2011 XLT, w/build date of 1/11. V6, 2wd 133k miles

Wife was an hour into a 2 hour trip & idling at a drive through on high 80s' day when compressor began to growl & RPMs dropped.

She shut the AC off & finished trip w/out AC. After a few hours rest, I tried to replicate issue (Cooled fine, no noise) but eventually it did begin to growl & stopped cooling. Shut off AC noise lessened, took a minuet to completely stop.

Friend recommended a down & dirty "try it" fix of replacing pressure switch on drier, so I did with a Murray (OE) unit.

Weather was rather cool for next few, so system not too stressed, but seemed to be OK when used.

Today we got up in high 80s and spent most of the day in the car & late in the afternoon when I went to start it, problem was there again.

Research has revealed this year might or might not have desiccant bag disintegration issue.

Any tips, recommendations or procedures I need to make SURE are followed to insure that I'm not taken to the cleaners when I settle on a service entity & that I have a reasonable expectation that this will actually get fixed?

From an earlier thread that MIGHT be relevant:


My drier Engineering number is # 9L84-19E961-AD which MAY be a later item & not subject to bursting AT ALL but...

Again, any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Confusing since you think it's the A/C growling yet it works fine at other times. Makes me wonder if it's possibly the belt idler bearing failing under the increased A/C load.

Remove the belt and see how it feels or even replace it to eliminate it.

 

Thanks for the response.

I'll pull the belt & check idler this PM when it comes home. Hope that's it.

But from observation of the one time (hood up, eyes/ears on compressor clutch activation/deactivation when hot) and the way the noise stuck around & "ramped down"...

I presume its a internal pressure issue. It seems to take time for pressure bled off from the compressor (rather than instant "noise" off when the clutch disengages)

I'm just worried that A) won't be able to reproduce problem at shop (and thus measure pressures) or B) go through a series of repairs till everything is replaced piece-meal.

 

Another point is that when the clutch disengages at that point the A/C pulley is rotating its bearing and when the clutch engages that bearing isn't be rotated. If your A/C is switched OFF then that bearing is being rotated all the time.

On a cold engine clutch engaged, high side pressure goes up, clutch disengaged, high side pressure goes down and low side goes up. On a cold engine, high and low side pressure should be equal value depending on ambient temperature.

 

Idler turns free & smooth.

Off to a shop in AM I've used before who has been good about "working with me" in the past.

 

Shop called to tell me they couldn't get Escape to growl after warming it up & leaving it to idle.

So before they cracked the system, I went over & drove it for an hour, including grabbing a burger & eating it in the parking lot. Got the noise at quick shut down & re-start.

Dropped it back at the shop & they quickly diagnosed it as passenger side COOLING FAN when it hit high speed.

Talk about feeling dumb.

$36 for 1/2hr diagnostic fee that I gladly paid. Picked up Murray labeled VDO fan module ($199, seems to be 100% identical) & put it in last night.

Going on a short FL trip next week. Hope it all hangs together.

When I get back, I'm considering proactively changing drier & will inquirer about what flat rate is on changing it out. I think Rock has recommended Motorcraft unit for less than $100.

 

Brain farts are a daily occurrence for me at my age, I just live with them!

 

And the bad news is... the receiver/drier with Eng.# 9L84-19E961-AD IS the problem part.

That is the Eng.# on our Sept. '09 build 2010. I did a proactive replacement of it about 2 1/2 years ago.
The new improved Motorcraft receiver/drier assembly has Ford part # BL8Z-19C836-B (ENGINEERING PN BL84-19E961-AB) as makuloco states in his post. It is also known as Motorcraft part # 37237.

My new Motorcraft assembly that I ordered from RockAuto was labelled that way.

In addition to the receiver/drier, a Ford/Motorcraft gasket & seal kit will be needed. The reason is, in replacing the receiver/drier, two connections are opened up. The R/D assembly comes with ONE gasket & seal kit. But need one more. I ordered it up at a Ford dealer, though it is probably available by its Motorcraft part # other places by now, I would guess.

It's Motorcraft YF-3534, also labelled 9W7Z-19B596-A (the Ford #) Gasket Kit. It contains one gasket (gasket is a ring overmolded onto an aluminum plate), and one O-ring. Both are used together in the connection.

And some PAG-46 refrigerant oil will be needed also.

I bought the complete ready-to-go Motorcraft R/D assembly, rather than other manufacturer's cartridge-only replacement part. The cartridge-only is cheaper, but you don't get a new sensor up top, and you have to disassemble and re-use the black plastic holder from the old assembly.

I took my old holder apart, to take out the old "cartridge", so I could drill a hole in the bottom of it and see how much oil came out. To take apart the holder, once removed from the vehicle, use a pair of diagonal cutters to snip off the four melted-over pegs that hold the two halves together like rivets. Then the halves can be pried apart, releasing the cartridge.
If one wanted to re-use the holder (I did not), snip off the rest of each peg, put the two halves together, and carefully drill through each of the four holes, to drill out the base of each peg. That would leave four through-holes, that after a new cartridge was inserted, holder halves put around it, four screws, washers, and nuts would go through the holes to hold it all together. That is what is expected if you buy only the cartridge.

UNEXPECTED - I'm experienced on A/C, but did run into a problem. After I put everything together, I evacuated it, and charged it. Running and cooling fine. Disconnected my hoses from the Hi and Lo sides, and found that my Hi-side manifold hose had a lot of refrigerant oil in it! That was unusual... In evacuating the system, it appears that the oil I added to the R/D was sucked out the Hi-side service port. I'm thinking this was due to the location of the service port, and the internal construction of the R/D. I always slowly crack open BOTH manifold side valves when evacuating, so evac starts slowly on BOTH sides of the orifice (TXV in this case). That usually avoids any surge of oil in a system.

So I figured it was now a bit low on oil. I bought a Robinair oil injector, it's like a big syringe with a stub of hose and a Lo-side coupler on it. I injected more oil with the system running. I have since used the oil injector on other vehicles, can easily add oil, or dye, to any system without needing anything else

So all ended well, but that was the first time I have evac'd any significant amount of oil accidentally. I then used the vac pump to clear the hoses and manifold of the oil. Then I changed my vacuum pump oil after that.

 

Where did you add the PAG at exactly? Not starting the vacuum pump on a closed manifold helps and a problem can be if deciding to vacuum more on a system that's now under a vacuum.

I haven't worked on that many different vehicles but after I evacuate, I charge on the high side as a liquid, engine OFF and have been able to get all of it in this way

I've got my problem child waiting for me right now. It's held 150psi of nitrogen for a month so I hope it holds a vacuum and doesn't leak this time! Compressor out three times now!

 

Thank you so much for the detailed follow up & I have multiple questions since I have just enough HVAC knowledge as evidenced by this thread to be dangerous as, well... (many things)

This week is a ball buster though, so I won't be able to keep up with it the way I'd normally like, but...

For openers, what "new sensor up top" do you not get?

This is the current Rock listing & number:

More Information for MOTORCRAFT YF37237

(On edit, my tech was impressed that our system had never been serviced & would drop & hold low 30*s)

 

The Motorcraft assembly has a new pressure transducer screwed onto the Schrader valve on top. Compare those pics to this bare bones part, which does not have the black plastic holder included, nor a new transducer on top:
More Information for FOUR SEASONS 83143

 

Poured down in to the center port of the Receiver/Drier. The system hose that will go on to this center port, is the one that heads over to the input of the evaporator.
When replacing the Receiver/Drier only, there really aren't any other viable places to add oil:
a) Attempting to add it to the condenser output would be very hard to do, and would be directly in the evac path to the Hi-side service port.
b) Attempting to pour it into the hose that is integral with the Receiver/Drier puts it right at the service port.
c) Attempting to raise up and pour oil into the hose that goes off towards the evap, while it is disconnected from the Receiver/Drier center port seems useless, as the oil will just pour down and out with gravity as one attempts to connect said hose to the R/D's center port.

For Accumulator systems, pouring oil into the Accumulator always worked out, never have pulled any oil out the Lo-side port in evac. on those.

If I'm understanding you correctly, I think you are saying don't start with a strong pull.
Well, I start up the pump, with both manifold valves closed, and the pump ballast open (I have a Two-Stage pump with ballast valve between stages). I can tell by the sound of the ballast output whether there is a leak in the charging hose to pump or to manifold. If it sounds quiet, then I slowly and barely crack open both manifold valves at the same time, so with the restriction of the barely-open manifold valves, it's not like I'm putting the vac pump directly at the service ports. I can tell how much air inflow there is, by the sound of the ballast output. Eventually, I get both valves wide open. After a while, I close the ballast valve to reach maximum vacuum (using both stages of the pump in series).

I always charge with vapor, into the Lo side. I can heat the cans by placing them into a pail of hot water, only the can tapper and the top of the can stick up from the water.
By using vapor, I keep liquid refrigerant out of hoses. Even just a small amount of liquid in a hose deducts from the supply, and causes problems on disconnect, when that liquid flashes into many volumes of vapor! I don't like the excitement, nor frostbitten fingers
By charging on the Lo-side, when enough system pressure is reached to trigger the compressor, the compressor will help pull in vapor from there on. By heating the cans to counter-act the can-cooling effect of the liquid to vapor transition, I have never had a problem reaching a full charge.
To each his own

 

If oil is added to the Receiver/Drier, it would trickle down to the bottom where a vacuum would never pull it from. The oil would have fill a low spot in a hose somewhere that vacuum could pull it into your hoses. Are you sure it isn't vacuum pump oil? I've heard of some that have fill a system with the vacuum pump oil by opening the manifold on a system under a vacuum while still connected to a vacuum pump.

Metering down using your manifold valves, you might be creating a velocity increase causing your issue.

I charge by weight using a scale from a 25lb or 30lb, whatever they are. Nobody doing MVAC for a living would charge a system in gas form as they couldn't make a living, it's just too slow. I do have a heat blanket made for large jugs but never needed to use it yet. Topping off using just gas is pure guess work. The experts(not me) say that the #1 thing to do when working on a R1334A system is insure a proper charge, only one way to do that, recover and weight it. I do have a recovery machine as well.

EDIT: I had to use the heat blanket yesterday for the first time to get the last 4oz of the charge in.

 

This most be tbe stuff tbat plugs up system

I bought A R/D today fro m Ford with my supplier discount $120 something. pag fluid I think $20.00 ish. I checked the part no. with the $2.00 more Motorcraft part no. from rock auto. they are the same no. If that helps any one save same $$$

 

I posted pictures of whats inside the receiver drier..