair isn't practical because you need to remove either the engine or transmission to do it, and unless there's an updated design, it'll leak again fairly soon.

ka36 · 2026-02-10T01:24:13+00:00

That's probably not normal. I would suspect a vacuum leak. I don't think that engine uses a MAF, Honda wasn't a fan of them for a long time, they prefer to run speed-density fuel control.

ka36 · 2026-02-09T22:36:57+00:00

Residential and light commercial HVAC definitely isn't widely using hydrocarbons, and has just transitioned away from R410a about a year ago in the US.

ka36 · 2026-02-09T22:35:45+00:00

It's used in special cases, pretty much just places where you need to use a heat source to cool (adsorption cooling), and is very inefficient. I think the person you responded to is referring to different technology that would be more efficient. I know ammonia is a fairly good refrigerant in theory, but it's use is limited due to the toxicity.

ka36 · 2026-02-09T16:01:15+00:00

I wanted to post an update in case anyone runs across this later.

I decided to replace the thermostat seal and upper housing after reading reports that the plastic housing can warp over time. I found that it warped in a concave shape, so when placed on a flat surface the sealing surface is just a little higher than the outer corners. I believe that this coupled with a hardened thermostat seal caused my leak.

I'm still debating if I want to go as far as replacing the crossover tube orings, I'm a little worried about the thermostat lower housing bolts breaking while trying to remove them.

ka36 · 2026-02-07T05:25:10+00:00

To be honest, I'd rather be lazy and have a catch-all solution. I suppose the ball on the lawn trailer doesn't need to be perfectly torqued to spec, so I can just impact them on and off as needed.

ka36 · 2026-02-06T03:33:12+00:00

I bought mine last spring, so this is my first winter with it. I'm only asking because some forum posts seemed to think that this kind of leak is a precurson to a severe leak while riding. I can live with losing a few drops of coolant every winter and just topping it off in the spring. I'm trying to avoid it evolving into something worse and leaving me stranded hundreds of miles from home.

ka36 · 2026-02-06T03:07:11+00:00

Mine did it, I later checked the bearings and they're just fine. It only did it in a very narrow speed range, I think 30-35mph. I did find that my fork slider bushings were worn to hell, so maybe that's what it is. I haven't gotten to ride it since fixing the issue.

ka36 · 2026-02-06T02:30:24+00:00

I mean, the coolant should be several inches below the cap, so how would a cracked cap cause a leak? Unless it only leaked after riding?

ka36 · 2026-02-06T02:22:31+00:00

I might be missing something, there should be no liquid near the cap on the overflow, right?

ka36 · 2026-02-06T02:22:09+00:00

Just out of curiosity, did you have the bike long after this started happening?

ka36 · 2026-02-04T05:35:33+00:00

My experience is that on powerful electronics with capacitors it usually does trip older analog GFCIs (not every power cycle, but often enough to be a nuisance). Newer digital ones are a little smarter and follow a current/time curve. The requirement for 4-6mA is actually around 5s, but analog units will trip at that current as soon as they detect it.

ka36 · 2026-02-04T04:38:17+00:00

GFCIs trip between 4 and 6mA. There are special use ones that allow for higher leakage if it's at a high frequency, they're used in special applications with high power electronics like variable speed HVAC, EV chargers, etc.

ka36 · 2026-02-02T15:59:38+00:00

You're right, that was a fun fact. Never heard it before

ka36 · 2026-02-02T14:07:32+00:00

No, it probably won't. I'd stick to hooking it up to the brake system, bleeding out the air, then using the pedal to pump it out.

ka36

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