I have a 94 ranger 4.0 with I am assuming r12 and need to converty to 134a I have a kit with a conversion fitting and was wanting to know what othe parts to change for the conversion. Any information about this swap will be appreciated.

 

My Last Ranger was a 94 (bought new); it used R134. I bet your's does too. Look at the sticker on the side of the evaporator case for info or look at the gauge taps on the line. If the taps use what looks like an acme thread as opposed to a regular thread, you've got R134; the thread on the taps/ports on systems using R134 are different than systems using R12.

 

R12 uses mineral oil in it's system, and R134 uses a thinner lubricant. If you change to R134 your system will leak unless you replace all the O-Rings, and you may have to change your compressor to keep it from leaking.

 

There is a kit out there to replace R-12 with R-34 and use you compressor as is.
PEP BOYS, AUTO ZONE, etc carry the change over kits. I did the change on an 85 Chrysler and had no problems. These kits are in the AC section of auto parts stores.

JEY

 

http://www.delanet.com/~pparish/ford-rp.htm

 

1994 and newer Rangers come from the factory with 134A air conditioning systems.
Like Cowbow Billy 9 Mile said, check the label under the hood.

 

If you do actually have an R12 system and have to convert, to do the job properly you need to flush the old oil from the sytem, replace the filter/drier and yes, it's not a bad idea to replace the o-rings. Do NOT use one of those over-the-counter quickie conversion kits, there's a reason those are known as "Death Kits" in the A/C service industry. When you are done with the parts install you need to pull a vacuum on the system to check for leaks and evacuate the moisture that will get in there from having the system opened up. -TD

 

TigerDan - did that. The system has been up and working since 2005. Yes, a little common sense goes a long way.

 

My AC doesn't work (blows room temp air)
Since I have never worked on a vehicle with AC & I was about to buy one of those kits mentioned above.. how much should I expect to spend if I bring it to a shop to have the AC converted? (roughly)

 

Bring a full wallet...actually, you can do it yourself for the most part. If you're blowing air at room temp USUALLY it's either no refrigerent charge left in the system, in which case you need to replace all your seals anyway and check for leaks, or your A/C clutch is not engaging and turning the compressor. This can be due to: low refrigererant charge (there is a pressure switch in the sytem that won't allow power to get to the clutch if the pressure is too low, or too high as well, on some vehicles) Bad aforementined pressure switch, plug has come off the compressor clutch, or a problem of some sort in the wiring.

If you decide to DIY, replace the filter/drier as I mentioned above, the o-rings, (You'll need to spend ten bucks or so on one of those nifty little tools to disengage the spring-lock couplings) suck the old oil out of the system, (for the compressor, it's easiest to remove it and drain it) you can flush the system but you might get away with not doing that, unless the system has been open to the atmosphere for any length of time. When you replace the o-rings, be sure to use HNBR rubber o-rings, as they are compatible with R134A. They're usually green, and available in a universal kit from Autozone (YUK!) or other parts stores, about five bucks or so.

There is a wonderful product called Nylog that is an o-ring sealer and lubricant, but it's hard to find. At the end of this post I'll give link to a great site with an A/C forum run by really knowledgeable people, as well as an online store with good prices on A/C products and parts. This is specifically A/C stuff and nothing else, so there's no conflict with MotorHaven, which would of course be my first recommendation if they had A/C stuff.

There is an excellent synthetic A/C oil called BVA Auto 100 that I recommend, that is poured into the system as it is reassembled. When it is all back together you will need to pull a vacuum on the system, this draws out the moisture and you can check for leaks by seeing if the system will hold vacuum for a set period of time, say 30 mins to an hour. In rare cases you may wind up with a leak that seals under vacuum, but still leaks out when the system is under pressure, but as I said this is rare. A cheap (10 bucks or so) vacuum pump can be bought at Harbor Freight which uses air from your air compressor (if you have one) to create a vacuum in the system. I bought one but haven't tried it yet, I used my air compressor as a vacuum pump, evacuating the system through the intake side of the air compressor.

You could also drive down to an A/C shop after you have changed everything over and have them evacuate and recharge the system at a substantial savings. Or just pull down the system, a local shop quoted my 35 bucks to do that only. Gauges are nice to have, and can be had for about 25-30 bucks at Harbor Freight if you're going to be doing other A/C work, but just to charge your system one time you can buy the cheap little gauge that's available from the parts stores.

Sorry I got so long-winded here, guess I got carried away. Hope there's some little bit of info that's actually useful in all this!
Here's the link I mentioned:

http://www.ackits.com/

Good luck, -TD

(on edit: okay, so I see the link doesn't work but you can still get to it from that URL, just type it in or copy and paste.)

 

I bought a product over the counter a few years ago call Freeze12. You don't need a license, you don't need to change a thing and it was affordable. I filled the system up myself, and never had a problem. Air is nice and cold

 

Well, as it starts to get warmer out this issue with my AC is moving up "the list"
I checked to see if the clutch is engaging, Yes, it is
with the AC on there is a high pitch whistle for a second after the clutch kicks in.
I can hear it in the cab as well as under the hood.
It comes from the passenger side near the black box by the firewall?

How much would it be to just take it to an AC shop?
They'll have to evac it & then fix the apparent leak & charge it..