It's time to tackle getting the wife's Excursion's a/c system in good order. It has 240,000 miles on it and has been leaking for a couple of seasons and now needs a couple of cans every couple of months. I need to take a closer look at the compressor to see if I can see any indications of leakage. I do know when the gauges get hooked up I feel like the low and high ports have a little pressure on them when releasing the caps. I've looked into the dyes and not opposed to putting some in there to check for leaks, but is there one that does not require a UV light in order to see it? I've also read where some simply add the stop leak, but I'm a little leary of going that route. Once the refrigerant is added the system gets cold. It sounds like most folks replace the compressor, orifice filter, and drier...which is required for most warranties.

I would like to know what most of y'all are having better luck with for the compressors brand wise and new versus refurbished. I don't think there is a big difference in price from refurbished versus new so probably go new given some of the threads I've read. I would like to buy from the local parts store given warranty shipping issues should something go south, but not tied into that. I would also like to know if I should possibly buy a kit that has the compressor, drier, orifice, o-rings, and oil. I plan on taking a look at the condenser, but may just go ahead and pull it for a good cleaning given the system will be opened up anyways.

Does anyone have a step by step procedure to tackle this? I realize the need to measure the oil out of the compressor and drier to replace with the same amount as not planning on doing a flush. I've read some have to jump the low pressure switch to get the system to take the refrigerant and am guessing to simply form a paper clip into a u shape and then insert into the plug...after the plug is removed of course.

 

I'm a life-long Ford owner and very seldom don't have the A/C running. It's my experience that Ford compressors are good for about 100,000 miles as I use them, but people that use them less frequently often get 150,000 or more miles out of them. I've not found anything that that holds up as well as factory (new) replacement, so that's all I've used for years now.

As far as "how to?" I'll defer to others. I'm not an A/C guy....

 

Step 1. Find the leak.
Step 2. Do not go any further until Step 1 is accomplished.

UV dye is usually a fluorescent green. It usually shows up okay in normal light but really lights up if hit with UV light. Wearing yellow glasses enhances the visibility of the florescence for most people.

 

HVAC, A/C, major appliances has been my trade all my life, follow the above mentioned ^^^^^

If you are a V10, the OE compressor part is coming up NLA, 4L3Z-19703-AC
The 7.3 compressor price has shot up, which may mean extinction for it too. 4R3Z-19703-A
You're a 2000, I'm gonna guess that the front Evap has a leak at minimum. A Halide, or good quality leak detector will to sniff out the front evap area, as looking for dye will be more of a challenge due to the tight space.

Here is my compressor and orifice/strainer tube about a year ago in the daylight, to give an example of dye in natural light.

 

Thank y'all! I'm looking at the 4 seasons compressor that I think is okay according to what I searched and read. Apparently there are different part numbers for the A/C compressor between the wife's Excursion and my F350...anybody know what the differences may be?

01 Excursion, I will also look at the front condenser coils. I have read about the orifice screens being a little different...can you make a suggestion as to those? Also, in looking up the 4R3Z-19703-A kit, it shows that one is for an Excursion without rear air...our Excursion Limited 7.3L has rear air...

 

I don't remember it being a kit, but that compressor part number is the part I purchased from my dealer for my 7.3 with rear ac.
Since you have a leak, or leaks, you need to locate that first by using the UV light and or leak sniffer. Once you identify your leak(s) you should open and pull the orifice to check for debris. The orifice screen will give you a good idea of the health of the overall system depending on what you find on it. I was going to split my compressor open and replace all of the O rings, but that bit of orange debris on my orifice screen had me concerned that the compressor was breaking down, despite that it cooled fine when charged. I saved the compressor and still want to open it up to see what it's condition is. The orifices have a flow rate, which is done through the metering tube as seen on the white outlet side. The size of the orifice is matched with the evap coil and provides proper Freon saturation (as opposed to starving or flooding) of the evap coil to give proper superheat. There is an orifice out there that touts a colder coil, I can't recall it's name, but there is risk of the coil freezing up, this is because of the smaller orifice tube size ends up starving the coil, I bought it to try it, and I went back to the OE part instead.

 

Rockauto bundles common components into a "kit" so it's easier to order.

 

01 Excursion, looks like I have a couple of options relative to the orifice...the red unit like in your pic, and what's called an adjustable unit. I'll probably stick with the oem red unit. So there is a difference in the compressors between the regular F250 style and Excursion with rear air trucks...maybe in the internal valving...

 

projectSHO89, given the Excursion with rear air takes more refrigerant, will the UV dye show up good given it will be less of a percentage? I see the kits out there and will probably no go that route given not much money to be saved...

 

When checking leaks, pay close attention to the rear lines just behind the passenger side of engine. Common source for leak due to contact rubbing and wear through. My back lines are blocked off, have been for last 3 yrs!! Cools good, but we're not in a real hot, humid area. May dig into and attempt hose repair next fall. Can't see the cost of replacing the rear lines!!!

 

This is about the only thing I can find relative to dye that I can install via my manifold gauges. The other stuff appears to be a liquid dye in a bottle and not sure how one would go about getting that into the a/c system that is under pressure.

https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-a...-oz/837840_0_0

Would this show a leak given it's only 1.7 ounces and the Excursion with rear air holds more refrigerant than your typical a/c system?

 

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7652665

Considering that this 1/4 Oz is what I use, and is plenty, you should be fine, plus my 01 already had dye, I'm assuming it was from the factory as the system was all original. Possible compressor differences may be mounting, hose block connection on the rear, or even electric plug location.

 

That particular dye requires the use of an injector (or having the system completely open.)

Somewhere around here in one of the garages, I have a small can of dye/refrigerant solution. It has a push-on connector that allows a shot of dye to be pushed into a sealed and running system via the low side port. Probably have had it for 10 or 15 years, don't recall which auto parts store I bought it from. If you can still find those, they make it easy to add dye without a lot of fuss.

Found it, it's this stuff: https://www.rechargeac.com/products/...-sealers/UVD-1

 

I was using that as an example, his link was for 1.7 Oz, versus the 1/4 Oz in that little bottle.
Based on the amount he said he's had to add (couple cans, every couple months) he's probably down to just a few PSI anyway.

 

It only takes a couple of ounces of refrigerant to achieve static pressure readings per the PT chart.