How to: replace A/C Compressor on '96 5.0 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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How to: replace A/C Compressor on '96 5.0

AMMO_HOOAH

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City, State
Spokane, Wa
Year, Model & Trim Level
1996 Ex V8, AWD XLT
Replacing A/C Compressor on 1996 '96 explorer 5.0 How to: replace compressor

I finally got around to picking up a new A/C compressor for my X, and after a bit of searching on here I couldn't find answers to several of my questions about the system. :confused: I decided to put together this "How to", to hopefully be able to answer the questions for others that I myself had to find from other sources. One of the websites that is tremendously helpful is ackits.com they have a lot of very useful information, and a huge forum devoted to air-conditioning. You will need a good set of metric sockets and wrenches, as well as special air-conditioning/ fuel line disconnect tools. Also you need to empty the system of any old refrigerant and oil, if you can’t do this your self don’t just open the system! You could harm yourself, your vehicle or violate EPA regulation on the release of refrigerant into the atmosphere. Due to the fact that it was my compressor that went out I also had to buy an orifice valve, and o-ring kit. You can buy them at AutoZone for about $20 altogether. At any rate into the write-up:

Looking into the engine bay of the 5.0 Explorers can be quite unsettling when it comes to considering replacing one of the accessories. It is by far much easier than even I had originally thought.
  1. Start out with removing battery from the engine bay completely, of course disconnect the negative terminal first. Set it to the side out of your way.
  2. Next you are going to have to remove the power steering fluid reservoir to be able to get to the compressor. Make sure you have something to catch the old fluid with, and some new fluid to refill with.
  3. There are three small bolts attaching the reservoir, two you can see, and another one on the bottom rear of the reservoir.
  4. There are two hoses to the reservoir connected with squeeze style hose clamps a large one on the left to the top of the pump, and another on the right going down under the vehicle. I found it easiest to disconnect the large hose at the pump, and place the hose in a plastic bottle.
  5. Once you get the majority of the fluid out of the reservoir disconnect the smaller hose from the reservoir, and catch what little spillage you have in a pan under the vehicle.
  6. With the reservoir out of the engine bay you have a clear shot of the compressor.
  7. Unplug the electric plug going to the compressor, and get it out of your way as much as possible.
  8. There are four bolts that go through the body of the compressor mounting it to the block. Two of the bolts have the extension on then allowing for the fastening of other hoses out of the way. The one on top holds spark plug wires while the one on the bottom holds that smaller hose from earlier.
  9. The top two bolts are easy to get to, but you’ll have to use a wrench to unbolt them as there isn’t enough room for a ratchet between the battery tray and compressor.
  10. The bottom two need to be gotten through the wheel well. Simply remove the driver side wheel and inner wheel well access panel (just pull). Anybody that has changed their sparkplugs will understand this step completely. The top two bolts can’t be removed due to the lack of space, but you can still remove the compressor with them through the body.
  11. With the bolts removed or out of the way pull the rear of the pump down towards the access panel. There is a heat shield that will need to be removed to get to the bolt mounting the hose plate to the back of the compressor.
  12. With the heat shield and plate unbolted the compressor can be removed from the engine bay.
  13. Once the compressor is removed you can start pulling out hoses. At first look there seems to be quite a few, but once you start pulling them out you’ll realize there are only two individual hoses. One of the hoses is two separate ones connected to each other at the block that we unbolted from the rear of the compressor.
  14. Remove the hose connected to the accumulator (the black tank looking thing on the left side of you engine compartment, the low-pressure fitting is attached to it as well) You’ll need your special disconnect tools for this, press the tool as far into the coupler as you can then pull on the hose with a little twisting. It should come apart fairly easily. If it doesn’t want to come remove the tool and push it in again.
  15. Unscrew the rear connection to the accumulator. You’ll need two wrenches for this, one to hold the nut on the accumulator still while you unscrew the nut on the evaporator.
  16. If you have a stock air filter or some sort of replacement box you’ll probably want to remove you’re air filter and box.
  17. Disconnect the pressure switch plug. With those undone you can unscrew the bolt to the compression ring mount for the accumulator. With it loose the accumulator will simply be pulled up and out of the engine bay.
  18. You should now be able to see the bottom hose attached to the evaporator (the evaporator is not actually visible only the connections to it protrude from the housing on the firewall). Again using you special tool disconnect the bottom connection.
  19. This is where the orifice valve is also located. One of the things I had a hard time finding information on. If you stick your finger in there you can feel that it isn’t far in, but you’ll need a pair of needle nose pliers to get it out. If you are even the slightest bit careful you can do it without destroying it (if you plan on reusing it, but since you bought one for $2 why reuse an old one).
  20. Follow this hose back towards the front of the engine bay (about 18”) it connects to the condenser (the radiator looking thing in front of the actual radiator) unbolt the single bolt holding this fitting in place and pull out the hose.
  21. Back to the block we unbolted from the compressor follow the smaller of the two hoses forward to the other side of the condenser. It’s the same fitting we just unbolted from the other side. The high-pressure side fitting is also part of this hose. You'll need to disconnect the plug to the pressure switch here.
  22. With that undone you can now pull out this hose (the whole thing back to the block and across to where we disconnected from the accumulator).
  23. At this point you should have two hoses, the accumulator (black tank thing), and the compressor out of the vehicle. You can now replace all of the o-rings on all of the fittings. This is simple just find a new one that is the same diameter and thickness (very curtail) to replace the old one. The reason I say thickness is curtail is that the fittings on the condenser ends had o-rings that were far thicker than any in the kit I got, since mine weren’t cracked or worn I simply reused mine.
  24. You should also use some shop air and blow all of you hoses out along with your condenser and evaporator, do not blow out your accumulator, or compressor! If you have a flush gun or other kind of flush you should flush now and again blow out everything again with exception ^^
  25. You should make sure everything is good and clean for reassembly.
  26. I found it easiest to bolt everything to the new compressor THEN set the whole assembly in the engine bay. It takes a little tweaking, but it beats getting contamination into the compressor!
  27. Reattach the smaller/ shorter hose to the condenser.
  28. Put your new or reused orifice valve into the bottom fitting on the evaporator before you hook it back up. For the two spring fittings (the ones that needed the special tool) just push them back together until you HEAR them click into place. Pull a little to make sure they’re good. Re-bolt the other end back into the condenser. Put the pressure switch plug back in.
  29. Put the accumulator back into it’s bracket align the screw fitting up and tighten the bracket. Tighten the evaporator/ accumulator bolt good and tight. Plug the pressure switch back in.
  30. Reattach the spring fitting to the accumulator.
  31. You should have everything reattached at this point, but it never hurts to double check yourself. Once your comfortable that everything is good put your filter box, and battery back into your engine bay.
Everything should be good to go and recharge your system at this point. Since the system was completely open, and I put in a new compressor the vacuum needs to be drawn for an extended period of time. Also the system is going to need to be fully reoiled. In our case that's 10oz of PAG 46. I’m not going to go into how to recharge the system yourself, as that has been covered in other write-ups. All of this is done of your own accord. I can not be reasonable for anything you do to your vehicle. If at anytime you feel uncomfortable with this process consult a professional! I hope this has at least answered some questions for people. My system is up, running, and better than it has been for a long time. :thumbsup:
 



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Thanks for the step by step install instructions. Folks should find that very helpfull:chug:

I set you up with 3 months Elite membership.
 






re: A/C

Hey,

Great detailed work instructions, thanks for the post. I have a question...
My gf owns a 1998 Ford Explorer Sport, and lately the A/C hasn't been working as well as it used to. First thing I notice is when I turn the car on, the smell coming out of the vents is kind of a "musty" odor, just not like before, and also it doesn't cool as good as it used to.

I had the oil changed the other day and had the mechanic take a look at it. He limited his help since he was doing it for free, but he said that the freon is a little low and could use perhaps 1/2 a can. He also said he believed the dryer is leaking since there is a little corrosion and some oil leakage.

I'm not too mechanically inclined, but I can add freon no problem. We don't want to put too much money into it so what do you suggest we start with? Putting in one of those freon's w/ dye so we can identify a leak? Or do we need to take this in to a professional?

There are a plethora of other things going wrong w/ the Explorer, let me know if you know of any other suggestions. Some issues include:

1. Radio LED lights do not turn on
2. The car's "bell" will "ding" when the door is open WITHOUT the key in the ignition, isn't it supposed to "ding" when the key is in the ingnition?
3. The SUV's handling seems a bit more loose than usual, don't know where to start here. Struts and shocks?
4. When you turn the car on it's a bit noisier than before, coming from underneath the front driver / passenger half of the car and forward. We had a mechanic look at it - he mentioned something about "tensioners need to be replaced" and said it's a big job, Ford has to do it since they take the engine out...? Never heard of that.

Anyhow - thanks and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 






Nice write up.

Aloha, Mark
 












You should NEVER blow "shop air" trough an a/c or hydraulic hose as the air is contaminated and will affect your system.
 






FWIW, on what you have listed as step 15, the two wrenches needed are a 22mm and a 27mm. I feel that's worth mentioning because most people have a limited selection of metric tools in their tool boxes, so they may not have much metric stuff larger then 19mm. The two small bolts/screws that secure the accumulator are 8mm. The switch on the side of the accumulator is 17mm.

On step 20, the single bolt you mention is 13mm. There is one for the hoses on both sides.
 






Thanks for the added info, although I didn't have a problem using my standards on the larger nuts.
 






Thanks for the added info, although I didn't have a problem using my standards on the larger nuts.
I wouldn't expect you to. But I'm sure there are some people like me, who look for any chance to acquire new tools, so I figured I'd give them the sizes. How is the new compressor holding up after 2 years? My '96 5.0 suffered black death a few years ago and the problem was never fully corrected so recently another compressor crapped out. I'm going to go all out and replace everything (compressor, condenser, accumulator, orifice tube, hoses and, switches.) I'm also going to change the evaporator even though that's not really necessary. Mine is full of dirt and trash on the outside which restricts airflow and the ends have some corrosion. And since I found one cheap on e-bay, I figure I might as well leave no stone unturned. I'll start my own write-up from start to finish.
 






Everything seems fine, although when I pulled the system to pull the engine the orifice valve was covered in tiny bits of o-ring. Never figured out where that came from but flushed everything drastically. The only other oddity is that my compressor never stops turning no matter what. Even though the pressures are right it never stops unless I manually shut it off.
 






When removing the lines from the back of the ac compressor loosen them till you hear a little hiss, wait a few minutes give a little more turning till you hear it start hissing. Keep doing this till you hear nothing coming from it.

If you fail to do this you can have the seals blow off and never find them or find them somewhere you will wish they weren't. Also the ac is under pressure, if you were to just unbolt with your hand in the area you could end up giving yourself a not shot of r134a coolant. Needless to say it will burn your skin and might cause more damage. Possible trip to the hospital. Your hand won't freeze like a ice cube but just enough to cause open lesions! Just be careful.
 






FWIW it's illegal to open your system without having it professionally evacuated and collected. ;-)
 






AMMO's Posting on 08-29-2008

The rubber particals usually have been lodged in the condensor. When a compressor fails it generates tremedous heat that causes bits of the lining of the hoses to peel off. The condensor is extremly diffacult to flush, it must be flushed in both direction and several time. Even then it will still disloge bits up that get caught in the orfice tube. It is usually a good idea to install an inline filter to protect the new compressor should any debris break free. Most a/c service shops will recommend that the condensor be replaced after a compressor failer.
Your question about the compressor not ever cycling off is very unusual. When you select a/c from your dash it does not send a connection to the clutch on the compressor but completes the curcuit to the pressure cycling switch near the evaporater. This switch monitors line pressures in the system and turns the clutch on at predetermined low setting and off as pressures reach operating highs. If your clutch does not disengage the system pressure would reach a point that the safety pressure release on the compressor would blow out to prevent a line from exploding. The only condition that would cause your condition would be if you did not have enough refrigerant in the system and it could not reach the high operating limit point where the pressure cycling switch would shut off the clutch.
 






What does "(very curtail)" mean?

Do you mean "very certain"?
 






Just wanted to add that you dont have to remove the wheel and wheel well splash guard to do this.

Instead, remove the battery as told, and then remove the battery tray as well. It's only three bolts(13 mm if I recall). This gives plenty of room to remove the compressor.

This is a great write up!
 






Compressor never disengages

If your compressor fails to disengage the clutch properly your pressure cycling switch is probably defective.
 






Just wanted to add that you dont have to remove the wheel and wheel well splash guard to do this.

Instead, remove the battery as told, and then remove the battery tray as well. It's only three bolts(13 mm if I recall). This gives plenty of room to remove the compressor.

This is a great write up!

Well i removed the splash guard to get to the bolts holding the coolant lines from the back of the compressor. A lot of people just replace the bearing so they don't remove it, however i replaced the rubber rings and such. I also checked the lines themselves. Just very through.
 






everyone should be aware that evacuating the system at home releasing it into the air is both dangerous and illegal (in America at least). if you do this (which i do not condone but what the heck) you should do it outdoors so that the refrigerant doesnt get concentrated in a small area since it can cause serious health complications and/or death. plus if your not careful you could very easily have one of the hoses completely come off and release refrigerant in your eyes. only do this if you have the proper tools and coolant capturing devices as well as the expertise to perform the work. beginners should consult an automotive tech who has the proper tools to vac the lines so you dont have to tear the whole system down after a couple months because something was done wrong
 






Very Helpful info.
 



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Any ideas what the going rate for a compressor install is?
Oh, and thanks for the great write-up.
 






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