fixed a/c today

Hef5.0weisen

Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Mar 5, 2004
574
4
28
NorthWest Florida
yup cost ~25 bucks. I was messign with some other stuff, reset idle, reset timing, replaced o2's, got the car running pretty good. then I looked at the ac which has been dormant for years.
1st, blew hot air 2nd, comp wasn't turning. I read up on the compressor, decided to jump the low pressure swith on the accumulator (two wires, blue and purple, just jump em), ha ha, comp starts spinning. still got hot air, to state the obvious, I had a leak. So I put a can of 134a in, shut down and started listening. Found said leak on the line coming from the accumulator, replaced the o-rings in there, serviced up 2 more cans of 134a, and presto, cold air. So for those of you who haven't ditched the ac, give it a try. got all the stuff at AZ, Good luck, hope it helps someone
 
  • Sponsors (?)


well, my a/c does not come on when I turn it on the panel, you know the idle does not dip and the comp. is not spinniing i guess.
Is there a pic. of these low side wires I could see?
I really wanna try it, thanx.
 
engine1.jpg
[/IMG]
borrowed this from the corral, to dark for picks here.... thats the switch, jump it, see if the comp comes to life. see if you got cold air blowing, if so, switch is bad. if not, based on what happened to me, you have a leak somwhere. (it's a pressure switch, leak=no pressure) mine happened to be right at that line coming form the accumulator, popped it off with a 3/4 disconnect, found two shi&&y o-rings, replaced, charged, g to g
and to give credit where it should go, I found alot of good info at corral for this stuff
 
My leak is on the drivers side rubber line that runs along the side of the intake manifold. How hard/easy do you guys think it is to replace that bugger? I think I can get it except for the fact that I have little understanding of how those fittings work at the end of the AC lines.
 
i was looking into replacing that line also, it was ~130 from advanced. are you sure it's the line?..hope not. the fittings are easy, you need a disconnect tool, i got mine from the parts store for about 10 bucks, package wl say ac/fuel line disconnect tool, simple design, simple to use. good luck man, and look into your leak some more, in the ends of those fittings are o-rings, they may be your problem, they only cost 3.99 for a pack of 20
 
Definately the line unfortunately I know exactly where the leak is and its ont of the most accessable spots on the lines but the ends are hard ass to see i wish i could find a way to fix just replace the line part
 
Is the line rubber? I thought it just has a rubber sheath around it..

Most of the lines are aluminum, which can easily be repaired. Just yank em, mark the spot of the leak, take it to a machine shop and have them but a dab of aluminum weld on it, and voila!!
Scott
 
I make the ac systems for Ford. I couldn't tell you how many of those pressure switches we used to get bad. They are made by Texas Instrument. They used the be awesome. Now they are made in Mexico. When the change was made it was horrible. Now they are a lot better. But the life of that switch is only so many years. The o-rings are made in mexico now too. when that switch was made it was an even worse nightmare. They were ripping apart on the assembly line. We had them leaking on the leaktesters which is a headache and annoying. They are better now too, but the shelf life of the o-ring is only 7 years. On newer systems they use a 3 o-ring male springlock instead of the 2.

Just a bit of info......
 
The leak is on the drivers side about an inch from the intake manifold where the line goes from metal to rubber and from what i cant ell when squeezing it, there is no aluminum inside. the leak is right where the metal goes around the rubber tube to "crimp" it down which looks like it could be a reasonable weak spot otherwise. dang if i could just fix it on there it would be great
 
v8302stangs: Is that line metal on both ends with a hose in the middle (it is an ac hose no metal inside of rubber) . One end has a springlock on the acculator and a tube-o that attaches to the compressor? A tube-o has a slide-able nut with a pilot on the end with an o-ring on it. I'm sure we are talking about the same line. A shop that can fabricate a line can easily fix that. All that is necassary is to cut the hose and put a longer metal piece on. Most shops are not set-up for that kind of repair though, they just put new lines on. I make people lines or repair them all the time at the plant. Usually that is not a weak point. During our burst test the hose will blow apart before a leak at the ferrell.
 
V8302stangs said:
So how do you disattatch it from the acculator?
If you have no experience with springlocks...get the tools, they are only like $15 for a set. If you are fimiliar with them a piece of flexible plastic. you can wrap it around the tube and slide it into the cage. There is a spring in there, hence the name springlock, the plastic will push the spring off the flare of the female springlock, which releases it. Sometimes you need to lubricate the spring because they will crudd up and not want to roll off the female springlock.
 
Awesome I think I know what to do and am going to give it a try tomorrow. Thanks a lot! The part that's going to hurt the most is probably the price for the new line boooo hopefully I don't have to go to Ford (don't think I do)