Black Death pic..

[Maniak]

My A/C system on our '92 X had a restriction. It was showing 350 psi pressures on a system that was running fine earlier in the year..

Its has a noisy compressor too but I just need it for "now". I have a couple cases of r-134, flush etc so I pulled the orifice tube to make sure I was on the right track and this is what I found..

Black Death on a Variable Orifice Tube by maniak_az, on Flickr

Those are Four Seasons Variable Orifice extreme tube which are used for > 105F temps..

You can see the black death and metal shavings from the compressor.

Yes, the compressor is noisy, but no more than it has been for the last bunch of years.. When I "fix" the system I'm going to have to replace everything.. Which is pretty low on the list of priorities..

~Mark

 

[Rick]

Egads, what a mess!!

 

[JTalley]

I've never seen anything like that before. Did the whole tube melt or is that from the lines?

 

[Maniak]

Its Black goop that is flowing through the system.. and to top it all off, there are slivers/chunks of metal from the pump there too.

When an a ford system goes bad, this is what it can do.. Black death is bad. The only real fix is change everything..

We did flush the system and got a bunch of crap out of the system but you really can't flush the condenser and evaporator.. They don't clean out well.

~Mark

EDIT:

What is "Black Death"?
"Black Death," as it is known by A/C system service professionals, results from a catastrophic breakdown of the refrigerant-lubricant which in turn causes excessive wear inside the compressor. In a typical case of "Black Death," metal particles are circulated throughout the system contaminating other components and necessitating either thorough flushing or complete replacement. The swash-plate compressors used by Ford are particularly susceptible to this problem

Taken from ackits.com