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Ac flush question


killj0y

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Ok so my compressor died, I'm flushing and replacing everything besides the lines tomorrow. I don't know if I have the black death yet but I'm gonna do a thorough flush anyways. My question is can I flush the high side muffler?

Everywhere says no but I plan on removing it to get it nice and clean. I figured by being thorough it shouldn't be a problem but I don't have the cash for the line in case I can't get everything out. I have everything I need ready to go just need advice on whether to flush that particular line regardless of the black death being present.

Any advice? Ps I know it isn't recommended I'm asking about whether it's feasible because looking up pics it looks like it's either hollow or has a few baffled but no filter or anything else to hinder a flush.
 


killj0y

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Ps done this before just didn't have a muffler to deal with.
 

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Nope. You cannot flush out a muffler. Any muffled line has to be replaced, and the new one probably won't have a muffler on it. It has a bunch of baffles inside and you can't reliably get everything out.

If you want to risk trying it, go ahead, just do it both ways a few times.
 

killj0y

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Nope. You cannot flush out a muffler. Any muffled line has to be replaced, and the new one probably won't have a muffler on it. It has a bunch of baffles inside and you can't reliably get everything out.

If you want to risk trying it, go ahead, just do it both ways a few times.
Well I planned on doing it both ways, popping it a few times, turning it, shaking it, and giving it ample time to dry. The replacements I've seen have the mufflers installed :-\
 
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adsm08

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Well I planned on doing it both ways, popping it a few times, turning it, shaking it, and giving it ample time to dry. The replacements I've seen have the mufflers installed :-\
Ford tells us not to. I've never tried it myself.

The OEM replacement parts usually delete the mufflers. Usually, not always.
 

LearjetMinako

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I have flushed my high side muffler a few times before without any problems. It really depends on how the compressor died. For me, it was front bearing seal failures. So no high risk particles that I need to worry about. But if your compressor went grenade on you, then its best to replace it.

Also, you're going to need 2 cans of flush as the condenser takes almost the whole can. Air dry the internals with compressed air. Use a vacuum pump and pull a vacuum on the whole system for at least 30mins for the flush residue to evaporate.
 

killj0y

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Ford tells us not to. I've never tried it myself.

The OEM replacement parts usually delete the mufflers. Usually, not always.
So I understand
 

killj0y

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I have flushed my high side muffler a few times before without any problems. It really depends on how the compressor died. For me, it was front bearing seal failures. So no high risk particles that I need to worry about. But if your compressor went grenade on you, then its best to replace it.

Also, you're going to need 2 cans of flush as the condenser takes almost the whole can. Air dry the internals with compressed air. Use a vacuum pump and pull a vacuum on the whole system for at least 30mins for the flush residue to evaporate.
Good to know, and no worries got all new gear except the lines, in other words reman compressor, new dryer/accumulator, new o rings, new condenser, and new orifice tube. I'll probably pick up new high and low side ports too. Though the high side is less than 2 years old. I might wait to see how it holds vacuum.

I'm hoping it just crapped out. It ran fine though I know it was leaking a tiny bit from the clutch. Topped it off once, then the second time it ran for a few weeks then seized. Only needed to be topped off about once every 6 months to a year and only half a can, but I knew it was gonna die since my high side pressures were a little high. My mechanic friend was under the impression the condenser might be partially clogged.

I figured i got a good deal on the parts online so I bought almost everything including a new vacuum pump for the price of just the compressor locally.
 

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I would spend the extra money and get a new line. A seized compressor and a plugged condenser tell me you have all sorts of gunk in the system. you might even want to replace the evaporator, but most of the bad stuff should have been stopped at the orifice tube, so you can probably flush that out really well and be ok. I would put an inlet screen on your new compressor tho...

Another advantage of replacing the hose is that the old one might have some cracks or leaks in it.

Like Adsm says, flush any component not being replaced both ways.

AJ
 

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Use a vacuum pump and pull a vacuum on the whole system for at least 30mins for the flush residue to evaporate.
I sat through an A/C refresher seminar about two years ago where they showed us how poorly most of those A/C flush solvents evaporate just by being put under vacuum. The guy had a bunch of jars with different brands and one with water in them and pulled vacuum on all of them. The water did a better job of evaporating with no extra heat than everything but the stuff NAPA sells. That includes the Motorcraft stuff.

On his recommendation (and he was an A/C guy in Florida for 30 years) I have been doing a 2 hour vacuum with the engine running to heat the lines up.
 

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I sat through an A/C refresher seminar about two years ago where they showed us how poorly most of those A/C flush solvents evaporate just by being put under vacuum. The guy had a bunch of jars with different brands and one with water in them and pulled vacuum on all of them. The water did a better job of evaporating with no extra heat than everything but the stuff NAPA sells. That includes the Motorcraft stuff.

On his recommendation (and he was an A/C guy in Florida for 30 years) I have been doing a 2 hour vacuum with the engine running to heat the lines up.
Water is better to evaporate than the A/C flush, who knew. That would surprise me since the A/C flush, once exposed to the outside, evaporated very quickly and left no trace. Maybe that's why they also had instructions to also run compressed air through the A/C system to purge any leftover flush.
 

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I did it the hard way---od course. My truck OEM compressor (didn't install a new compressor to save money/the Oem lasted another year on the vintage system) finally gave out on my vintage air system.

I removed the orifice tube and the dryer.....

I removed ALL the components from the truck and flushed each component individually included the lines and the evaporator into a clear plastic jug to see what was bad.

I tilted each component to drain the flush /flush from both directions and used compressed air to blow the flush out.

I reinstalled the O-tube and used new orings to reinstall everything else.

I upgraded to a REAL sanden compressor (not a "like Sanden" compressor}

pulled a vxacuum for two hours-let it sit two hours-all O.K.

ADDED oil to new compressor/rotated ........recharged system

IT WILL FREEZE ME OUT ON MEDIUM COOL!

took a day to do-it.
 
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adsm08

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Water is better to evaporate than the A/C flush, who knew. That would surprise me since the A/C flush, once exposed to the outside, evaporated very quickly and left no trace. Maybe that's why they also had instructions to also run compressed air through the A/C system to purge any leftover flush.
I think air movement is the key. It seems like once the stuff is in a closed system and no air is moving over it it stops evaporating. We do A/C work year round, even this far north, because people come in in winter complaining about compressor noise while the defroster is on.

I have noticed something interesting with this. In the summer with the doors open and our fans running when it is 70 or 80 degrees out it takes less than an hour for a pan of A/C flush to evaporate once I am done with it.

In the winter with the doors closed (no air moving, no fans, etc) and the shop heated to the same temps that stuff will sit in the pan for a week.
 

killj0y

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Well guys all done. There was no black death and ironically the I could get the compressor clutch to spin freely once out of the system. Anyways flushed everything extremely thoroughly and got it all dry. Decided I didn't need to flush the high side line, just ran plenty of compressed air to get as much old oil out.

Installed the new components, vacuumed for 1.5 hours let it sit for another and everything was good so I filled it up. The lowest temp I could get at the vents was 48, good enough! That's idling of course. High side was rock solid at 200, low side I struggled to get it up to 40, it took about 2 and a quarter cans or so...I stopped there since it seemed to be cooling fine and I know it shouldn't need more than about 2 ounces of that third can. Decided to call it good there.

I did have an issue with the low pressure sensor not activating the compressor. A quick call to my mechanic friend for advice, he said to disconnect the battery to reset the truck and though I was skeptical, that did the trick :)

Man that new vacuum pump had no trouble pulling a vacuum at all! I really thought it would just be alright but it definitely outperformed and is built solid :) well worth the 75 bucks I paid for it. It pulled a vacuum down to 29-30 in less than 5 minutes. I left it longer of course but wow.

Anyways thanks for the help guys! Hopefully I don't have to do any more ac work for a bit I'm done for now lol.
 

LearjetMinako

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Pressures sound about right. Though I wouldn't try to push the low side above 40PSI. If its staying between 20-40PSI with the engine running at idle, then it is filled up. High pressure side is also good with a reading at 200PSI. The greater difference in pressures between the two sides will give you colder air. But 48*F air coming out of the vents is bit warmer than it should. A good A/C system on a 80*F day should be putting out air as cold 32*F to 40*F.

What was the air temp out of the vents after you did a PCM battery reset?
 

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