Well, two steps forward, one step back.. Then a giant leap for air-conditioned Rangerkind..
Today went something like:
- Install radiator and mechanical fan.
- Shorten lower radiator hose, a little too much but it'll work for now..
- Drag out every spare radiator hose on the farm, including all of them from every parts truck I have.
- Mock up, trim hose, eyeball it, trim in the wrong place a time or two, then figure out a solution using the factory Thunderbird upper hose cut in half that works perfectly.
- Fill radiator with coolant.
- Turn on key, and notice truck is having a hard time starting.
- Notice gallons of fuel are running out from under the truck. Shut off quickly, panic & promptly push truck away from massive puddle of fuel.
- Diagnose and assume it's an injector o-ring because I had the passenger fuel rail loose to install the new heater hose outlet on lower intake.
- Confirmed cracked o-ring, order o-rings at Advance Auto & get 25% discount online. Drive 25 miles to pick up & get groceries while I'm there, brake clean, more coolant, a fuse holder, etc..
- Come home, remove upper intake, loosen fuel rails & remove injectors one by one, remove old o-rings and clean injectors as long as I've already got it apart..
- Install new injector o-rings, clean intake mating surfaces, recoat with Copper Coat, and button everything back up again.
- Truck starts flawlessly. Runs well.
- Bypass A/C cycling switch to get compressor to kick on.
- Notice A/C clutch kicks off on certain fan positions.
- Start probing wires and confirming I selected a power wire from the blower switch that only receives voltage on certain fan speeds.
- Run new length of wire inside dash, and cover it with abrasion resistant fiberglass covering. Hook to fuse box after verifying key-on voltage only.
- A/C clutch now kicks on perfectly at any fan speed. Sweet deal!
- Add partial can of R134a and plug cycling switch back in. Keep monitoring pressures and adding refrigerant. Get two cans in the system total.
- Is now late enough that it's getting colder outside so unsure of how this will affect pressures in the system and overall cooling capability.
- Decide to wait for warm weather tomorrow and go back over the system... Tomorrow is supposed to be 76 degrees outside.
Observations so far:
Temperature at the vents using a thermometer were 48 degrees with an outside temperature of 65 degrees. So I'm not getting the "standard" of 20 degree temperature difference.. Disappointing.
With the A/C system running on high and both doors open, low side pressure was at 35psi after adding two cans of refrigerant. The A/C clutch was staying engaged permanently.
I tried to measure the temperature at the inlet and outlet of the evaporator, but radiant heat from the headers was affecting my infrared thermometer. I may use some old tin to make a temporary heat shield to block the heat from the headers to get more accurate measurements of the inlet/outlet temps.. What I could tell was by feeling the inlet/outlet with my fingers, they were close to the same, but could still vary quite a bit...
Condenser wasn't overly hot. Around 120 degrees if I remember right. You could lay your hand directly on it for a long time, but there wasn't a lot of heat to be pulled out of the air with it being so cool outside. That's why I plan to revisit this again tomorrow when it's hotter outside.
What I'm not sure of is what to do if temps vary at the inlet and outlet. If it needs more or less refrigerant if inlet is higher temp than outlet, or vice-versa..
Today went something like:
- Install radiator and mechanical fan.
- Shorten lower radiator hose, a little too much but it'll work for now..
- Drag out every spare radiator hose on the farm, including all of them from every parts truck I have.
- Mock up, trim hose, eyeball it, trim in the wrong place a time or two, then figure out a solution using the factory Thunderbird upper hose cut in half that works perfectly.
- Fill radiator with coolant.
- Turn on key, and notice truck is having a hard time starting.
- Notice gallons of fuel are running out from under the truck. Shut off quickly, panic & promptly push truck away from massive puddle of fuel.
- Diagnose and assume it's an injector o-ring because I had the passenger fuel rail loose to install the new heater hose outlet on lower intake.
- Confirmed cracked o-ring, order o-rings at Advance Auto & get 25% discount online. Drive 25 miles to pick up & get groceries while I'm there, brake clean, more coolant, a fuse holder, etc..
- Come home, remove upper intake, loosen fuel rails & remove injectors one by one, remove old o-rings and clean injectors as long as I've already got it apart..
- Install new injector o-rings, clean intake mating surfaces, recoat with Copper Coat, and button everything back up again.
- Truck starts flawlessly. Runs well.
- Bypass A/C cycling switch to get compressor to kick on.
- Notice A/C clutch kicks off on certain fan positions.
- Start probing wires and confirming I selected a power wire from the blower switch that only receives voltage on certain fan speeds.
- Run new length of wire inside dash, and cover it with abrasion resistant fiberglass covering. Hook to fuse box after verifying key-on voltage only.
- A/C clutch now kicks on perfectly at any fan speed. Sweet deal!
- Add partial can of R134a and plug cycling switch back in. Keep monitoring pressures and adding refrigerant. Get two cans in the system total.
- Is now late enough that it's getting colder outside so unsure of how this will affect pressures in the system and overall cooling capability.
- Decide to wait for warm weather tomorrow and go back over the system... Tomorrow is supposed to be 76 degrees outside.
Observations so far:
Temperature at the vents using a thermometer were 48 degrees with an outside temperature of 65 degrees. So I'm not getting the "standard" of 20 degree temperature difference.. Disappointing.
With the A/C system running on high and both doors open, low side pressure was at 35psi after adding two cans of refrigerant. The A/C clutch was staying engaged permanently.
I tried to measure the temperature at the inlet and outlet of the evaporator, but radiant heat from the headers was affecting my infrared thermometer. I may use some old tin to make a temporary heat shield to block the heat from the headers to get more accurate measurements of the inlet/outlet temps.. What I could tell was by feeling the inlet/outlet with my fingers, they were close to the same, but could still vary quite a bit...
Condenser wasn't overly hot. Around 120 degrees if I remember right. You could lay your hand directly on it for a long time, but there wasn't a lot of heat to be pulled out of the air with it being so cool outside. That's why I plan to revisit this again tomorrow when it's hotter outside.
What I'm not sure of is what to do if temps vary at the inlet and outlet. If it needs more or less refrigerant if inlet is higher temp than outlet, or vice-versa..
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