Hey everyone out there, i just bought a working used ac compressor since its hot, I'm tired of being hot and id like some nice cold air, iv never replaced one before but the actual "replacing" is pretty straight forward but what i was wondering was is it absolutely necessary to change the condenser and accumulator at the same time?

Also, will those basic "refill" kits from the auto parts store be enough to recharge the coolant?

 

It is very important to change the accumulator. It removes moisture from the refrigerant which can ruin your a/c system. Did you take out your orifice tube? If there were metal shavings in it you should definitely replace your condenser. If it was clean your condenser will be fine. The ranger condensers apparently are apt to hold on to metal shavings from the compressor and are near impossible to remove with a cleaning. Most shops will only replace with a new condenser if the orifice tube had any metal shavings.

 

like above said, change your accumulator. possible changing orfice tubes, their inexpensive and come right out.

 

This is a nice suggestion because my friend is planning to replace the crappy ac compressor he have and he was wondering if the ac accumulator also needs to be changed. Having read your post, it also seems important to change them all at the same time. Anyway, thanks for sharing this info, I'm gonna let my friend know about this.