Thank you for reading. I know it is a little lengthy, but please bear with me. I have the 2003 2.3 liter Ranger. I have had AC problems and help from people here has halped.

So here is where I stand. I had to change the Orifice tube and dryer. Of course I did. I added pag oil to the new dryer. new o rings etc. Put it back together, charged it and great ac.. compressor kicked in and everything worked. But I kind of already knew there was still a leak. When I shut it down I could actually hear the pressure being released from the compressor itself. I had done a leak UV test and it must be inside.

Really, that all is not the issue, here is the issue. I am buying new compressor. Which means I have to take the system apart again. SO I have 2 questions.

1) Am I going to have to buy a new dryer and orifice tube since they are brand new?
2) This is the one I am most concerned about. I need to first recapture the Freon.. (or ya know release it) then change the compressor and parts... so I am at a loss about how much oil to add at that point as well as the following. Once it is all together again, I am going to pull a vacuum.. during that process, will oil be pulled from the system? If so, how much more to add?

Thank you

 

Depends on how fast you are, lol
Dryer shouldn't be exposed to "air" for very long, so if you can get it all done in a few days you should be OK
Receiver/drier absorbs moisture from the "freon" that was added from the last time and then as system ages, since it was just put in it should be OK to open system again to change compressor and then close it up again, its a double dose of moisture
I would replace it when you find and fix the leak
Orifice tube should be fine

You add oil directly to the new compressor before installing, or it may come "pre-oiled", check for that, usually takes 6-8ounces

No, not much oil will come out on Vacuum test

 

Thanks for the answer,,,

 

I did this same job on my bmw. What I did was I disassembled everything right up to the Freon connections then did the compressor swap from the Freon connections as fast as I could. This limits the amount of time it was exposed to air. The only moisture you will have is whatever the system absorbs from the air outside which isn’t much. Plus when you pull a vacuum you will remove more moisture from the system than you had added during the 30 minutes or so that it was open. You should be fine. And I second that the vacuum won’t pull out any pag oil. I’d recommend to do everything except remove those Freon lines, then swap compressors at the Freons and then put it all back together and I bet you’ll be fine.

Good luck!