280 Factory AC folks,  Look what just became available on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Four+Seasons+33286+Filter+Drier

Edited May 21, 20177 yr by gwri8

Yes, I received a notification from Amazon that it was now available and ordered it yesterday.  The shipping estimate is about 4 weeks.

ordered mine from autoplicity, lets see how this goes.

Please pardon my ignorance guys, I have the factory AC unit on my "78 and it runs perfectly. Is the drier in question something that craps out often and was impossible to find previously? Is it worth just having one "just in case"?

anytime you have to open up the closed system its recommended that you replace. the 33286 has been NLA for a while. Since all AC systems will eventually need service if the drier is hard to come by it makes since to have a spare. I plan to replace my compressor in the not too distant future. Also driers can be rebuilt, but not cheap.

As far as crapping out, they are nothing but a pressure vessel with a desiccant bag so absorb moisture. The idea is to get any residual moisture out after vacuuming the system and recharging. Water in the system will wreak havoc on a air con system, besides making it not cool I think I have read it can be corrosive in an R12 system. bottom line is nothing to break so as long as your system is working, the drier should never be a problem.

Edited May 21, 20177 yr by Dave WM

54 minutes ago, dmorales-bello said:

Please pardon my ignorance guys, I have the factory AC unit on my "78 and it runs perfectly. Is the drier in question something that craps out often and was impossible to find previously? Is it worth just having one "just in case"?

As a general rule of thumb for me and my 77',  If a part is hard or impossible to get, it's almost guaranteed that I'm going to need it somewhere, sometime.  In this case I've been searching 2 yrs. for a drier because I've wanted to keep the functionality of the factory controls.  There are work arounds but they either didn't appeal to me or were too expensive.  I think MSA was selling a similar drier for factory fittings at around $300 and it had to be made after the order was placed.  Now maybe I can get AC this year after all.

Funny how things change.  When I had my 71' the first thing I did was to remove the dealer AC and smog stuff for speed reasons.   Now, It's more about keeping semi-cool.

Totally agree with you guys. This is the kind of thing that can become a huge headache anytime. Thanks for the heads up and advice. Just placed an order from Amazon.

Dave

Four Seasons is a major aftermarket manufacturer of AC components. They have a parts catalog online; if you look at it, you'll see they make stuff for just about everything. Based on my research last year, they're pretty well regarded for their parts (I had a compressor blow up in my G35 late last year and replaced it with a Four Seasons unit). Good to see a big manufacturer still making parts for our cars!

amazon sent email canceling order. guess it was too good to be true.

Mine cancelled also.  I'm curious DaveWM,  you said you ordered from autoplicity.  Did you receive one from there?

I got the same cancellation from Amazon as well!

3 hours ago, gwri8 said:

Mine cancelled also.  I'm curious DaveWM,  you said you ordered from autoplicity.  Did you receive one from there?

Nope but they cancelled much faster, then I ordered from amazon.