94 Explorer XLT Check Engine light

[AngelEyez]

I bought a used 94 ford explorer from a local car lot within this last month . At the time that I bought it the AC did not work and I had made arangements for the "mechanic" who the car lot did there work to check it and put in the stuff that makes it cold .

Today I want to the mechanics garage and he installed 2 cans of stuff into my vehicile . after about 20 minutes of driving picking up the kids etc I notices my check engine light was on. I was 2 miles from home so went straight home and told my boyfriend who is also as clueless as I myself am with cars/trucks .

he opened the hood and there was a clear liquid on the bottom of the hood where it covers the engine . and around what he called the air flow plastic .

This liquid he said looked to be coming out of a rubber hose that went to my AC condincer and back to this thing that looks like a bottle .

On my old car "95 mazda 626" I could turn it off and on like 5 times and get a code or somthing that I could look up to see why the light was on . does the Ford Explorer have somthing similar ?

Anyway guys I hope someone out there has some clue as to why my engine light would now be coming on and hopefully it won't be very expencive to fix . I can live without AC till next summer when I could prob afford to have someone install a new system .

 

[Kadarom Douhrek]

Hmm, not sure about why the check engine light is on, but without looking at it I'm positive the A/C isn't leaking.
That clear liquid that was on the hose and hood was most likely water.
After running a while that section of line gets cold just like the refrigerant running through it, and when the hot air under the hood touches it the water condensates.
You will also most likely find a puddle of water under the truck directly below that.

One of the others can talk about checking engine codes.
I have to get up in 5 hours to start my usual 10 hour day, oh joy!

Oh, and welcome to the forums.

 

[Texplorer]

Take it to auto zone, they will scan it and tell you the codes for free. Then you will know what to fix. Welcome to the site.

 

[AngelEyez]

Thank you for the warm welcome and the quick replies .

the liquid was oily(sp) to the touch and was "sprayed" around the engine compartment .

straight above the air flow and both to the right and left of the where the belts are .


ty much again

 

[AngelEyez]

Also the Check Engine light doesn't immediatly come on once you start the vehicle . or while is sits running a while . It doesn't come on untill you actually drive it a bit .


ty again

 

[MrShorty]

The oily liquid could be A/C oil, but that would be quite a leak. Does the AC still work? A leak like that should be quite obvious if there is any refigerant in the system. Can you see anything?
For the CEL, you need to get the Trouble codes from the computer. In most case, you can take it to Autozone and they can pull the trouble codes. Sometimes they believe that they can only do OBD-2, though, and you may have to prod them until they "discover" that they can also do OBD-1. If you'd like to try retrieving the trouble codes yourself, get a jumper wire and follow the instructions at http://www.dalidesign.com/hbook/eectest.html

 

[AngelEyez]

The AC worked for about 30 minutes now its blowing warm air again .

I assumed it was a leak in the "hose" which I know now is a piece of tubing with a rubber hose over it . it comes down to a v shape and it held into place with a bracket to the engine with no hose covering it at this point and it looks like from the splatter marks this is where the leak starts .

I am calling a friend of my mothers who is a mechanic and has a odbII code reader to diagnose that problem

IT just seems quite conincidental that 20 minutes after this "mechanic" installs the freon which now I believe I saw 2 different cans one said 12 and one 13a If I am not loosing my mind . after his installing of that I start getting my check engine lite on .

I never know what there doing under the hood so it was possible he could have tinkered with somthing else to have me come back at a later point ? or am I paranoid ?

 

[Opera House]

Could it have been antifreeze?

Maybe running the AC caused the engine to overheat and that gave a code. By that age, many aluminum radiators are near shot. That engine is OBD-I and all you need is a paper clip to read it

Edit 530 am needed coffee

 

[Glacier991]

It's really OBD-I, but I know that YOU Operahouse know that and probably made a typographical mistake. Just didn't want someone to read that and take it to heart.

Chris