Got a 1995 ford explorer eb. Had it for a wile n nvr needed or worried to git ac working. But now the wife is 6 months pregnant n will need ac for the baby since she mostly drives it. Will it b a simple ac charge or does the whole system have to b swapped out?

 

you can try a recharge 1st. turn the ac all the way to maxine and put in a can of whichever you use..im sure its 134...in the low side. you can tell the low side by feeling the tube...it should be the colder side...and sometimes the fitting that comes with the can of freon wont fit any but the low side fitting. use a spray bottle with soapy H2O to hunt for leaks. if this is a high milage vehicle then leaks can be spotted by looking for dirty residual oil around fittings. also check closely around the compressor pully in the area of the drive shaft between the compressor housing and the pulley. that can be a sneaky leaky. your guage should read in the dreen...i think around 12 to 14 mark...someone correct me if im wrong...id have to double check that. if all is ok hopefully you arent looking at spending several hundred $s on AC repairs. walmart has the best price on freon ive found at 6 to 7 dollars a can. stay away from autozone and napa...12 to 16 dollars and more with the charge hose. hope this helps.

 

It has. But I don't kno the year that everything has to b updated to the new stuff.... to be able to recharge it.. it woulda cotsed $250 on her old explorer to git upgraded to new system but that was in a 91'. That's y we didn't try n git this charged untill now...

 

The year everything sold in the US had to be R-134a was 1994.

-Rod

 

you can still buy R12 on ebay...its a lil pricey but available....and IMHO a much better coolant than R134. as a matter of fact im considering recharging my 134 system with R12. i just may do this today.

 

y is 12 better then 134? if its so much better y did we change it over?

 

Why are you talking about R12. A 1995 does not use R12, so get some cans of R134a and be done with it. If an AC system has been left without a charge for a while, the chances of air getting into the system increase dramatically. Trust me on this, let a pro deal with this, do not try to fix it yourself unless you are already knowledgeable about this, which you obviously aren't or you wouldn't be asking about it here.

If you attempt to recharge the system and it has air in it, the R134a will chemically react with any moisture in the system to form acid which will destroy your cooling system from the inside. Guess which is the more expensive mistake? Thats right, doing it yourself has the potential to be much more expensive than letting a pro do it.

 

my buddy has a 97 that had been sitting for 6+years. the air didnt blow cold. we charged it with 2 cans of 134 aand it is blowing cold to this day. so you never REALLY know do you. they discontinued R12 they said because of what it does to the atmosphere. about the same time they started requiring folks to use recovery machines as well. r12 works better because of something to do with the chemical makeup of the product. im not sure what but you could probably google it. dont stop asking questions about anything that comes to mind. its always better to check out all possibilities before you make a decision on anything.
after all thats what this site is all about isnt it.

 

u r a fine example of a good person...

and yes i was going to that a shop do it. i was asking the question bc a simple rechage is $65. to replace all the hoses and lines to upgrade the whole system is $200+. so i just wnated to know what i had so i could budget for it.

 

Yeah, you don't necessarily need to replace anything major. Typically what the shop will do is pull a vacuum and remove any and all air or old refrigerant from the system and check for leaks under vacuum. If the system holds vacuum, they will refill with the proper refrigerant with a new oil charge. They will possibly add a dye to the system, I would check and make sure they do, if it leaks again, which it probably will, the dye will help them find the leak. Sometimes it will hold long enough, but if it leaks out in the next little while you might be looking at a simple seal. If the charge has been gone long enough, the system could still be contaminated with moisture, the receiver drier might need to be replaced to get rid of it. If they do that they will also replace the orifice tube, which is not expensive, and it will often reveal the health of the system. I would start with the recharge and see where it goes. Just don't try the recharge yourself. The system needs to be vacuumed out first to prevent further problems, especially since it sound like you need this to work.

 

Yea they explained to me the whole process. They don't jus wam bam thank u ma'm.... its $65 to do all that. I take it for ride for few days to let dye n all pass through..then come bak n they check it. If anything leaked I haved to pay for parts but they will do free recharge...