98 Ford Explorer A/C issues

[Bluidol]

Ok so The A/C in my explorer hasn't worked for about 2 years. I got it 3 years ago and after the winter of the first year it simply wouldn't produce cold air. Up until now it didn't really big me but it's been one hot summer so I figured I'd give it a shot. So I bought a recharge kit from a parts store and asked my neighbor for some help. Well come to find out the compressor clutch was not engaging. We unplugged the sensor on the low pressure side and paper clip jumped the wire with engaged the clutch but it still wouldn't run cold air. We checked the pressure with the recharge kit and it read at 0 both when the clutch was and was not engaged. We also pulled the cap off the high pressure side put the paper clip down there and it is pressurized bit still no cold air. Could this be a problem with the compressor itself or something else entirely?

 

[SoHK_alumni]

No pressure at the low pressure port and pressure at the high pressure port with the a/c clutch engaged could be a symptom of a plugged orifice tube.

If that tube is plugged, the compressor will push refrigerant to the tube, but none will pass into the evaporator and then to the accumulator where the low pressure switch is.

The orifice tube itself is usually pretty easy to change, but I've seen more than a few that are in backwards and they become much more difficult to remove.

The real concern is why did the tube plug up? There'd have to be debris of some sort in the system, either from a failed compressor at some point or from the desiccant in the accumulator.