I've got a 93 Ranger 2.3L with 226,000 miles and the A/C finally quit. It's never been serviced it's whole life. It's still got R-12 freon in it. About a month ago I put on an idler pulley because the pulley exploded and the belt broke. Well now last weekend the belt broke again but everything turns freely, except the clutch on the A/C pulley. The mechanic told me even with the truck just sitting and the engine not running the A/C clutch should be able to be turned. Well I tested it on my 98 Ranger and it did turn with some resistance but on this 93 with the broken belt the A/C clutch was totally locked. I couldn't turn it at all. My question is, I know it's locked but the A/C compressor wasn't making any unusual noises, the A/C was colder than my 98. So how do I know if I need to just replace the A/C clutch or do a whole conversion with a new compressor? I'm so not looking forward to doing a conversion on this system, I've heard of people doing nothing but vacuuming down and adding oil and R134a and having success and then others doing the complete conversion and having the worst luck.

 

It could be just a clutch bearing failure, which wouldn't be surprising after all those miles. I assume you can remove the clutch assembly on your 2.3L without removing the compressor or disturbing the rest of the system. You'll probably know a lot more once you do that.

Why are you committed to a conversion? Even if the compressor is dead, you can buy a reman from Rockauto and still keep the system R-12.

 

I would suspect the compressor needs changing. The belt will break when the compressor locks up. At least on my 98 ranger the compressor is on the top on the drivers side, a real easy fix. The clutch disc should have a .030" gap when not engaged. If the unit was cycling often, the freon is usually low.