Hey everyone,

I just checked the HVAC FAQ sticky and found my symptom and problem listed there with corrective action. Thank you for that. Extremely helpful.

My issue is, I'm on crutches due to a recent foot surgery. Doctor's orders do not allow me to put any weight on that foot for at least another week.

Does anyone have a picture of these port connections for the truck listed in my signature? I'd like to see where they're located before I hobble on out to the truck. I have a feeling I'm not gonna be able to do this on crutches and my daughters need the A/C working.

Any help, advice, direction, and / or pictures are greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

One is located up by the filter dryer on pass side, the other is on drivers side down by the battery.

I'm not sure if they had the updated system in 97 or not though.

 

No pics, but the low side switch is screwed onto the receiver/ drier which is the can looking thing by the heater box. The high side swith is located on the back of the compressor. The wiring harness for the high side runs from the clutch to the high side switch.

 

Thanks guys. I'm hoping I can get this fixed before my daughter graduates high school in a couple of weeks. I also have out-of-state relatives who will be using the truck while they're here.

 

Well, I didn't get this done yet. I have a vacuum pump and a manifold gauge set. Do most vacuum pumps accommodate recovering leftover refrigerant in the system? Or do they just pull a vacuum? Do I need a recovery-specific "tool" or can I use my vacuum pump to recover the refrigerant I put into the system?

I tried recharging the A/C with the Walmart DIY R134a in a can, but that didn't work. That's how I found the leak. Now that I have some refrigerant back in the system, I need to recover that to check for vacuum leaks.

I haven't checked my vacuum pump to see if it can be used for refrigerant recovery purposes. I'm fully off the crutches and am anxious to get started on this repair.

 

To recover the refrigerant you need a recovery set up. Best to have the system discharged and the refrigerant recovered by a licensed shop. Many of them will give you a credit for the refrigerant they recover. If the first one you call won't, call another until you find one that will. Then fix the leak and use the vacuum pump to verify that the system will hold vacuum. Then go back to the shop and have them recharge the system.

 

That was the plan. I checked it again today and the system was completely discharged. The $0.67 green o-ring is damaged and a piece of the o-ring is missing. The system has four of these green o-rings (P/N 380977-S). I ordered all four. They should be in Wednesday. I'll probably replace all four of them now, just to be done with it and to prevent future leaks. Hopefully, I'll be able to fix this by this weekend.

 

Still no luck on this. There are several different o-ring sizes in the system even though the dealership diagram explicitly shows these four o-rings should be the same size. Anyway...

Is there an o-ring kit available somewhere?

I want to replace all of the o-rings in the system to eliminate the possibility of having more than one bad o-ring.

I'm beginning to think the o-rings I purchased from the dealership are not correct (wrong size) anymore. I received the correct part number listed on the diagram, but I'm having doubts.

When I vacuumed the system, it lost vacuum faster with the new o-ring in place than it did with the damaged o-ring in place. I'm at the point of heading to NAPA or AutoZone to see what they might have available.

We're having multiple days of 100*F-up temps and driving the truck, even for a few miles, is no longer as fun as it used to be.

 

I looked at your previous posts and you didn't indicate where the leaking oring is located.
All of the chain parts stores sell an oring kit that should. cover what you need. They break them down by Ford, GM and Chrysler/Import IIRC.

 

The o-ring is on the left side, near the radiator. I'll take a look next time I'm in the parts store. I'm hoping it's just the wrong size o-ring from the dealership. The part number matches the diagram, but the o-ring is black, not green. IDK if that matters or not, but even with the new o-ring installed, my system won't a vacuum.