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I've got a 1994 Mercury Tracer LTS that is going to be taking a very hot road trip. I took it to a shop to have them look over the AC system as it's not working and here are the notes: "no refrigerant. low side service valve leaking. no core. low pressure switch leaks as well. recommend low pressure switch, filter drier, recharge system and retest" estimate- $650 The second page with the parts lists the "AC Clutch Cycle Switch", is that the low pressure switch? The real issue I see is this:  So the hoses going into the compressor are leaking at a junction, and this is a discontinued part I can't find anywhere, specific to 94-96 tracers/escorts. Is there any point to putting any effort into this system if I can't fix this hose which has clearly leaked? (that is dye I'm seeing on the upper line, right?)
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Jul 5, 2022 18:56
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 00:01 |
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Motronic posted:I'd have a hard time putting any money into that which didn't include replacing those hoses, whether it's finding them or having them made. That was my thinking as well, they seem like they could definitely be a source of the problem. I found a local shop that made custom PS hoses for me in the past that's willing to take a look at those two hoses, either repairing or remaking them, so I'll take the hoses to them and go from there. The shop said the system was empty, but I noticed when I start to unscrew the low pressure service valve, it starts to hiss. Is that residual pressure from their pressure test? Presumably the system shouldn't leak when the plastic cap is removed, so that would indicate an issue with the valve. Those parts look pretty cheap, so if I can solve the hose problems, throwing new service valves, orings at all the junction points, and getting it retested wouldn't be the worst idea, right?
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Jul 5, 2022 23:20
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Kia Soul Enthusias posted:Did Ford go to R134a for those already? If so, the hoses might be available on a 96-98 Mazda Protege ES 1.8L, though those weren't common either. I'm guessing its R134 as the shop didn't mention anything, and all the parts for the AC are Escort/Tracer 94-96 specific. I checked for the Protege lines, and while some are available, the compressor looks totally different, as does the hose attachments. It was hardly the usual parts-bin approach with these cars, unfortunately.
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Jul 6, 2022 20:31
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Motronic posted:If it's literally missing a valve core I don't know how it was holding pressure. But whatever. So it wasn't actually missing a valve core, but the core did leak. In fact it may have been the only source of the leak other than the clutch cycle switch. The dye on the hose I'd taken a picture of must have been from something else, as that line was pressure tested to 400psi (I think that's what he said). So I'm going through and replacing all the o-rings and the two service valves. The question is, without a shop to pressure test it and recover refrigerant, it seems the best thing I can do is: Finish replacing all the seals I can and rent this AC Gauge Set and this Vacuum pump and see if both sides hold vacuum. I've never used these tools before, so I'll have to do some youtube-ing. After it holds vacuum at least, I could either go to a shop, get them to pressure test, and if its all good, take it home, install the new drier, then go to a shop to get them to recharge it. Either that or I throw in the drier after it passes vacuum, but there's no guarantee the compressor works, or the orifice tube/condenser/evaporator aren't clogged or non functional in a non-vacuum leak way.
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Jul 15, 2022 17:37
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kastein posted:One thing to keep in mind, once you vacuum the system you have to put something in it before disconnecting the gauges because otherwise it'll suck in air. The Schrader valves only retain pressure, they'll let air right in if it's vacuumed and you disconnect. So given that it all holds pressure I'd probably replace all the o rings and dryer, vacuum test it, then put refrigerant (and oil if needed, I can't recall exactly what you've replaced so far) in and run it. It's completely empty right now. The shop pressure tested it and found a few leaks that have been fixed. I also went through and replaced more o rings in a lot more places and checked and re-ringed the orifice tube. One of the hoses going to the condenser's spring clamp was too corroded to remove, but I didn't see any refrigerant residue there. The only seals left otherwise are to the drier and to the evaporator, which are all in the same place. Ideally what I'd do is just put the new drier, low pressure switch (which lives on the drier) and o rings in, and take it to a shop to get vacuumed and recharged, but that opens me up to losing that refrigerant if it leaks. Or worse they won't recharge it if it's leaking badly and it ruins the new drier, right? This all may be moot as I'm leaving for a trip next Saturday to eastern Oregon (hence the want for AC) and DHL didn't even attempt to deliver the drier yesterday. I hate DHL.
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Jul 17, 2022 00:09
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I'm sure this is a stupid question, but since my system has been empty of refrigerant for a while, but I haven't touched the compressor, do I need to worry about compressor oil? That's not in the R134 system, right?
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Jul 19, 2022 07:31
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Motronic posted:Worry about it in what sense? Before recharging? Yeah, worry about it before/when recharging. I was debating on recharging it myself and looked up the amounts to buy and the guide says I need 28oz r134 an 8oz pag46. As best I can tell, it looks like it was slower leaks over time, and ones higher vertically in the system. I did remove the hoses from the compressor though to reseal them, but it's not like 8 oz drained out when I did that. They're about halfway up on the side of the compressor. Should I assume there's enough oil in it still, being the low point, and recharge with just r134?
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Jul 19, 2022 15:53
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Motronic posted:Probably safe to just charge it, but I'd throw an ounce or two of pag64 + dye in there for good measure. It's not enough that even if you're at the full 8 oz right now that it would cause problems (slugging the compressor or meaningfully reducing your cooling capacity) but enough to top off just in case. Okay, thanks again for all the advice. I'll do that and two cans tonight following the recharge instructions on the first page.
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Jul 19, 2022 20:44
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Deceptor101 posted:Okay, thanks again for all the advice. I'll do that and two cans tonight following the recharge instructions on the first page. Okay, per under the hood the capacity was 12oz of r134, so I added one can. I added a bit less than 2oz of dyed pag46 too. It won't really do much other than short cycle, but perhaps that's because it's not that hot here? I'm not super impressed with the accuracy of the O'Reilly gauges, but static pressure after letting it sit for a bit is like 62° low side and 66-68° high side, Google says it's 61 right now, (maybe slightly warmer in the garage, but the door is open). Here's a short video of it short cycling https://youtu.be/IF6zUAmgPEU . It doesn't want to cycle for longer than that, but the air is blowing definitely colder than ambient from the vents. It's my first time doing this so chances are I hosed this up somehow, or something else on this 260k 28 year old car is messing up, but maybe it's working?
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Jul 20, 2022 04:08
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Motronic posted:That looks like an undercharged system to me based in your video. It did seem like the gauge was maybe leaking out the "burp" valve (the one pointing perpendicular out from the gauges) and it did seem like it took longer than a video I've seen to pull the can in. The question is, now I don't know how much is in there, right? Should I rent a different tool and slowly add until the numbers on the high side look better? Either that or take it to a shop.
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Jul 20, 2022 05:12
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 00:01 |
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STR posted:That's short cycling for sure, though I wouldn't expect it to kick back out until a little lower. If it was leaking out of the center schrader on the gauges, you need a different set of gauges. If it was leaking from the hose fitting, it wasn't tight enough. The hoses definitely felt as tight as hand tight could go, which from what I read should be good enough. It wouldn't surprise me if a rental tool is in rough shape. The pressures on the graph are for while the compressor is consistently running, right? Is there any risk to overcharging the system if something else is causing it to short-cycle? I'd be aiming for pressures I'd never see because it never stayed on long enough, but it would keep sucking in refrigerant. I'm not sure what would cause it to short cycle other than low refrigerant though.
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Jul 20, 2022 19:05
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