brettbolander

I am trying to find out how to easiest put a Nippondenso style compressor in our 1983 300TDT that needs a new compressor, but I do not want to put the same GM R4 compressor in there again. Anyone done this, or know how to best get the newer Nippondenso in there? I thought maybe using a bracket from an '86-'88 6 cylinder might work, but not sure how different the mounting points on the block between the 5 cyl & 6cyl may be. I can get the '86 bracket new for $143 from the dealer, and that would be worth every penny if it bolted right in. I can’t seem to find any drawings of the '86 bracket that have dimensions on them in order to check the fit. There are some kits on e-bay to convert from the York compressor to the Nippondenso, but not sure if those will fit or not. They include year 1982 but not '83. Our '82 wagon is identical to our '83 as far as the A/C and engine are concerned, so I would guess maybe it would work, but not sure. Anyone have experience with this? Please don’t try to convince me to just stay with the R4 compressor. We have had 2 fail, and have heard of many others fail. I know this is the single worst part on the entire car as far as reputation for being unreliable, and when I rebuild this A/C I want it to last as long as possible. Any help ASAP is really appreciated. My wife & kids don’t need to drive around in this heat any longer without A/C. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, I will be using Freeze 12 and a parallel flow condensor after much research into this. Thanks.

Brett
1983 300TDT (163,000 mi)
1982 300TDT (210,000 mi)

johnshasteen

I won't try to convince you to stay with the R4, but you may just be unlucky or did you get reconditioned units??? I have an '84 300CD with 202,000 miles and my wife drives an '82 300SD with 250,000+ miles. We have replaced the R4 compress only once on each car over the past 22-24 years and both blow very cold air - and hers has been converted from freon. If either car has AC problems in the future, I won't not go to some jury-rigged set up.

brettbolander

They were not reconditioned units. I don’t want to get any argument started, but I know historically that the R4 is much less reliable on average than a Nippondenso or Sanden type, which is what Mercedes changed to in 1986 anyway. I have no interest in jury-rigging or cobbling something together, but I do have interest in the most reliable parts I can put on our cars. If there is a clean way (using a pre-existing bracket from another year, etc.) then I would simply rather have a more quality part on there since I am rebuilding the entire system anyway (flush properly, new synthetic oil, etc.) I realise that the vacuum pump is very close to the compressor, and that I may not have any other choice than to use the R4, but I would prefer to avoid that if I can at reasonable cost/ease of installation. I was simply hoping to tap into our resource here to see if anyone else has already done this, since I know many owners out there would gladly change to the better compressor. Anyone had success with doing this already? Thanks.

Brett