surging idle and A/C won't accept refrigerant. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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surging idle and A/C won't accept refrigerant.

beavis195

Well-Known Member
Joined
October 15, 2000
Messages
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City, State
Sammamish, WA and Provo, UT
Year, Model & Trim Level
94 XLT 4 door
Okay, the idle will race from 600-800 rpm, and it's not the MAF. The compressor does not engage, but the A/C relay clicks all the time. I put the hose on the low side to refill the A/C and held the can there for 15 minutes. No r134a went into the damn line, and yes, I put it on right. And yes, I had the A/C on and at full blast. Why wont the refrigerant go into the line? And why wont the A/C work? and what about the surging idle, does that have to do with the compressor or does it have something to do with the IAC? Thanks
 



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Buy an AC pressure gauge (or gauge kit) and check the pressure on the high and low side of AC system. The pressure readings may reveal the problem(s).
Otherwise everything is a pure guess!
 






Sounds like a compressor problem. The IAC will kick in in anticipation of the compressor starting, even tho the compressor never starts. (there was a recent thread about this....) Anyway, check the A/C relay, if thats ok, then further compressor troubleshooting necessary.
 






Could we have a little more history on the A/C system?

Tim
 






It's always worked great, but it was a little low on coolant, as the compressor would cycle on and off constantly, but now it cycle on.
 






I had a bad "LOW" pressure switch in a 95 STANG that caused the same scenario. However, I didn't need to add any charge to the system.
 






Well, it was a 90 degrees yesterday, and all of a sudden the A/C turned on. It worked great the whole day, and I recharged the refrigerant. At about 8:00 pm it got a little cooler outside and the A/C shut off again and hasn't worked since. This leads me to believe there is a pressure switch somewhere that isn't working. Any ideas?
 






bump
 






There is something that keeps it from running below 50? degrees, but not sure what kind of sensor/thermometer or where it would be....., but I imagine that could be the problem
 






I had the same situation as what you're describing. Same solution as SWLathrop. Replaced the low pressure switch and it worked great. As for your surging idle, I ended up cleaning the mas and replacing the tps and reset the computer. Not sure which one solved the problem, but it works great now.
 






Where is the low pressure switch located. The Haynes manual tells me where it is electrically, but not where it is physically.
 






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