A/C just went out....help!

So I give the EX to my wife to drive for one day and she brings it back with no A/C!! Checked and sure enough the compressor is locked up. Thankfully it did not hurt the clutch so I can still drive it until I can replace the compressor. My questions are this, How do I know what type of compressor it is? I see the is a "Scroll" and a FS10". Second where is the orifice tube located so I can check for the dreaded "Black Death"? I plan on replacing the compressor, receiver/dryer and orifice tube. But I kinda want to see if I have the black death issue first.

FS10


Scroll


The orifice is just inside the coupling near the passenger side firewall. Quite easy to get to.

If it actually locked up, it's got the death. All the compressors you have the option to buy will mandate changing out all the ancillary stuff to activate the compressor warranty. If you just change the compressor, the new compressor won't be warranted and it will likely fail in a few months.

EDIT: I believe the only thing that can be flushed is the evaporator. But the condenser and all the other stuff needs to be replaced with new, non-contaminated stuff. I'm on my third full A/C rebuild, with the last one being in 2011.

apenland01 said:

If it actually locked up, it's got the death.

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Not completely true.

With scroll compressors especially there is a difference between "locked up" and "seized up".

Seized Up: Black death (lack of oil causing over heating) will cause the compressor to slowly seize up and spread contaminants throughout the system which requires replacing everything but the hoses and evaporator.

Locked up: Occurs suddenly when there is a catastrophic failure of compressor internals usually due to age and not lack of oil. One can usually get away with just replacing the compressor in this situation but since there would be no warranty I would only use a salvage yard compressor.

They're usually noisy from loose internals before something comes apart and it locks up.

Think of locked up as a engine with a thrown piston rod.

Think of seized up as a engine with piston rings seized to the cylinder walls and rod bearings seized with the crank and rods (due to lack of oil).

There is something else that happens that is a pressure lock up due to too high of pressure caused by a clogged orfice tube.

This can't happen on Explorers because they have both a high pressure cut off switch and it that fails there is a high pressure relief valve.

Look here to see a high pressure relief valve in action on my other vehicle which does not have a high pressure cut off switch. This happened after trying one of them expensive ($30 ish) "auto adjusting orifice tube" and it failed. Stay away from those!

Well rockauto four seasons kit with all three hoses and condesor will sent me back a good $550. Looks like a long hot summer...ugh

CustomCoffinWork said:

Well rockauto four seasons kit with all three hoses and condesor will sent me back a good $550. Looks like a long hot summer...ugh

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Um, you don't need new hoses...

and you don't need a "new/reman" compressor. They can be had for around $50 from a salvage yard.

Like I said in a different a/c thread, I fixed mine after a mechanical failure lockup for under $100.

EBay Salvage compressor $39.53, ebay PAG46 oil $7.59, 3 cans of DuPont R134a I already had on hand, I had bought them in bulk by the case ($50 for 12 cans) a while back so I only paid $4.17 each for them. Don't buy them at OReilly's! They charge $15 a can! Total rip off! You don't have to use name brand DuPont, I prefer it because of it's higher purity standards. The cheapest place to buy cans is BigLots and WalMart. Around $6-$8 a can. Need 3 to fill and just plain R134a, never buy any of the ones with added crap in them.

Already had my own vacuum pump and manifold gauge set. I know you can get a loan a tool vacuum from AutoZone, don't know about gauges.

Compressor $30

or if you want to pull one yourself so you know what you're getting, find your local Pick N Pull Pick-n-Pull

So is the compressor for the 4.0 liter the same for the 4.6 liter? Assuming I get the same scroll type compressor.

CustomCoffinWork said:

So is the compressor for the 4.0 liter the same for the 4.6 liter? Assuming I get the same scroll type compressor.

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Would need to see it to confirm. The scroll has the pipes come out the top of it, the piston version has the pipes come out of the rear.

Also the scroll has 3 bolts and the other has 4.

Both versions can be had from salvage yards cheap.

So the scroll is the same for a 4.6 and 4.0 then.

While the belt still turns and I've been driving it without air, I've noticed a smell very much like when someone is riding a clutch. Is this from the clutch on the A/c? I thought it was magnitic?

its a magnetic pull in friction clutch

Joe in NY said:

its a magnetic pull in friction clutch

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So I'm guessing that the rotating mass is possibly causing the clutch to grab from time to time.

Commercial a/c flush is spendy. I order in pure isopropyl alcohol by the gallon(s) for a fraction of the cost and do the bulk of my a/c component flushing with it. I sometimes follow up with a little commercial flush after. BTW, 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol can be purchased under the name Iso-Heet for a higher unit price. Anyways...just a tip to save a few bucks.

Big Z said:

Commercial a/c flush is spendy. I order in pure isopropyl alcohol by the gallon(s) for a fraction of the cost and do the bulk of my a/c component flushing with it. I sometimes follow up with a little commercial flush after. BTW, 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol can be purchased under the name Iso-Heet for a higher unit price. Anyways...just a tip to save a few bucks.

Click to expand...

Personally I'd go with Acetone, only $15/gal

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-gal-Acetone-GAC18/100141096

Well after about five hours here in 110 deg weather, I have replaced the compressor, orifice tube, condenser and receiver dryer. I flushed out all the hoses and the evap. and now have air conditioning again. Thanks for everyone's help.