thinking of changing compressor on my 2006 with 115000 miles its pumping but just does not cool as i think it should . I have evacuated it sucked it down,changed orifice tube and used scale to put in 3 lbs of freon and it does not cool as it should. So i saw a ad on fleabay for a fs10 compressor,drier,new orifice and oil ,and orings for 179.00 so what the hell but is it a complicated hard job or pretty straight forward? I know it is a off shore compressor but i figure it has to be better than what i have. Can a compressor be weak and not pump as it should? could a saturated drier be at fault? I know there is the blend door issue but that is something i dont even know how to check any ideas?

 

You should post down in the HVAC section further down the page. That said, you should be able to tell the condition of the compressor by the pressure readings. If the high side is producing low pressure, you can be reassured the compressor is worn, given that the low side is not driven into a vacuum. You can watch the pressures from startup, and should see the high side climb, and the low side drop immediately. The condition will be indicated by two things, 1) how quickly did it develop the two pressures and stabilize and 2)what the readings are compared to the tables indicating hi/lo at a given ambient temp/relative humidity. There will be 'ballpark' numbers given the vagaries of the systems, but you should be able to tell if the compressor is worn out using the table pressures. If you are sure there are no other problems in the system.
I have a vehicle with 250k miles and the original compressor from August 1987. It still cools, but I haven't checked pressures in a while. I think it is an FS10, FWIW.
tom

 

Drier saturation isn't so much an issue with R134a systems as it was on the old R12 systems. I would definitely replace it along with the compressor, but replacing the drier itself isn't going to do much.

Without pressure readings, it's hard to tell you if the compressor will help or not.

Replacing it is pretty cut and dry though. Pour a couple of ounces of oil in the new compressor and rotate the shaft by hand several revolutions. Evacuate the system, pull it to vacuum, remove the old compressor, install the new one, pull vacuum on the system for about 30 minutes and then charge it up. Make sure you coat the O-rings with some refrigerant oil so they don't tear/roll on you on installation.

The problem people run into is sometimes a failed compressor can push debris throughout the system. This debris then can work its way into the new compressor and damage it. Usually it's best to flush and backflush the lines, evaporator, and condenser out while the compressor, drier, and orifice are out. There is a special solvent for this (A/C Flush solvent) and you can pour it into the line and blow it out with compressed air. Do this in both directions. Keep in mind this will also flush out the oil so you'll have to look up how much oil the system uses and pour about 1/3 of that into the drier, 1/6 into the evaporator, 1/6 into the condenser, and 1/6 into the compressor.

If you don't flush the system out, then you should be fine just adding a couple of ounces into the compressor work working it in by hand.