You Red Baron types are tuff, or was Von Ricktoven the Blue Max. My AC is not hooked up currently, but the Mountains are much cooler than the South end.

 

Eh up here in Washington we don't have enough heat to use AC, plus i wouldn't want to go through the trouble of getting one hoked up in TGM... Not worth it.

 

Well my condensor hook up is broken and so is the line to the dryer to the condensor. Will get it tomorrow and let them put it all on while I'm off.

Condensor $118
+
Line $27
=
AC starting to suck

 

Wow... And i thought paying $30 to but the refilling crap was expensive.

 

The problem when converting vehicles that were originally filled with R12 to R134a is that they don't work as well with R134a as they did with R12. One reason is that the condensor is to small for R134a. This is not to say that it won't work, because it will. I had the A/C in my 1990 Bronco blowing 38 degrees on R134a after it was converted, with the stock condensor. As long as you are moving the A/C will work fine. But when you come to idle on a converted system with a stock condensor the temperature will rise quickly. After a few minutes idling mine would go from 38 degrees to almost 60 degrees. There are a few band aids for this issue, such as "special" R134a that is supposed to run colder and "booster" additives that again are supposed to make it run colder. I tried them and never noticed any difference. As far as mechanical fixes you can either get a larger condensor if you can find one, I heard that Ford does make one and that it is recommended for R12 to R134a conversions, but I've never seen it and cannot tell you for sure. The other option is to ad an electric "pusher" fan or fans in front of your condensor. The reason being that the factory fan won't pull enough air in to sufficiently cool an R12 condensor that is using R134a. So you put the pusher fan(s) in front of the condensor to cool it (btw the condensor is the thing that looks like a smaller radiator in front of your radiator). This should solve the problem of the condensor being too small because you'll be having more air blow through it at idle. Once you are driving again the electric fan is no longer needed. It's only for idle. I was going to hook mine up like this - the pusher fan would only run when the A/C was on; and it would only run under, say, 800 rpm or so. So you're not driving around with the pusher fan on all the time for no reason. You only want it to come on when you are idling with the A/C on.

One further problem with A/C in Broncos is that the vents are physically far away from the driver and the blower fan is not very strong. So it's hard to get that nice cold air blowing on your face, where you can really feel it. There's not much to be done about those situations, unless you could find a higher powered fan) but if you use exterior an exterior pusher fan in front of the compressor this should keep the truck cool enough at all times to where this is no longer an issue,

Now be aware that Ford started using R134a in 1992 (I believe) so these problems don't apply to 1992-1996 Broncos. If your truck came standard with R134a then you don't need to worry about larger condensors or pusher fans in front of them (or both).

Yes, I miss my Bronco, but when it's 100 degrees outside I appreciate my '04 Explorer's excellent A/C system. It was designed for R134a of course, and the blower fan is a monster, especially on high. It's like a hurricane in there when you put the fan on high. Sometimes if I'm working outdoors and get real hot I just go sit in my Explorer with the A/C on to cool me down!

 

This was the compressor i had for my 82 mustang. The huge rusty tank in there,

I never did a proper A/C refill due to being only about 17 and not wanting to do anything that would cripple the car in any way so me and my brother just used the Walmart fill up cans they have. It worked for maybe a month before leaking all the refrigerant out.

Anyways there is a thread about the whole blower motor issue so they might have found a solution/finding one. When i think about, yeah you can go and find a strong fan or put some extra fans in, OR it seams you could do a custom re-routing on the tunnel channels that the air flows through. The designs are from 20+ years ago most likely so there is probably better designs an better material. I don't know for sure on this as my 78 only has the dash and floor selector but if you got some small piping that was real smooth, something like PVC pipe or something like it and routed that with the least amount of corners, kinks, and bumps you might see improvement. Then you have the issue of the blower housing which i don't think you could modify it to work any better but others might say different. If i had the time and patients to drop my entire setup out from the motor to the top vents to see how it worked, i could incorporate dash vents in and use the heater in winter easier but it doesn't seem practical. These are just dome ideas to think about.

 

Well they lowered the price to $150. It don't get too cold in one vent, it gets warm. I don't know if I am having vent issues. I know not having a floor mat is also keeping it warm inside. He put the temperature sensor toward the floor (100 degrees), towards the firewall (85-100 degrees), farthest driverside vent (49-57 degrees), next driverside vent (60-74 degrees), passenger vent- left one (51-56 degrees) and the right one (51-57 degrees).

He put in alot of R134A and he was afraid too..he put about 320 in. He said 250 is enough but it wasn't getting cold enough.

When I first got there the dryer and the AC line was cold and had condensation on it. We rode down the road and it was cool then we turned around and it got a little warm a little bit. We got back to the shop and the dryer and the line was dry and cool, not cold and having condensation as before (I thought it might was due to the engine bay heat with the hood closed), so he checked it to see what the pressure was and it was still at 250-270. The dryer and the line didn't get cold and having condensation on it until he started putting the r134a to about 300+.

We checked for leaks but couldn't find none.

So......I guess I put in my flooring and stuff...and we will go from there...and I will use the AC to see how it works.

 

Well good luck with it, it is definitely nice to have in warm weather.

 

The dryer should have condensation on it all of the time, it sounds like there's a blockage within the system. Did the garage check/flush out the evap core? Do you have any idea of the amount of vacuum the system held?

I know that it's being a PIA right now, but once you get it straightened out it will be worth it.

 

They said they did. He said 250 is what its suppose to be usually but it has 320 or so.

 

Well Ive notice that when i have my ac and vent off that a strong blow of air is still comin out of my vents. My defroster is blowin out of my vents and not the one where it is suppose to come out. So that might be why my ac does like it does...i mean it blows out cold but i know im losing some..

 

if you have air coming out of places it isn't supposed to, it could definitely be a big part of what is wrong. Check the plastic vacuum lines that control the servo motors for vent control.

 

That don't sound good. It could be the blend door acting up.