just got an 86 f150 straight six and the ac dont work. Vents acctually dont blow at all. When u cut it on at dash you can hear the fan cutting on but dont blow any air out of the vents. Also when i cut the ac on the compressor doesnt cut on. Doesnt seemed to be locked up i can manually spin it. Havent tested voltage at the compressor or anything yet.. Just wanted to see if yall had any ideas this is basically my first ford. I guess I need to worry about getting air out of my vents at all first and then worry about getting the compressor straight.

 

Feel around the defrost vents. If the air is coming out of the defrost vents, check to make sure your vacuum line coming out of the pass side firewall under the hood is hooked up to a vacuum source.

 

ok every lil bit helps thanks

 

Same thing when I got mine. When you lift the hood, on the right side of the engine bay (passenger side), you can see the back of the blower motor up against the firewall. There are 4 screws that hold the fan in place, remove those screws, pull the fan motor out of the way and see how much crap is stuffed in the hole that prevents air from moving from the fan to the vent holes. My truck had been setting for three years and a rat had built a nest that was completely blocking the hole and no air would come out of the vents. I put a glove on and pulled everything I could get my hands on, then I used my shop vac to get the rest of it. Once you do that, your fan will blow strong!

 

Ok cool thanks ill try that!

 

I'm betting on Dave's suggestion, meaning that you'll probably find the air coming out the defrost vents as defrost is the default position when the vacuum is off. But, if yours is like both of my '82s you may find that the vacuum line coming out of the heater box is actually broken off.

There is a fitting in the top of the box through which 2 small plastic lines run. But, the lines get brittle and are easily broken off. One of those is the main vacuum to the HVAC system, and the other is vacuum coming out to the recirculate motor.

I drilled the fitting out and put short pieces of small copper tubing through the holes and ran epoxy into the fitting and around the pieces of tubing to hold them. When it set up I used pieces of very small rubber vacuum line to connect the plastic tubing to the copper tubing on both sides of the fitting and the problem was solved.

However, Superred2 may also be correct, as mine was FULL of junk. So, even if you have to repair the vacuum line(s) I'd suggest you also pull the blower motor and clean the plenum out.

 

Ok superred was right about this one... I pulled the blower motor and the duct had a rats nest in it. I guess thats what happens when you leave the truck down at the hunt club for two years haha. so i cleaned it all out and i now have good air flow at all my vents. I pulled the connector off of the ac compressor and cut the ac on at the dash. Tested voltage at connector and got nothing.... Any ideas? Fuse? switch?

 

99% of the time the A/C compressor will not kick on because you are low on freon. Look at the can thing on the pass side under the hood that goes to the A/C system pipes. Somewhere on it or around it should be a switch with two wires going to it. Take the plug off the switch, and with the engine running and the levers on "A/C" take a jumper and jump across the two terminals in the plug. If the compressor kicks in, then you know you are low on freon. Now would be a good time to buy a r134a kit from Walmart and change it over.

 

Just tried that...that work it kicked right on...Thanks for the help I wouldnta thought to try that.. What all do I need to convert the system to 134?

 

Good news, you're almost there!

Like Franklin2 said, if you go to Walmart, you can get an R134a kit and that will have everything you need to convert to 134. It has the larger fittings that screw onto your existing fittings and the hose to administer the new gas. You may need oil for the compressor. I took mine by the local shop and my mechanic vacuumed out all of the old stuff and then charged it for me for about $100 bucks.

 

Cool thanks how much is the conversion kit at walmart?

 

read this.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7413795

 

The kit was around $30-$40 last time I looked. The r134a that comes with it already has the proper oil in the freon. You do need to put a vacuum on the system to pull the old refrigerant out and get any moisture out of it. Then you can put the r134a in. If you are not up to educating yourself on how to do it, then you might want to do what the previous poster did, and pay someone to do it. I had access to a vacuum pump. Harbor Freight has a vacuum pump that works on air pressure, and it has good reviews, but you do need a large air compressor to run it.

 

Yea a buddy of mine has that vacuum from harbor freight.....if I do that do I need to replace the dryer and anything else

 

i know there will be some that disagree with me but if you can get your hands on R12 I would use that and NOT convert. R12 cools better and was designed for our system. you're supposed to have a license to obtain the stuff but you can find it once in a while on craigslist. the stuff is expensive as gold practically but worth it IMO.