1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[410Fortune]

I think there is one bolt then it slides off it’s bracket
Otherwise it has one top and one bottom
I recently removed a gem and remember having to remove the Black ductwork to get to the upper fastener?

 

[97Sandbox]

I hate to be the bearer of disappointment, but the 98 GEM definitely is not compatible with my 99. As soon as I plugged it in, the wipers started going nuts. When I went to double check the wiper speed control knob, the sprayers went on full blast. Hopefully nothing got fried in the car...

I'll try to get a proper 99 GEM as soon as I can and try again.

As for disassembly, it's just one 7mm bolt on the bottom of the GEM, then pull the module down to release its tabs from the bracket in the dash.

 

[410Fortune]

Hahaha crazy my bad!

 

[97Sandbox]

No one is to blame! I read other places that 98 to 01 is all the same. I just need to treat everything about my 98 parts donor as a 97 though.

 

[97Sandbox]

I'm not home able to work on the Mounty this weekend, but I managed to get to a salvage yard today and snagged a 4x2 GEM from a 2000 explorer. This one has the same BB revision level and the donor only had 147k on it, so I'm hoping it works.

The family section of the part number starts with a Y instead of an X, but I'm guessing that just has to do with it being a year newer.

 

[97Sandbox]

We have liftoff! GEM swap eliminated the Mounty's gremlins.

I have no clue why the original GEM started going nutty, but I'm going to have to squirrel away a few spare GEMs going forward. On the off chance the loose ends from the 4x4 indicator hijack had something to do with the issues, I went ahead and de-pinned them from the connector at the GEM. Can't cause any more trouble if they're not there.

Thanks for all the troubleshooting help, guys!

 

[CDW6212R]

That's good, you found it. That GEM malfunctioned because of the old electronics inside. Any device that has transistors and capacitors etc, they will have some failures when they get really old. It's a common issue for any older Ford with message centers, the radios compass, automatic AC control, and modules that have electronics in them for the features we take for granted.

Usage with age is the culprit, heat and time, so take good care of those systems. Keep spares if you can, with the youngest and lowest mileage. Rarely someone pops up who is capable of rebuilding those devices, for a fair price. Lots of companies are out there to rebuild most of these things, we need to share the best of those with each other. A man named Paul Protos was known for repairing most of the electronics in the Mark VII's, and he has retired the last I heard. Keep an eye out for that kind of people, personal help is ideal. The companies are more expensive and work on the fewest devices, with more restrictions etc.

 

[97Sandbox]

Out of curiosity, I opened up my bad GEM to see if I could see anything wrong. To my untrained eyes, it all looks normal. No evidence of moisture on the board, no blown capacitors, nothing looks burned or anything like that.

On an entirely unrelated note, I'm redoing the AC system on my daily because the compressor gave out. I thought it was just the clutch, but when I drained the original compressor, there wasn't much oil and it was dark with fine sparkles. So now I'm going to replace the condenser and evaporator too. Anyway, the reason this connects to the Mounty is now I'm in AC service mode and want to go ahead and do the Mounty.

When I bought the Mounty, it had a hole in the condenser from an impact on a rock. I confirmed the hole with a leak test and cleanish PAG oil came out (not very dark, no sparkle). I suspect the compressor was okay, and the hole was the only issue. I replaced the condenser already and have a new accumulator kit and new compressor too. I'm planning to flush the evaporator and lines -- I'm thinking the evaporator will be okay after a flush. With lines and evaporator flushed, I'll replace all the O rings, reassemble with the new compressor and accumulator, and vacuum the system before recharging.

I know my new compressor has 3oz of PAG oil in it already. Does anyone have recommendations for adding the remaining oil? I've read half goes in compressor, and half goes in the accumulator. But I've also read that a small amount should go in each component (evaporator and condenser in addition to compressor and accumulator).

Any other tips? I'm new to the world of AC service, but eager to learn another system.

 

[410Fortune]

Umm I just add the oil to my charge hose after vacuuming and during the charge process..
It then gets sucked into the system where I figure it can go and settle where it wants? I’m probably doing it wrong? But I have had good luck with this method thus far

Don’t forget to clean or replace your orifice tube

If the compressor has 3 oz in it then I would add 5 to your re charge, I believe the system calls for 8 oz of oil

 

[97Sandbox]

Sounds good. Yeah, the kit came with replacement orifice tubes, I just need to figure out where the old one is haha. I read it's in a line over by the accumulator.

When you say "charge hose" is that the low pressure side?

I don't remember the oil capacity, but I know it's on a sticker on the core support.

 

[97Sandbox]

When I get the old compressor out, I'm also going to take advantage of the easy access and swap to the 97 oil filter stalk. I got the 3.0 adapter threadlockered in yesterday after doing a little cleanup work on the oil holes in the casting.

 

[410Fortune]

You can tell where the tube is because the line it is inside necks down right there for it to fit

Running the larger oil filter is a great idea!

Yes the low port suction line, I don’t even hook up the high side port anymore… the more times you use the port the more likely the little valve will develop leaks. I simply clean the system, oil the compressor, replace
The orrifice tube, vacuum and check for leaks.. then vacuum and finally charge. I usually use 24 oz of cheapo r134 ($10 a can at wallyworld or Autozone) and then 6-8 oz of an arctic breeze or the like that has the dye, leak stopper, and “supercharger” in it

Works great in these trucks
Ice cold in all my trucks including the sport trac and my sons ranger

 

[amj441]

Umm I just add the oil to my charge hose after vacuuming and during the charge process..
It then gets sucked into the system where I figure it can go and settle where it wants? I’m probably doing it wrong? But I have had good luck with this method thus far

Don’t forget to clean or replace your orifice tube

If the compressor has 3 oz in it then I would add 5 to your re charge, I believe the system calls for 8 oz of oil

Thats the way the a/c machines do it in the shop.

Only other way is we'll add oil to the compressor if the compressor calls for it. some come pre-filled

 

[97Sandbox]

Thanks for the tips, guys! Hopefully I get a chance to crack into things over the coming long weekend.

 

[97Sandbox]

I got into AC disassembly this afternoon and ran into a road block. Everything came apart fine, but I noticed a lot of debris in the oil that drained out of the evaporator.

I don't want to risk ruining a new compressor, so I'll swap the evaporator (even though I really didn't want to).

What I'm wondering though, is if I need a different condenser too. The condenser that's installed is a new condenser that I replaced the original one with when I did the engine refresh. I thought it'd be fine to just leave in there until I cleaned and charged the rest of the system, but now I'm wondering if the contaminated oil may have circulated through it when I ran defrost or something. I know the compressor runs with defrost on, but does anyone know whether the oil can actually circulate without the system being charged with refrigerant? If it does, this new condenser is probably ruined already. But if all the oil was just sitting in the accumulator, compressor, and evaporator, maybe my condenser is still good.

 

[97Sandbox]

After reading more, it sounds like the PAG oil doesn't circulate if there's no refrigerant to suspend it in. Also, my orifice tube is cleaner than I expected:

A bit of crud, but not much in the way of metal shavings. Now I'm tempted to just back flush this evaporator and run with the condenser I have.

 

[97Sandbox]

I got everything back together after flushing and vacuumed the system for an hour. Then I left it sitting for 45 min and there was no bleed down. I added two 12oz cans of R134 into it, but on the third can (which I only needed 6oz from) had some malfunction with the valve and wouldn't re-seal. That meant I lost some refrigerant each time I took it off to weigh it.

Ultimately, I got somewhere between the right amount (30oz) and 34oz into the system. My best guess is that it's about right and the rest was lost through leakage from the can. Which is really frustrating to me. I was all set up to do this the environmentally responsible (and cost effective) way. I had just enough refrigerant to charge the Mounty's and my '09 Fit daily driver's systems, but now I'll have to buy another can. At least for now, I have the leaky can capped and I'll try to use the last 2-3oz remaining on my Fit so it doesn't get out into our atmosphere.

At least the Mounty's AC blows nice and cold now. Time will tell if I should've replaced the evaporator and/or condenser. But I didn't really see much contamination in what I flushed out: just oil and UV dye. My bet is it'll work nicely.

I also completed the FL1A filter conversion because I had easy access with the compressor removed.

Still hard to get a good picture of lol.

And I swapped my plastic fan for a steel one.

At least I learned a thing or two so now I can do a better job reviving the AC on my daily. Once the daily is fixed and out of the "repair bay" (concrete slab by the chicken coop), it'll finally be time to yank the transmission out of the Mounty for a rebuild. I'm also going to make a point to redo my tailpipes because I was never satisfied with how one touches the frame.

 

[410Fortune]

Those self sealing cans and the sealing can adapter are cheapo parts they only work “ so well” about every 10 cans of r134 I get one that doesn’t work … so I return it for another.

Well done!
Now I need to do the fl1a mod! Thanks for the inspiration! Good work on the ac unit… I have seen much much worse… your system looks very clean.

 

[97Sandbox]

Thanks! Yes, I was initially scared because the first bit of oil that I drained out was from the condenser-to-evaporator line. I didn't realize that's where everything that gets caught by the orifice tube ends up, so of course that oil has some contaminants. But the oil that came out of the condenser and the evaporator looked fine.

FL1A mod is easy: just one bolt! Use the bolt and short stalk casting from a 96 to early 98 V8 truck (ones that had factory oil cooler), thread the adapter from a 3.0 Ranger in about 1/4" (I sealed mine with threadlocker), and bolt the whole thing onto your block. It helps to have a dry filter on the stalk when you clock it to make sure you split the difference between the sway bar and lower radiator hose. The hardest part is getting a wrench in there. I gave it a good snug with a box wrench that should be close to the appropriate torque spec -- there was no room for an actual torque wrench.

 

[97Sandbox]

Had to put the transmission to work one last time (wife bought her own project).

Thankfully, this camper is really light and we picked it up only 10 to 15 miles away. Now I think it's time to get this Mazda gearbox out for a full refresh.

Oh, and the AC in the Mounty (also in my Fit) is working great! I'm glad to have learned how to work on another system.