Welp, got near 400 miles on the rebuilt engine, things are looking good so far, thank the Lord.

Decided to recharge the A/C system, temps getting into the 70s and sunny makes for a warm cab driving home from work. I don’t like running 70 mph with the windows down… don’t want the wind beating up my nice headliner going down the road.

I bought a self adjusting variable expansion valve and a new drier. Got the expansion valve in and went to change the drier, one of the line nuts is on there tight enough things started to bend and not come loose… so I left it. I like changing the drier and expansion valve together whenever I have the system opened but I’d rather not do an evaporator too when I twist that line off. So I pulled it down with the vacuum pump for awhile and the leak test passed with no issues.

put in 2OZ of PAG 46 and about 36.5OZ of Freon, it’s a little to cool outside this morning to get an accurate assessment of cooling efficiency but in the shop where it was near 70 degrees it got down to 38/40 degrees at the vent before I pulled it outside.

I didn’t have major issues with the AC before, going down the road it’d always get down right cold in the cab, I love it, wife not so much lol but sitting idling or at a long stop light it had trouble keeping up. I’m hoping the variable expansion valve helps take care of that. We shall see.

 

My AC sucked once I installed my IC, new fan clutch, red Orifice tube, nothing has helped I just learned how to live with it. The fan on our trucks doesn't draw as much air as the newer plastic fan blades do, maybe adding a 6.0 fan blade is the answer, but not all trucks are created equal I managed to destroy 2 radiators when playing with the 6.0 fan.

 

Yea I gave some serious thought to trying the 6.0 fan when I had it all apart, but saw the reviews about sometimes they hit the shroud and come apart taking out other components…. And I’ve already replaced the radiator 3 times for stupid mistakes on my part back in the day…. So I decided to stick with the OEM fan I had.

 

I think I am the exception here, over 100,000 miles on my 6.0L fan.

 

Me too. Never a problem but my 94.5 shroud is not like 95 and up.

 

How clean is your evap core? Pull the fan and take a peek, mine was disgusting. Over oiling it hurts performance.

Windows tinted? Ceramic helps more than metallic film for heat rejection. Floors have no insulation really either, that helps to keep the cabin better at one temp.

 

It got into the 70s again here on the drive home, AC was 38/40 at the vents the whole way, I think the variable valve is going to help. Stop and go, along with sitting in the QuikTrip parking lot for a couple minutes it maintained cool temps. The real test will be in the summer though when it’s 95 and humid here in KC…. I’ll try and remember to report back then.

 

I’ve taken the fan out and shop vac’d the evaporator as good as I could in the past, it didn’t seem terrible in there but not great either.

windows are tinted but need redone for sure.

flooring is OEM carpet

 

Do you have a heater bypass valve installed? Mine has made a big difference in the heat of summer.

 

negative, that’s a good idea too. I need to look into that

 

Foaming evap cleaner works well, some available with a wand. Expensive

There is some green ****, NuCalgon?, that is concentrated and you dilute per instructions in a bug sprayer bottle. Hose that SOB out and it breaks down the dirt and such up in there. If plugged it cannot remove any heat!