Yesterday I made what I think was very good buy. I bought a '92 Ranger XLT (complete w?matching topper) from by brother. 4cyl/5spd OD, 97K miles. He bought it new and it has had been well maintained.
He sold to me (for $1k) because his company provides him w/company vehicle and he rarely used the truck anymore. He estimates putting less than 300 miles on it in the last 3 years.
The truck is in VG condition, except the AC no longer blows cold. He says it worked great 3 years ago when he (basically) parked it.
My questions are:
Do you think it just needs recharged? Should an AC unit hold it's charge for 3 years if unused, or should I expect that it might have a leak?
This unit would've had the old R-12 freon wouldn't it? I've heard of a new product that can be used and is compatable w/the old R-12 systems, without having the conversion done. Is this true? Thanks

 

I have the same truck, although with a LOT more milage.
I bought it in '95 from a private seller.
Great truck all around EXCEPT for the AC.
Constant leaks, breakdowns, rebuilds. I finally gave up and now use it without AC. And in Phoenix, that's not fun. Oh, and the heater croaked last year too, but I just bypassed it. Don't need it.

But as you paid only $1000, and it has low miles for that truck, you should invest in the AC. It MIGHT only be freon, but I'd suspect hoses, maybe a compressor.. And then of course it has to flushed, new dryer, etc. Probably $600 or so. That's what mine was every time I took it in.
Yes it does use R-12. I toyed with the idea of converting too. I think it was about $350 if I did it myself. I didn't pursue it though.

Good luck.
Joe

 

A/C will do that. it is good practice to use the A/C at least once of twice a month for 5-10minutes. What happens is that the oil doesnt circulate in the ssystem and the seals dry out and crack and leak out the freon. i've seen 30 year old cars that have never needed to be recharged and they used thier A/C all the time.

 

Either find the leaks and recharge with R-12 or do a complete R-134A conversion including flushing the old mineral oil, replacing the accumulator, etc. Those so called "compatible" replacements will keep any reputable A/C shop from working on your vehicle because they don't want to contaminate their recovery equipment. And yes, they have testers to check for contamination.

 

I don't know yet; we need some info. Does the compressor engage when the A/C is switched on? And if so, is it short cycling, even on a warm day?

They should hold a charge for three years; my 94 never needed service once over the life of the vehicle. As correctly noted, running the A/C for a few minutes every few weeks will keep the seals in the compressor lubricated and thus reduce the odds of a leak developing. And, of course, in the winter this is taken care of by itself as the defrost runs the A/C compressor.

I'd guess that it does, given the vintage and the fact auto manufacturers were switching over to R-124A around 92-93. Look for labels under the hood, especially on the evaporator housing indicating the type of refrigerant used.

I would discourage you from comingling refrigerants, although technically you can touch up the charge in a R-12 system with R-134A or R-409 and it will work just fine. To do this right, go buy one of the easy to use conversion kits. It will have the valve adapters, an oil charge, and some freon. The amount of R-134A they give you in the kit will probably not be enough. R-12 ->>> R-134A conversions are like politics and religion; everyone has their ideas. From my experience, always install a new orifice tube, evacuate, then recharge. Add a new accumulator (dryer included in most cases) only if the system has no charge at the current time. When charging, don't forget to purge the air out of the charge line before adding refrigerant. While removing as much mineral oil from the system and replacing with PAG oil is nice, it's not really needed and is a wonderful moneymaker for shops and unsavvy consumers. The couple of ounces included in the kit will address your needs just fine.