hey i joined a few days ago and the man we bought the truck off of my grndpa and great uncles life long friend so we knew we wasnt selling us a lemon

the truck is a 06 ford ranger xlt 4x4 he told us that the A/C didnt work but he never used it so we told him to put some Freon in it and he said after words the compressor would kick on then in under a second it would go back off. when me and my dad tried it yesterday when we piked the truck up it was cold and nice but this morning it was back to how it was before the freon was put in it.
please help me and tell me that its not a compressor maybe its a leak? please help ask any questions that may help you and ill do my best to answer them.

thank you for helping out a brand new ranger owner

 

You put an actual gauge on the line?

If the compressor is kicking on and off then your straight up low on freon and that first can you threw into it was just enough to kick the compressor on.

 

No the guy was going to put a gauge on it but we just had time to drop the truck off then head to church but he called for ford place and asked how much to put in it and the man put 5 cans of the freon stuff in it..... 5CANS I don't know much but that sounds like a big leak

 

Uhhh thats overkill. Your truck is should be 30oz. Look at your label on your header panel under the hood. It should state the amount of refrigerant and the amount of compressor oil for the system.

The smallest cans are 12 oz so if he put in 5 cans he overcharged the system by double of what it should be. If this is the case you can almost hydrolock your compressor. If the pressure is too great the compressor won't come on just like if the system is empty.

You need to get a gauge on that truck asap and check it against a chart of ambient temperatures. Pressure reading is different at different ambient temperatures.

 

Ok well I have good news the guy only put in 2 cans of freon but me and my dad swore he said 5 but today he said he cross wired the compressor or something and the compressor ran but wouldn't blow cold air. So what would that be?

 

If there was no cold air, then the compressor was leaking somewhere and it wouldn't have run for long.

On the header panel will be a black sticker with yellow writing. That will tell you how much R-134a to put into the system. You should also put a gauge on the fitting to see how much pressure is in the line.

To properly fill the system.
1. Start truck and turn the climate controls to MAX A/C and all the way blue.
2. connect up your can of R134a to the LOW side port (it only fits on one connector, so you can't mess this up)
3. Depending on the can you bought, punture the top or pull the trigger and let the R134a fill. About 3/4 of the way to empty, turn the can upside down to get the rest of the R134 out.
4. Let the A/C run for about 3 to 4 minutes. If there hasn't been any R134 in the system, The seals might be cracked. You'll need to put some oil in the system too. Sometimes you can find the oil mixed in with the R-134a cans already.

If you didn't follow that procedure, you may have not filled the system right.
If the issue still persists. check for a leak or crack in the hose. You'd probably know if it was leaking because the system is pressurized. A leak would be blowing out of a hose.

 

Or better yet, if you arent a ----ing refrigeration mechanic, or have the proper licencing as a mechanic, you shouldnt be handling ozone depleteing substances in the first place. Especialy when you have no clue what you are doing. Hey lets just dump 134a into this possibly leaking system!

 

you need to take this thing to a shop. you may be putting in way too much refrigerant. there are many things that can cause the a/c to not function, could be low r134a level, bad compressor, bad control switch, there are pressure switches on both high and low sides of the system that could be reading wrong which will cut power to the compressor, expansion valve or orifice tube could be plugged (not sure which one is in a ranger system). condensor could be plugged up.

 

[QUOTE=chudykGT;2039180]Or better yet, if you arent a ----ing refrigeration mechanic, or have the proper licencing as a mechanic, you shouldnt be handling ozone depleteing substances in the first place. Especialy when you have no clue what you are doing. Hey lets just dump 134a into this possibly leaking system![/QUOTE

12-24oz of R134a isn't going to hurt anyone.

 

I just went through this exercise of fixing a freon leak on my 97 4.0 Ranger. Last year I replaced Compressor and Receiver Drier. This year freon is gone, no apparent leaks. Installed a can of freon with dye to locate leak-nothing seen.

Summers too hot in Florida and needed a/c to work so I took it to an a/c shop. They also installed two cans of freon with dye and called me to show where the leak was. It was in the a/c hose running from the receiver drier, across the back of the firewall and then connected to the compressor outlet. The metal piping within the hose is insulated with a very thick foam insulation. They had to use an electronic sniffer to indicate where the leak was in the hose. The metal pipe hidden beneath the heavy insulation had rusted through. Estimated price to fix was $600. I paid the shop $80 for the analyzing to locate the leak and the two cans of freon/dye used.

Note that this particular hose with the heavy insulation is only used on the 95-97 4.0 engine powered Rangers.

I then called my son who is an amateur mechanic for an assist. I ordered the special hose from O'Reilly auto parts for $125 and a couple of cans of freon. I was able to use my fairly new receiver drier. The installation took my son and I about three hours to remove and install the hose, evacuate the system and recharge with two cans of freon.

The original hose is attached to the firewall with a closed loop metal bracket. I simple cut the loop with my saber saw with a hacksaw blade, pried the loop open, then installed the new hose within the open loop and squeezed it back shut with pliers to secure.

O'Reilly's offers two Ranger a/c hoses, one for most all engines and one for the 4.0 only. The 4.0 takes part# 55322.


Murray® Climate Control 55322 - Hose Assembly | O'Reilly Auto Parts

 

R-134A is not ozone depleting or harmful but is costly and the best think for him to do is to go to an a/c shop and get an estimate. as far as using the wording that you used there is no need for that here not everybody is as smart as you