I'm trying to help a friend recharge the AC on his 1998 Ford Ranger. It was stock with R-134A so there is no conversion required however I am having problems locating the low pressure valve to hook up the hose. I've found 2 valves: One located on the compressor itself and the other hooked to some thin tubing that disappears into the radiator. Logic tells me the second line is high pressure since the tubing has such a small diameter but I've never charged a system directly into the compressor before. Can anyone shed some light as to which is which or is there another one that I don't know about. TIA

 

Hi jinx, welcome to Ford Truck Enthusiasts!

The A/C low pressure charge valve is actually located on the Accumulator, not the Compressor (maybe that 's what you meant).

The Accumulator is located on the passenger side of the engine compartment, near the windshield-washer fluid reservoir.

This should give you a better idea of what I am talking about:

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just wanted to say "Thank you very much!" to Rockledge. I have spent hours today on the internet and staring under the hood trying to determine which was the proper suction inlet valve. I had some old instructions from an R-12 recharge system, and that said the suction valve was near the compressor and had a hex cap on top, which it did...but other instructions made me think it was the larger diameter pipe with the small valve.

Thank you so very much, you have made this 20-year-old's day a very happy one. I didn't want to ask a mechanic or my neighbor, I wanted to research it...and finally found it! It only took about 4 hours of searching, with nearly 30 different key words, and moving quotes around.

If you don't mind, I'm eventually going to put a small page up on my Jon8RFC site so that other ranger owners have a little bit extra chance of stumbling upon your information. I'd like to cite you for the information and image, a link to this thread, and anything else you'd like me to add. Please let me know if you're still around anymore

Again, thank you!

 

Welcome to FTE Jon8RFC! Glad to help out.

If you want to link to this thread from your own site, make sure you indicate on your page that the link is to "Ford Truck Enthusiasts".

Speaking of FTE, why don't you hang around some? There's a whole bunch you can learn from this place. Lots of knowledgeable people drop in all the time around here.