A/C charge
 

so my cars A/C doesnt come on..i thought maybe the clutch on the compresser was frozen but i reached down ther and spun it by hand and its free for sure. so i then talked to some ppl and they said that sometimes when the r134 gets to low the ac wont kick on so i bought 2 cans and already had the gauge- went to put teh first can in- but once i hooked it all up and had the car running with ac on max full blast the coolant would not go in at all- so tomorrow im going to take the car somwhere for a full ac check and charge type deal-unless somone has another theory

btw-the dumb previous owner of my car kept the manual so i had no specific directions as to how to charge it- but i am guessing its like any other car (ac on max with full blaston also)??????????

If you haven't resolved this issue, let me know.

I had this problem with my Suburban last summer and got a can from an auto parts store with the guage like you described. I hooked it up and gave it a little, but it said my system was pretty much fully charged. Thing is, it has worked ever since.

IF your getting air that is hot than you have a leak somewhere. Most likely it is your accumulator thing that has something wrong with it. No matter what though fixing your A/C is big bucks.

My A/C took a dump also! w/just 60k on it. I thought that it might need recharging when i took it in, the tech hooked everything up and said my system is fully charged? for some reason my compressor wont come on :confused: The tech said its bad! it doesnt squeek or anything no noise what so ever seems to spin freely! I was about to purchase a new compressor but i need to get a second opinion any suggestions?

you can reach down and spin it all the time, but the clutch only engages when you put it to ac while the car is running. it's basically a normal pulley till you put the ac on. I would guess the compressor is bad for sure. If the system is full.

It could be several things the acumulator has a pressure switch and if its bad the clutch will not engage there is a way to bypass it and make it turn on which is in the service manual but I cant remember off hand. You need to look around your AC system and look for leaks. Oily residue around the AC lines or parts will point you to the problem. You may need a UV light and a can of Freon with UV dye to pinpoint a leak. If leak is small you will need a freon detector to find the troubled area. Stay away from can that have leak sealers, only use cans that have Freon or oil and freon mix. If air has entered inside your AC system you will need to evacuate the system,this creates a vacuum inside the AC system so that when you put a can of freon on the low side line it will suck it up if you opened up your AC via unhooking a line or removing the needle on valves you will not be able to charge your system without evacuating it first. Im not a pro but I did alot of research was able to replace my Compressor and all the orings and charge the system with no issues. Bottom line if you want to do your own work you need to do your homework as its like installing gears, you need to know what you are doing and have the right tools. One more thing the AC system needs to stay very clean if you see a really dirty mechanic working on an AC system I would avoid doing the work there. Your best bet for self repair is to get the Ford Manual as they have troubleshooting tips that can help you pinpoint the issue.

well a mechanic friend of mine took a look at it and he used the big tanks of coolant to charge it and coould not get it to take any...so he did the deal where to manually "bypass" the thing and make the clutch turn on so then the clutch started to go but like it only went a 1/4 turn then stopped then another 1/4 turn and stopped so he told me the clutch in the compressor is dieing or whatever...but on the good side he knows somone with a compressor that i can get real cheap thats almost new...YAY