I have an '89 Ranger that I've had for about a month. I've got it running pretty well, but now the weather is starting to heat up and I'm ready to get the A/C going. I've been reading up on it some, but I still have some questions, thought I'd go to the experts for some opinions. So here I am...
The truck has an aftermarket A/C system, rather poorly installed from what I can tell. There is no pressure/refrigerant in the system. It appears to be a TXV system. The compressor is a Japanese Tama type TM-15HD, it has a tag on the side specifying R-134a but the fittings in the lines are the R-12 type. (Actually, only one fitting, on the low side. There is no high side fitting at all.) The suction hose, from the top of the evaporator to the compressor, has been cut and has an in-line fitting hose clamped into it. The condensor also has both hoses attached to it with standard hose clamps. There is a sight-glass type reciever/dryer that was mounted between the grille and the condensor. Someone used extra-long srews to mount it to the edge of the condensor and punctured a tube. The hose running to the bottom of the evaporator has a hole worn in it from being allowed to flop around and rub against the alt. pully. I have an '84 parts truck with factory air, it appears to be a CCOT system. It was converted to R-134a at some point, at least it has the proper adapters on both the high and low side. There is no pressure/refrigerant in this system either. I have pulled all of it, including the evaporator. I replaced the punctured condensor in the '89 with the one from the '84, it's a thicker, beefier looking one with more fins per inch. The compressor is a Ford unit, a little bigger than the Tama unit. There is a label on the side of the accumulator that says the dessicant is compatable with R-12 or R-134a. I don't know whether to completely change over to the CCOT system form the '84, or stay with the TXV system that's now in the truck. I will have to replace some hoses if I stay with the TXV, whereas the CCOT hoses look good. (Due to the configuration of the hose ends, I don't think I can use the hose from the '84 with the Tama compressor.) I also have the wireing harness from the '84 with the connectors for the pressure switch and the comp. clutch so I can change that if I go CCOT. Even though the CCOT system appears to have been R-134a retrofitted, it still has the blue orifice tube in the bottom evap. line. I have some A/C system flush and a suction/blow gun, I have bought an HNBR o-ring kit, some ester oil, and have ordered some Nylog and an A/C book. I plan to flush the evap, cond, and hoses, drain as much oil as possible out of the comp.(whichever one I use) and replace all o-rings. Since I don't know yet which system I'm going with, I haven't replaced the accum. or reciever/drier. I heard a long time ago about using the compressor out of an old refrigerator as a vacuum pump to pump down the system...what do you think of this for a low-buck idea? Any advice on all this would be most appreciated. (whew!) -TD

 

Frist which ever system you use that dosent need alot $$ done to it, you"ll have to stop ALL leaks, i"d try to stay with the R-134 it"s alot less $$$$ then R-12, what ever system used , you"ll have to stop the leaks , evacuate the system down to about -30 or so, then add around 6oz of oil then check for the vacuum holds, and recharge to proper amount of freon. good luck TNT

 

TNTsF-250- Hi-de-Ho, neighbor! Yeah, sorry I didn't make it clear that I'm going R-134a, and yes I'm paying attention to the leaks, that's why the new o-rings w/Nylog assembly lube. My total experience with A/C so far has been: replacing the condensor on a '88 E350 van after it lost an agument with a Madrone tree, had no idea how much R-12 to put in and it never did work right, recharged a friend's Ramcharger, that worked fine, and more recently, my mom's '88 Taurus lost the A/C last summer, and then about two months ago the bearings in the comp. clutch went out, seized up the clutch and the comp. I took the clutch out, but the bearings made so much noise I went to the wrecking yard and got another compressor, a newer one off of a car with factory R-134a. Then I bought a "Death Kit" and, doing everything wrong, got the A/C working, blowing 38F at the center vent on R134a. I figure it's a time bomb though, after all the reading I've been doing on conversions. I just slapped in the new compressor, didn't evacuate the system, didn't replace the accumulator, didn't flush anything, added the ester oil charge and three cans of R-134a and later a can of stop leak with red dye, and it's working fine. If I can find the time to get to it before it grenades, I'll go back in and replace all the o-rings, flush the evap, hoses, and cond. and replace the accumulator. I've been reading nasty things about that stop leak crap, and about the junk left behind when the compressor goes. -TD

 

TigerDan it sounds like you know what your doing , if you have a 38F temp. out the center vent thats good, the good book by ( FORD ) says max. temp. of 45Fand low i think of 30F. it sounds like your in the ball park.TNT

 

That one was more luck than anything else. It really shouldn't be working at all, and I need to pull it apart and do it right before I lose this compressor, too. I talked to a local garage yesterday about evacuating my system for me, they had to think about it a little, as their machine does it all and they would have to stop it and disconnect it before it started to recharge my sytem, but they said they could do it for about 35 bucks. -TD

 

Tigerdan Go with the ccot and the orignal ranger comp. if you can. go with a standard fixt orifice tube (red tube)if you mostly run the hyway or the VOV if you mostly run in town it will be in the hard pipng before the evaporator. you are on the right track by replacing the o-rings do the same with the accumulator/dryer cartige also. eather rent a vacum pump and gages or pay the shop sytem needs to be crap and mioster free before putting refrigrant back in.vacuum it down and check for leaks. when you get ready to charge it put in a can of maxi-cool first and then charge to 85% of the original R-12 charge by weight if you were doing R 12. here a sight that will help you out alspo http://www.aircondition.com/

 

TigerDan ,I guess thats not bad if you dont have a vacuum pump, after you make your repairs you"ll have to reevacuate the system again before recharge. TNT