The pulley is just an idler with a large bearing in the middle of it. The compressor is actually the piece of metal in the center of the pulley that doesn't turn unless the clutch engages. If your large bearing has a little play in it, then yes you can wiggle it some. If you have all that staining in the front compressor area, that definitely sounds like your leak problem. It's a common place for the system to leak.

 

I sure hope it is the compressor leaking as a brand-shiny-new one will be here Wednesday, complete with new clutch, accumulator, orifice valve, and handfuls of green O-rings.

I have an 8-ounce bottle of flourescent dye coming; it says 1/4-ounce per vehicle; that's not much; I think I will double it and go 1/2-ounce.

I have a new pressure switch coming to replace the one that has been bypassed for several years.

I have a set of can taps and various line adapters coming.

I hope I am not forgetting a vital piece of the puzzle.

The old compressor is off and I have spent the day rebuilding the bracket that I built in 2006; it always hinged the wrong way and, instead of tightening the belt when I hinged it, it loosened the belt - which does not even look possible.

I used 1/2" nuts and a 7/16 bolt through them and welded this on the opposite side as a hinge; then, I cut the pin out of the other hinge and now it swings the opposite direction.

The new compressor says it comes with 3-ounces of oil already in the compressor; an 8-ounce bottle of PAG 46(I believe it says) also comes with it.

It makes no mention whether the 3-ounces already in there is plenty if the compressor is all that gets swapped; nor does it say if and how much of the 8-ounce bottle to use or just dip the O-rings in it and not pour any in --- what are my instructions here ?

I figure to use a hypodermic syringe/needle to administer the dye; the simplest place to put it in would be the accumulator; would this be okay and will it dissipate into the rest of the system from there ?

 

I had a rebuilt compressor on my 86 and after one year it started to leak around the housing. It still had one more year left on the warranty but I paid the difference and got the new one instead of another rebuilt one because it came with a life time warranty. You can put the dye in any place and that will be fine. Good luck

 

If you can find it, the Ford shop manual usually specifies how much oil should be in the system, and what each component holds. Problem is, most of the info that is readily available says "you shouldn't be doing this yourself, only qualified people should mess with it".

I would only put in the dye amount they say. It might be like the oil. You would think more is better, but they say too much oil takes away from the efficiency of the system. I wonder if too much dye would also. I am assuming it takes up room that the refrigerant would usually take.

 

I skimmed through some of this, but did not see any oil equivalents. https://www.garysgaragemahal.com/hvac-systems.html


What I do is when I take the compressor off, I have a measuring cup I stole from the kitchen (my wife said to keep it) and I pour as much of the oil out of the old compressor that I can and measure it. You have to turn the compressor by hand to get most of the oil out of it.

 

One minor caution with the new compressor. I replaced mine several years ago, and discovered the female threads were different. Original was metric and the replacement was SAE, or visa versa. Double check before installation from the comfort of your workbench to be sure the existing bolts can be reused.

The jumpered pressure switch? That probably caused the evaporator to ice up. Did you ever notice the AC seemed to work great for the first few minutes and then slowly dropped off? That would have been ice accumulating on the face of the evaporator. You may run into some confusion with the replacement, if it is for R12 or R134a. It's the same switch, only adjusted to a slightly different value.

The primary purpose of the pressure switch is to keep the evaporator just above freezing, so ice will not build up. Ooh, ice is cold, therefore it's good, right? Not here, as it restricts heat transfer and actually reduces cooling. It's not rocket science to set it. You don't even need a pressure gauge. Just go for a test drive at freeway speed for maybe 20 minutes. AC full cold, fresh air (not max AC), medium fan speed. Stick a little pocket thermometer in the center vent.

If it shows 35-38F at the end, you're good and no adjustment is needed. The idea is to keep the evaporator just a few degrees above freezing, so that is the ideal range.

If the temp starts out cold, possibly below 32F, and then slowly warms up with further driving, the evaporator is getting too cold. Remove the connector from the pressure switch. You'll see a small screw between the contacts of the switch. Turn it clockwise 1/8 of a turn to raise the temperature approximately 2 degrees and repeat the test drive. Repeat as needed.

If the temp never gets below 40F, adjust the screw 1/8 turn counterclockwise and repeat the test drive. You should see the temperature drop approximately 2 degrees in response. Repeat as necessary. If the temperature doesn't decrease, something else is limiting the cooling capacity, such as a slipping drive belt or clutch, low refrigerant, etc. Further troubleshooting will be required.

The trick with this little adjustment screw is to only make changes in small increments. An 1/8 of a turn is plenty for each trial. If worried about messing it up, take note of the original setting and you can reset it if needed. I've adjusted several vehicles with this method with excellent results. It only takes a minute to do. I've even made the adjustment at a highway rest stop and got right back on the road.

Edit: Just don't skip the test drive and be sure to give the system some time to adjust to the new setting. If you've got ice and adjust a little warmer, you need time for any accumulated ice to melt. If you adjust a little colder, you want to be sure ice doesn't build up. From my personal experience, 20 minutes at freeway speed is usually sufficient.

 

For whatever reason, you guys two most recent posts have just now showed up; I will study them after while --- thanks.

I found an empty 8-ounce PAG46 oil bottle with a tag I put on it that says "This was used in 1985F350 June-2013"

I must have poured the entire contents in there at that time as the bottle is bone dry.

Now, Vacuum Pump Oil :

I have the Harbor Freight 2.5cfm Model 98076 Vacuum Pump and it has proved to be a good one.

I have searched the owners manual and the only thing it says about what type oil is "use HFV-100A Oil Only"

Nothing is said about viscosity.

I found and
I was absent the day they taught us about viscosity numbers; which of these would be my better choice ?

They have Robinaire brand that makes no mention anywhere about viscosity and states it is for all vacuum pumps; however, unless I want to pay about twelve dollars more, it won't get here for ages; the stuff I linked to will get here tomorrow.

Thanks.

EDIT = I found THIS Manual for a later model pump; it says to use a low viscosity oil, such as HFV-46; so, I am guessing the 46 Viscosity oil that I linked to should be fine.

 

On the vacuum pump oil just hit the local auto parts store and ask for vacuum pump oil as I did not find it on the shelf.
It worked just fine in my HF vacuum pump. Dont remember there being any thing on weight of the oil I bought.

Yes adding too much oil to the AC system is not good.
I went thru a lot trying to find how much everything took and had to guess.
Later I fond I added to much but then had to do a repair so I removed so and got better cooling.
Sorry to say I dont remember how much each part took. I may have it noted somewhere but where is the big question

I also replaced my compressor and it came with a paper on what you had to do for the oil.
On mine IIRC I had to drain all the shipping oil out, measured so I knew it was all out, then add oil amount the paper said.
I am going to guess your compressor will be the same with a paper telling you what needs to be done.
I bought my compressor with out a clutch as the one on the bad compressor was replaced not that long ago so I just swapped it on the new compressor.

On the PSI switch I also swapped mine out for a 134a switch.
On both the new and old R12 switch there was raised slot for the adjustment and I dont have that type of too or even wanted to try and make one.
But now that I think of it, you might be able to use a tire valve stem remover tool?
Also IIRC the working PSI was on the side of both switches and it was like 2 or 3 PSI
I dont see the PSI on the R12 switch so maybe I found it on the parts store web site? But I know it was only a few PSI difference.

I did replace the switch when going with 134a and that switch went bad so I also jumped it out.
When it started blowing warm I knew it had iced up and would turn the AC off but keep the fan on. It would then start blowing cold again till the icing was gone and I would start it all over again. On really hot days icing was not an issue.
Dave ----

 

I had two choices with the switch I got, R-12 or R134a; I got the R134a.

Thanks for the information about the new compressor.

The one I have coming says pre-filled with 3-ounces of oil.

It also says to stand the compressor nose-down for a few minutes before installation so as to get lubricant on the front seal.

My understanding is the 3-ounces already in the compressor is the same as the PAG46 in the included bottle; hopefully, there will be an instruction sheet like you describe.

 

Thanks for the warning.

Considering that, I just now investigated my bolts from the original 1985 compressor and couldn't hardly believe what I found on such an old American made truck --- the compressor bolts are Communist --- who would've thunk it ?

I will put this here for someone who stumbles across this thread and hope that it is of benefit to them.

The four mounting bolts, two in front and two in back:
METRIC M10 x 1.5 1-inch long or 25mm if you prefer
13mm Wrench Size

The four little bolts that hold on the refrigerant line manifold thingies up top:
METRIC M8 x 1.25 13/16-inch long or 20mm if you prefer
10mm Wrench Size

 

Anything that threads into the engine block or the transmission itself or the rear axle if you have a 9 inch will be standard thread sizes. Any sort of bracket or piece external to the engine or on the body will be metric.

 

Me for one. I thunk it. Anybody else? Maybe a quick show of hands...

When our trucks were in the design stage, Ford was in the process of going all metric. The end result was a mishmash of SAE and metric. In general, items previously in production with SAE fasteners stayed that way. Think engine blocks, transmissions, etc. Newly designed items, such as the frame, body, and even some engine brackets, generally went metric.

This is not a hard and fast rule, though. But the general idea was to introduce metric fasteners on an attrition basis when possible.

 

After cutting my teeth on early Mustangs, I was a bit perplexed when I discovered a mix of SAE/Metric fasteners on my (then new) '86 Ranger STX. I was figuring that my '80 F-150 would be different (all SAE). I guess not, as I discovered when removing the license plate bracket and the associated light; 10mm & 8mm fasteners.

 

I love Rock Auto's prices and selection; however, I hate their affinity for shipping USPS items via DHL = SLOW SLOW SLOW.

This will slow down my project by a couple days while I wait for one little item to get here.

I paid for the item to be shipped USPS and then they ship it DHL; I forget from time to time that this is what they do and get caught in this trap.

Had I remembered, I would have paid the extra four bucks difference and ordered it Amazon Prime and it would have been here a couple days ago.

As it is, it started in Ohio; now it is way down in Georgia; to get from Ohio to Georgia, you have to cross Kentucky (and also Tennessee) - where's the sense in that?

It went right past my house on the way to Georgia --- it is a ten hour drive from here to Atlanta and ten hours back.

Now, tracking says a 3-to-5 day wait while the item is transferred over to the local carrier ----- why the h e double L could they not have just dropped it in the local post office in Ohio and it would already have been here ----- that's what I paid for them to do.

Rock Auto never mentions DHL in the shipping choices; but then, they will include them in the mix and it is never a good thing = SLOW SLOW SLOW

 

DHL dose not ship between store / wear house to customer.
They only handle international been that way think 20+ years now.
When I did computer repair our parts came DHL and shortly after I started DHL dropped the USA part unless it was going over seas.

Now UPS / Amazon / FEDX will use USPS as a final drop.
I dont think you have a say in that from what my son tells me as he works for USPS as a tech.
Dave ----