air conditioning
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 117
Likes: 2
air conditioning
I bought the conversion kit to convert my '93 ford from R12 to R134. In the meantime, now that i've got the gauge and kit, i'm going to charge my son's '95 Ranger that has R134 already. it has 89,000 miles on it.
His compressor kicks in and out and doesn't blow cold. I assume this is because of low freon. I hooked the gauge to the low side this morning (i'm a die hard) and it showed about 55 lbs of pressure but then when the compressor kicked in, it dropped a bunch. I bypassed the pressure switch in the system to make the compressor run. The pressure then dropped to zero with the compressor running. I didn't let it run very long being empty like that. My questions are:
1. With the pressure reading zero, i guess it's bound to have a leak somewhere. where is a commong place on rangers to leak??
2. whats the best way to finda leak? use dye and a black light??
3. any other advice on charging would be appreciated. i'm going to try it this evening.
thanks very much, Kent
His compressor kicks in and out and doesn't blow cold. I assume this is because of low freon. I hooked the gauge to the low side this morning (i'm a die hard) and it showed about 55 lbs of pressure but then when the compressor kicked in, it dropped a bunch. I bypassed the pressure switch in the system to make the compressor run. The pressure then dropped to zero with the compressor running. I didn't let it run very long being empty like that. My questions are:
1. With the pressure reading zero, i guess it's bound to have a leak somewhere. where is a commong place on rangers to leak??
2. whats the best way to finda leak? use dye and a black light??
3. any other advice on charging would be appreciated. i'm going to try it this evening.
thanks very much, Kent
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 6,940
Likes: 2
From: Eastern WA
Any of the joints are fair game for a leak. The ones that use the o-rings and have that funky connector is where I would begin. Usually there will be a trace of oil at the site of the leak. You can also buy a dye charge; I haven't used them but my inderstanding is they leave a tint at a leak sight. I'm not much of a fan of dye since I've heard reports of plugging.
Do you have a vaccum pump to evacuate the system? If so, you can temporarily add some R134 (yes, R12 and R134 will comingle just fine and the system will work), and put a mixture of dish soap and water on the joints. The leak will be evidenced by bubbles. The reason I'd consider adding some R134 is to make sure you have enough pressure there to indicate a leak. Do note, that the soap/water will not find extreamly small leaks. In the end, you will want to evacuate the system and use only R134.
Do you have a vaccum pump to evacuate the system? If so, you can temporarily add some R134 (yes, R12 and R134 will comingle just fine and the system will work), and put a mixture of dish soap and water on the joints. The leak will be evidenced by bubbles. The reason I'd consider adding some R134 is to make sure you have enough pressure there to indicate a leak. Do note, that the soap/water will not find extreamly small leaks. In the end, you will want to evacuate the system and use only R134.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 9,748
Likes: 16
From: Connecticut
Nice tips offered up by Bill.
When I had my '93 Sable I was thinking about retrofitting the A/C but never got around to it. But I had saved this link which might provide some additional useful information:
http://www.delanet.com/~pparish/ford-rp.htm
When I had my '93 Sable I was thinking about retrofitting the A/C but never got around to it. But I had saved this link which might provide some additional useful information:
http://www.delanet.com/~pparish/ford-rp.htm
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,107
Likes: 3
From: California Desert
If you still can't find the leaks, there is a can of stuff you can buy at NAPA that turns red when it hits air. So any place it leaks, will turn red. That's the theory anyway. It didn't help me find the one on my parent's Honda. I just recharge it every month or two.
