Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting FORD SAYS - Condensor has slow leak in seam for AC

I paid about $50 to $75 for Ford to find this with their sniffer (UV light) ..
and by the way, don't EVER take your car to Pep-boys for AC -- u get the wrong guy and your screwed .. .. because PBY indicated it just needed a recharge when in fact days before it had been recharged and only made cold air about 5 days before it got warmer and warmer.

So last year Ford dealer said the condser neede replacement.
That it would probably be cheaper to replace it than repair it . PBY does have this for $139 (special order - received in 3-5 days) .. You can get the disconnect tool for $8.

I read in the archive about a guy repairing .. someone said maybe JB-weld type high-temp epoxy-'metal' then another guy said no, on a hot day there is way too much pressure --

The condensor is Aluminum I beleive so , it either gets a TIG weld or nothing .. epoxy wouldn't hold the pressure.
Then a pressure test... (not worth the hastle ).

So this means the condensor needs replacing.

1. Has anybody recently replaced the condensor ?
(Apparently little rocks easily get up there and break it)

2. What probability is there that the compressor O-rings
need replacing?

3. The evaporator - would that have evaporated the dessicant being that the vehicle sat for a year .. AC recharged and evacuated about 3 times and then has not been in working condition about another 9 months ?

Thanks,
Eric
Rochester,NY

not sure about any answers to u'r questions. but if u want a used condensor for CHEAP, then PM me.

what is a PM ?
I can get a new condensor from pby for $139.
is yours better quality and with what warranty ?

Anybody pull a condensor lately ? my highly illustrated Haynes manual indicates to unbolt the condensor. It says to see illustration 7.5 )( and lift it out of the vehicle.
Turning back 5 pages I see ill. 7.5 has a pic of the radiator mounting bracket-to-subframe bolts (A) and the air conditioning system condensor mounting bolt (B).

Unfortunately, it doesnt indicate if one needs to remove A before B or A & B or B before A .

Anybody pulled one of these and recall the experience ?

PM = Private Message, click 'My Home' button above.

two condensor bolts on bottom, and you drop it out after removing a/c lines with Ford tools. you have to wiggle it out, helps to have some1 on each side to see how to pull it. my condensor is used with ~80k miles on it, should be ok, no warranty, but very very cheap.

Only thing on my AC that gave me trouble are the cheap hoses Ford got from BadYear. Leaked on both cars. Wally Mart stop leak actually stopped the leaks on both cars. Latest bug is the compressor relay. It would flake out and the AC would die. Big yellow relay next to the WOT (blue) relay in the middle of the relay box. Cost 9 bucks to fix. This relay has been known to cause the failure of clutch coils due to insufficient current.

ok .. well advice to buy a thing from wally (motorcraft oil filter) worked before .. so i broke down to get the MaxiSeal 2 step system repair all metal and then rubber leak seal kit for $11+ . I also bought (about $25) the complete R-134A service kit which is the connector hose with pressure guage and 14 oz of refrigerant.

My question is : the AC hasnt had a diagnostic in nearly a year. I havent really used it and at that time it was charged.
Should I charge the system first then add the maxi-seal OR
add the maxiseal and then charge the system (which I have no idea of how much pressure [low side?] exists.
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The MaxiSeal step 1 can indicates 'if system is empty follow application of maxi seal #2 with a full refrigerant charge'. I would suppose that you could do the MaxiSeal 1st but maybe its better to do it after ? Anybody know ?

If I neeed additional refrigerant, I need to add 2 oz of oil per can- how do you do that ? ( I guess it is mixed in with some kinds of refrigerant ? )
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The last i knew is that with a charge on the ac it would blow cold air about 6 days before it became progressively warm to the point of not much air cooling capacity.

Well.. I just coulnd't wait....
I started her up cracked the garage door and away I went with my Maxiseal.
Bottle 1 followed by bottle 2 on the low pressure side.

Then -- not knowing the state of the pressure, and reading the instructions indicating to immediately recharge if low.. i quickly got the r134a with pressure dial attached .

I am not certain if it had been circulating for 3 minutes
and I had it on max but the fan on low.. I turned it up to level 3 of 4 after a couple minutes.

My thermometer in the car was at about 65.

The pressure said 35. which is inbtween the low 25 and high 45 -- but the instructions say the dial is accurate for an ambient of 75 to 85 and it was lower so I figured it was lower than 35 so I would add some refrigerant ( I should have left well enuf alone). Then I saw the thing getting up to the other colors andthen red , but I should have realized that happens when you recharge and it circulates.

So , stupidly, after maybe a few more minutes I pulled the schrader valve andprobably lost some of the maxi seal crap when i did this, not to mention the freyon wass pissing and hissing all over then i saw i could close that back down on the can with the brass puncture valve( but i doubt that it has much seal to it ). I didnt see that high pressure again it seemed to be back down to 35 again when i checked it in a minute or so without the refrigerant valve going.

Anyway, the car temp was up to 70 with max ac and fan on 3rd high. So .... what is the problem ? even if there was a slow leak, there was sufficient coolant pressure on the low side to , it would seem, allow the cooling to occurr.

I am no AC expert, is anybody out there? Does anybody have an idea of what is going on here ?

thx in adv.

Note contact your insurance agent, if the dealer will verify stone damage/road hazard this maybe covered under your "comprehensive" same as damage to windsheilds. I'll save you the hassle of trying to fix-it.
My dad a few years ago had this happen to his Crown-Vic and the service manager told about it. Dad had dealt with this dealer for the last 50 years didn't hurt either.
Motorists Mutual was the insurance. Must be one of those secret coverages????
Won't hurt to ask.
Paul