A/C troubleshooting?
 

In January I had $1500 of work done on my 1996 3.0 ranger to pass the smog test. A few months later when it got warm I went to run the a/c and it was blowing out the defrost vent. Took it to a shop and they found a wire Ford had not connected. OK, so now it blows out the right vents, that's when I noticed it wasn't blowing very cold.

Jump to now. I figure it needs an a/c recharge since it's blowing cool and I can hear the compressor cycling. So I buy the recharge kit, hook it up and note the follolwing.

When the compressor engages the pressure drops to 20, when it cycles off it goes up to 48. So I'm guessing it doesn't need recharging. The compressor is cycling on and off at 5 second or intervals, so the pressure is bouncning up and down.

I'm thinking is it the clutch on the compressor or the compressor itself. Any ideas, help?

Thanks,
Dave

Well I did some more research and figured out that the cycling is a sign of low refrigerant. The fluctuating pressures are also normal for the cycling.

I proceeded to fill the system with a 17oz bottle. As soon as the refrigerant started entering the system the cycling stopped. I dumped the whole bottle and the pressure now reads a steady 28. The system now blows ice cold.

Hopefull this will help someone with the same problem in the future.

Dave