AC death rattle?

@Glamisman Pressure check will be done before anything else, I have a pressure/temperature chart here somewhere. Low charge might be a best case scenario. Stuck out of town this weekend, hope to get some stick time on Monday

 

My F150 was acting strange, according to my brother who borrowed it, anyway, it was low on Freon and making odd sounds like a compressor on its way out. There was leakage past the low side schrader(sp?) valve so I replaced them both. I pulled the orifice tube and the filter was clean and the oil wasn't black so I reinstalled, pulled a vacuum to 30" and it held that for 20 mins. 31 oz of R134 later and it is 45 degrees out the dash vents and the "death rattle" from the compressor is gone. I figure since she is a 1999 and this is the first thing AC wise that is a pretty good run.

 

The only way to effectively add enough oil is with the system depressurized, and using a syringe to add oil to the compressor,lines, etc.

 

I just finished installing this kit from RockAuto. It's a nice kit with all of the o-rings and parts you need. It turns out the compressor is made in Taiwan -- not China.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=9821436&cc=1357589&jsn=381

I bought a Denso new evaporator to go with the kit. It turns out my old evaporator was good. So I didn't need to go under the dash to replace the evaporator. I'll just keep it around in the event that I need it someday. There were no pieces of shrapnel or metal shavings left in the system from when the old compressor burned up. I used the AC Pro flush system to flush out the evaporator and lines that were not replaced in the UAC kit. I connected a hose to one of the compressor lines and routed the flush liquid into a pail where I caught the fluid. I used my air compressor to blow out the AC lines and evaporator after the flush. The fluid is normally clear like water. It did clean out the system a little and gave it the amber color. I only found a couple of particulate specs in the flushed liquid. I've seen new systems with more in the flush liquid.




Here's a picture of the old compressor. The previous owner or their mechanic ruined the compressor by not having any oil in the system. This looks to me like the damage caused by typical parts store DIY fill kits without regard for needing oil. The old compressor was nearly impossible to turn without oil.



Here's the key ingredient for a successful AC job. Completely, evacuate the system before installation. After I let the vacuum pump run for an hour, then I closed off the manifold valves and watched it sit under vacuum (-32) for 3 hours to make sure there were no leaks in the system before charging. With the system under vacuum then I was able to add 18 ounces of refrigerant without even running the compressor.



The blue gauge on the left is showing the negative vacuum reading that it maintained during evacuation and afterward during the system leak check.



After I finished the engine job and started the engine, the AC kicked on using the refrigerant from the partial fill after the vacuum test. Once the compressor and engine were running, I topped off the refrigerant based on outside temperatures and the low/high side chart.

 

Yep