Installing a/c on 02 ranger without a/c questions

[slowranger02]

Hi guys. I have an 02 ranger with a 2.3 engine. I purchased the truck w/o ac. I would like to put ac on it, but cant find anyone that has done it to a truck as new as mine. I can find info on a lot of the older trucks, but nothing about the newer ones. Is it a fairly easy swap. Can I just take the ac harness off a donor truck and put it on mine and swap all the necessary ac parts or am I just waisting my time? Will this be a plug and play type of swap or will I have to hack up the wiring to make it work? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[David88]

Does it have any of the A/C components? On my 2001 Sport Trac 2WD, they included all the stuff for a 4WD, but just excluded the switch, cv shafts and T-case from the factory. I could have made it 4WD since I had all the wires and suspension components in place.

So it really depends if you have the wiring in place and dash vent components required. I'm sure it comes with heat...so I'd pull the controls from a junk with ac and compare to the plug on yours. If the shape and pins match, check for the cluptch wires. If it's all there, you should be good to go, if not, check into a dealer installed a/c harness and then get an aftermarket compressor.

 

[slowranger02]

I went to the salvage yard to day and looked at a ranger that was the same year as mine, and has the same engine as mine. I checked to see if the harness was different than mine and found that the plug in to the accumulator was on my truck tucked away in the wheel well. However, I can't find the plug in on my truck for the compressor. Is it there and I just don't see it? Or are the engine harnesses different with a truck without ac? Will I just need to splice that connector on , and if so how hard is that gonna be or is it possible? That is the only spot thus far in my swap that I think I'm gonna run into issues or maybe I'm just blind and don't see it tucked away somewhere like the other one. It was hard to see that connector on the wrecked truck I was looking at, so maybe its not on the same wire as the alternator like I thought. If anyone has the same truck as me with ac and could tell me, I would greatly appreciate it...

 

[adsm08]

You will need the control head, the rad may be different, same with the fan shroud.

A bigger issue may be the software. The compressor is computer controlled. Even if you plug everything in and charge it up, it may not work without having someone go in and tell the computer it has AC now.

 

[slowranger02]

This might be a stupid question, but what if I just used the pcm out of the donor vehicle? My current ranger is a 5 spd and the donor ranger is an automatic. Would that even matter? I know you can use an auto pcm with a 5 spd in older vehicles, but not sure about the newer ones.

 

[adsm08]

An auto PCM in a manual truck from 2002 will be pissed off to no end.

If you can find a 4-cyl 5-speed a/c computer that would be best, but the first thing I would try is getting all your other stuff in place, get the system charged up, and try it, before going and getting a computer.

It is also possible that it is just a matter of going in and re-setting a single parameter. Even paying them to do that will be a lot cheaper than buying a used computer.

 

[5speedin2.3]

I plan to put the AC stuff in my truck next spring and hook a switch to the ac compressor to trigger the clutch.

Installing a heater bypass valve probably wouldn't hurt either.

 

[armadillon]

I plan to put the AC stuff in my truck next spring and hook a switch to the ac compressor to trigger the clutch.

This may not be the best idea. There are two switches, the high and low pressure switches which are designed to cut off the compressor when the pressure exceeds a certain amount +/-. On my 89 Jimmy I used to just apply power directly to the compressor. It worked, but it didn't cut off at certain highway speeds, and when I stopped after a short trip the accumulator was coated in ice.

It worked...but it isn't good.

 

[5speedin2.3]

This may not be the best idea. There are two switches, the high and low pressure switches which are designed to cut off the compressor when the pressure exceeds a certain amount +/-. On my 89 Jimmy I used to just apply power directly to the compressor. It worked, but it didn't cut off at certain highway speeds, and when I stopped after a short trip the accumulator was coated in ice.

It worked...but it isn't good.

This could be solved with a few relays.

 

[hoosier1104]

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

 

[David88]

^ this.

I'd install everything first if you seem to have all the plugs and try it. It costs about 50 to have them go hook up the computer to your vehicle. Junkyards usually sell PCMs for 150. And you don't know if lightning has fried it while sitting out there in the junk pile.

You might want to look around on the net some more. Might find an aftermarket kit that comes with everything and no guess work.

You can do it right the first time or do it again later and double your cost.

 

[armadillon]

I doubt he'll need an aftermarket kit. Those are usually obscenely expensive although you're right,it does eliminate guess work.

Let us know how it goes when hooking it all up.