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A/C not cooling

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kennyking

New CEG'er
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
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I know this is the wrong time of year to ask... but i'm trying to fix my 99 SE up.
I put a hole in the radiator when i ran it off the road about 8 years back. I had a ford dealer perform the repair and they replaced the radiator and the A/C condensor(?) also (the thing with fins behind the radiator).

After two years the A/C stopped working. That was about 4 or 5 years ago.

I'm hoping that fixing the A/C might be just a matters of replacing the current fittings and recharging it, but I don't know much about A/C and was wondering whether letting it sit for so long could be bad for it.

I've done a successful UIM/LIM rebuild recently, so my skills are OK.

Is it bad for an A/C system to remain uncharged for a long period? If so, what problems would this cause.

What kind of equipment would I need to rent/borrow to recharge the system? I'm thinking that I'll need a vacuum pump and some gauges at a minimum.

Could this problem have resulted by the Ford tech not tightening the fittings correctly? If so, what's the best approach to fixing this? What should I check first and how do I check it?
 
first to work on the AC system you need a guage set, ie low and high pressure guages. You also need a vacuum pump.

since the system is empty you first need to bring it to a vacuum. Then I would add 2 cans of R-134a with UV dye. You may need to manually jump the low pressure switch to turn the pump on so that the system can be filled. Run the system for the next two days and then check for leaks then go from there.
 
BrApple said:
first to work on the AC system you need a guage set, ie low and high pressure guages. You also need a vacuum pump.

since the system is empty you first need to bring it to a vacuum. Then I would add 2 cans of R-134a with UV dye. You may need to manually jump the low pressure switch to turn the pump on so that the system can be filled. Run the system for the next two days and then check for leaks then go from there.
Click to expand...


Also, before you add the 134, turn off the vacuum and leave the gauges sit. If there is a leak in the system you will be able to see.
 
QuickFix said:
Also, before you add the 134, turn off the vacuum and leave the gauges sit. If there is a leak in the system you will be able to see.
Click to expand...


yes but that will not tell you where the leak is. That is the purpose of the R-134A with UV dye ...
 
vacuum & gauge rental

vacuum & gauge rental

Can the vacuum pump and guages be rented?

i'm in the Philly area.

Thanks tons for your help. This website is outstanding!
 
you can get a cheap set of guages from autozone for about $50 or the pro set for $80. I also got a vacuum pump from the eastwood company that runs off 90 psi shop air for about ~$60 or so
 
If you didn't want to buy the gagues and/or fool with it, then you could always pay a shop to do it... they usually charge around $99 for a recharge/system check. But a set of the gauges is about the same price, and you'd be able to use them forever.
 
gauges

gauges

Right!

If the tools to do it myself cost about the same as having someone else do it for the first time, i'll opt to buy the tools and do it myself.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll check out autozone.
 
A/C leaks

A/C leaks

A common leak is the accumulator tank rusts out. It is to the left and below the battery on V6 cars. I had the compressor case O-ring leak on mine (replaced compressor with Motorcraft). Found O-ring later and fixed it for "future use" it is sitting on the garage shelf...Sometimes, the A/C clutch will click on and not grab, although that shows up when the compressor has a lot of use (yours had a lot of time off).
 
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clutch on / off

clutch on / off

thanks

how do you test that the clutch is coming on/off? Is this just an audible load on the motor?
 
Ok lets not jump to conclusions and assume the freon is gone. Lets ask some questions and do some troubleshooting first.

What do you mean it stopped working? Does the inside fan run? is the air coming out but not cool? Do you hear the compressor cycling at all? Does the engine cooling fan come on? have you checked fuses? You can get a $10 simple gauge to test the low pressure side only to see some data on state of charge to determine if you need to go further with the charging. It could be a simple as the low pressure cycle switch. I had to replace two of them this year (two out of three contours I have)

Harbour freight usually has gauges for about 30 or 40. They also have a vacuum pump for under 20.

P.S. depending on the outside air temp troubleshooting A?C in the winter can be problematic. The pressures can get really screwey and the air in the car it too cold to evaporate the freon.
 
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