When checking the rear unit (or front)
Hands are your friend
You can "touch" those rear lines and feel for heat and cold
Any restriction will be cold at that point
You should have a very hot high side hose and the low side should be ice cold
You grab the one coming out of the evaporator, it should be almost as cold

 

I appreciate your help. Do you think I’m safe just filling by pressure or do you definitely recommend evacuate and refill. I may be able to fix this leak with pressure still in, it’s at a flared fitting that I’m gonna try and tighten, it’s just in a bad spot.

 

It's always better to evacuate and recharge in order to get the air out
The correct amount of freon / refrigerant only works best when there is no air in the system
New vehicles way more sensitive to this
Meaning your old truck can have some air in the system and still work
What happens is, the pressure goes up, but with the air pumping around in the system, the heat transfer goes down
You can't really even add any freon to a new car that holds less that 2 lbs total
When you add freon to one, the pressure goes up, but the cooling is **** poor
Your truck won't do that to you
Go ahead and fix the leak if you can and recharge it using the pressure / cycling time method in the service manual if you are not familiar with what the pressures should be

 

Yes, you are safe filling by pressure
Low side should be under 40 lbs (it's supposed to cycle at 24-38 or so) (it will be constant run at 42) and you do not want that
High side should be around 150 to 250 depending on how hot it is outside and the airflow across your condenser

 

Well, some more updates. Today was 73 degrees out. Leak seems to be gone. Added refrigerant till about 38 psi on low side, high was around 125-130 psi. The rear air didnt blow cold at all, and the front may have actually dropped a few degrees, not sure about that tho. This was at idle. Taking a drive soon, Maybe pressures will equalize, but I don’t think so. I’m thinking the expansion valve is plugged.
Also to add, the line going to rear evap was cold most of the way, but about 3 feet before it gets to expansion valve/evap it was just warm. This one’s really throwing me for a loop.

 

Rear sounds plugged, I ran my 99 only with the rear on and it would freeze you, mom complained about it asking if I was delivering frozen food with it, that was how I kept the temp equal front and rear tho.
I read good and bad on the electric AC unit, I'm interested in that, my 89 AC is a mess, would need pulled out and replaced due to previous owners hacking, screw tension hose clamps are a great sign that a trained professional was working on it, don't see the compressor clutch wire, he cut that off god knows where, the electric AC at least runs engine off with enough batteries.

 

Final update. Had refrigerant evaced. Pulled out the expansion valve and the evaporator. The expansion valve had a slight blackish color and I couldn’t even see in to see the valve mechanism. Dumped evaporator and some excess oil came out. Flushed it on more time really good with A/C flush. Reinstalled evap and a new expansion valve. Vaccines system and charged by weight. Front and rear A/C are now blowing ice cold. I’m super happy, this was totally worth it IMO. If you are on the fence about fixing the rear ac, totally do it. Especially if you will be in the back of the van, like I will. It’s a camper van and having some cool air back there I think is going to make a big difference.

 

So following this, sounds like a) check for leaks, b) replace rear evaporator valve c) Improve air flow.

I have heard about outfitting electric fans to improve a/c performance in slow moving traffic. I went to one place and they kind of rolled their eyes and said there was no space. Does anyone have an actual install in a 3rd gen econoline. FWIW I have 5.8 C6 so I think its the radiator, condensor and little baby oil cooler. On the topic of oversided condensor. What model/size have others gotten? Thanks. FWIW on a 83 degree day, my front blows at 57, rear at 65. Not gonna work here in the 305. But I am happy @JMcDole solved his problem.



jv

 

Only seen them on the previous bodystyle, friends 88, never figured out how to do it to my 99, and after experience of removal of engine driven fan for electric only, would never do it again or endorse it, the mountains here are steep, long pulls, melted the electric fans internals, could hear my oil sizzling in the pan, they can assist only, remember vans design, can only force so much air in through the front as it is limited on escape, venting the hood will seriously impact it, had a friend vapor locking on a trip to Virginia, removed the hood and miraculously it was cured. My 99 had an oil cooler, power steering cooler, condenser then radiator, yeah the front was full for sure.

 

Hi, so I have an 89 e 350 5.8 and I continue to battle getting my ac cold. 2 weeks ago had a 600 mile road trip roudn trip to Mt Dora FL. in preparation had my gen mechanic change oil and asked that he look at the a/c as it was blowing 60 degrees which is not enough to keep up with 90 degree FL heat. They charged me $290 for the a/c part and sent me on my way. The van would not cool past 60 and the temperatures climbed in the van up to 83 degrees despite straight 70mph highway running. Engine temp a steady 165 so not an airflow issue.

Monday went to a dedicated a/c repair shop specializing in vans, truck, etc. My concern was despite a recharge and service a few weeks ago, it was still blowing 60 degrees up front and 67 degrees in back on a 90 degree day.They recommended to recharge the a/c again and see if there was anything mechanically wrong.

During the day, they sent photos showing that they had put in less freon, reduced the pressure, and got 50°F air in the front with the van in the sun. (At 2:53 PM, the outside temperature was 86°F with 66% humidity.)

Before: Too high



After they vaccumed and refilled.




When I picked up the van on Tuesday morning, the mechanic politely explained that lowering the pressure would help the van cool better and make the compressor last longer. I understood this and paid my bill of $150 plus the Zelle charge.

Unfortunately, when I left work at 8 PM last night, the A/C was not cooling well. The attached photos show it was blowing 66–70°F during my 35-minute drive home to Hialeah. The outside temperature at 8:30 PM was 84°F with 75% humidity. This was highway driving with no traffic.



My goal: Have the van cooling at 50°F or below again. Spoke to owner/main mechanic of ac shop, his recommendation is to redo the vaccuum and fill and if need be add an aluminum condensor. Has anyone done so and have recommended models? What would you think. He works on big rigs and sprinter airport buses, he's dropping hints that there are limits to what the system can do, but if he got it to 50 degrees once, how to get it there again?

Thanks.

jv
Miami FL

 

Both your pressures are too high
I would suck it down (remove the R134a freon with a recycler machine) and inspect the fixed orifice (might be partially plugged)(probably is plugged more likely)
That will remove the air in the system, then you can add the exact right amount of refrigerant back in there and it should then blow 37 degrees

 

On very hot days, say 85-95, my van too struggles to keep the van cool. It may just be a 134 system might just not cut it in these vans. And yes I have a new condensor installed as well, literally everything brand new besides some lines. I might try another vacuum and recharge next summer and see if that gets some cooler air. Also, my blower motor has been cutting out after about 10 seconds of high rpm running. Like up a long climb or something, the blower motor will cut out and come back in when I let off the throttle. Anyone have any clues what that could be ?

 

Sorry, I never had that one before. The blower motor (and the actual panel) once got blown out, wires melted, ended up replacing both, redoing wiring and getting a heavy duty alternator. FWIW I once rented a Ford Crown Vic (1994 or so) and in my rush to get to my destination, accidentally left it in low (2nd gear I think) and got annoyed, everytime I tried to go past 70 mph the a/c would cut out. I think they may have an a/c cut off past a certain RPM? Did that for 75 miles up i-95 in the crown vic. Not a caution light, no engine roar over the radio. Nada. As we know, those things were bulletproof.

 

@Manic Mechanic no rush, but if you could explain "inspect the fixed orifice ". I am clearly a novice and I want to be able to explain to my a/c tech.

Ty.

jv

 

That just means to pull the fixed orifice out and check it for debris
The orifice in your case is right inside the small pipe going into the evaporator
You pull that small hoigh side hose off and look inside
There will be a colored plastic piece, that is the orifice
You need pretty good hemostats to pull one out, they are sometimes stuck in there good
Plan on replacing it, as you might poke a hole in the screen with the hemostats