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Fixing my AC


wildbill23c

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Emmett, Idaho
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1988
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Ford Bronco II
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2.9L V6
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4wd
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19K, 19D, 92Y, 91F
I'll make do with what I have for now, but in the future I'll most likely swap to an electric fan. The clutch locked up really makes it loud LOL.
 


wildbill23c

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1988
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Ford Bronco II
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2.9L V6
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4wd
My credo
19K, 19D, 92Y, 91F
If I remember correctly my 84 Ranger had that seal as well. It either was never there in my 88 B2 or the 84 B2 or someone replaced the radiators and lost them or just plain lazy and threw them away rather than putting it on the new radiator.
 

JerryC

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I tried a couple of things today, not sure how much they helped but it was relatively cheap to do.

I put DEI Reflecta Cool sheeting on the evaporator housing and pipe insulation on the metal parts of the cold side of the ac hoses.

Don't have test data to say whether it worked or not, just that it was 90 degrees with a heat index of 104 today and it was cool as cucumber inside the BII. I don't see it helping much even in a best case scenario, but little bits of improvement add up.

What I expect the DEI sheeting to help with is keeping the heat from the engine compartment from heating up the evap housing. There was a strip of insulation on the housing that was in real bad shape down low by the exhaust. Same thing with the pipe insulation, to stop heat transfer to the suction lines. Also to stop condensation on the lines, there's no need for random water sources under the hood.

I also insulated the heater hoses where they pass over the evap housing. I keep thinking about bypassing them for the summer months to keep the heater core from heating up the vent system. I think there used be a mechanical valve on some cars just for this in the way-back days.
 

wildbill23c

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Emmett, Idaho
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1988
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Ford Bronco II
Engine Size
2.9L V6
Suspension Style
4wd
My credo
19K, 19D, 92Y, 91F
Hmm, never thought about the heat wrap stuff. If I recall correctly my 84 Ranger actually had some sort of heat wrap on the evaporator box, maybe the dealer put it there IDK but haven't seen it on many vehicles. I may try wrapping the box and the refrigerant lines and see if that helps too. When its 100 degrees plus outside the poor AC just takes forever to cool all that space in the B2, wasn't so bad in my ranger because the cab is far smaller.
 

IIBRONCOS

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Ford did put a metal foil with strands type tape on the evaporator housing facing the engine, like you would wrap metal duct work with. mine was mostly gone so I used a metal tape in place. I would like to see a metal shield between the evaporator case and the engine. Good ideas to wrap the hoses. Turning off the heat to the heater core would also help. Never thought of wrapping the suction hoses. There's going to be some very COOL Bronco II's on the streets.
 

wildbill23c

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Emmett, Idaho
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1988
Vehicle
Ford Bronco II
Engine Size
2.9L V6
Suspension Style
4wd
My credo
19K, 19D, 92Y, 91F
Even as my B2 sits now with working AC, I'm quite happy...even better is I did it myself for less than 1/2 of what a local shop quoted. I now have the tools on hand so I can easily do this again in the future if I get another vehicle with non-working AC.

I still want to do the foam on the radiator between it and the condenser, and wrap the hoses and evaporator box, but got a few things to take care of before then, pretty busy weekend this weekend with a triathlon that I'm doing traffic control and communications for, plus not sure how the solar eclipse is going to impact traffic and communications here so kind of holding out and waiting before I worry about too much LOL.
 

Vstromvoyager

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Thought I would resurrect this thread. My a/c hasn’t worked since I bought it a couple years ago. One week Of 100* weather and melting tells me it’s time. It’s completely dead. no light on the button I have the 30a fuse. I tried putting power directly to the compressor and it did not engage. I think read it wont engage if it low on Freon or something like that. I did find a red plug on the passenger side not plugged in to anything. Have a chilton manual, but it’s has a lot to be desired. Any help to point me in the right direct would be great. I consider my self pretty mechanical and electrical inclined, but this has me stumped. Thanks in advance for any help.
 

duffy

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By the low pressure valve is the low pressure switch.....pull the plug and jumper the two pins. The clutch on the compressor should click and lock up. When I bought mine (this last Feb) it was missing the compressor belt. I installed the belt and checked the low pressure switch. Took it down to my local shop and they looked at it and confirmed that it had been converted to 134a. They charged it for me ($60) and it now works fine. Good luck.
 

Vstromvoyager

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Is that the red plug I mentioned? I can get a picture if that would help.
 

duffy

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Mine is black......just inboard from the air cleaner assembly.
 

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