Forgot more than I know

[bevis]

did not know that. ya learn something every day

[tbirdtbird]

"the condenser as its behind the radiator "
YIKES
lots of heat soak from the radiator in that case. Hard to believe it ever worked.

It is gonna take posters smarter than I am to get you out of this mess

[bevis]

hang on a second and let me look at it again.
its been a tear. it may be in front, ( I meant year...Freudian slip lol )
I just remember what a pain in the ass it was

[bevis]

no, it is in the front and its clean as a whistle. still looks new .
it has less than 2000 miles on it since I replaced it. it was just our in town beater car until
recently when the girlfriend started working from home and I sold her Honda that was just
sitting in the driveway not getting driven and costing me $400 a month for it to sit there.
so we are now going everywhere locally in the focus. that's why the renewed interest in getting the ac right.
wish I could go out there and work on it but my back feel broken today. no way I can lean over the fender

[bevis]

Update time. Since I last posted I have completed the change out of the orfice tube with an OEM one. I will post pics of the orfice tube I removed.
I pulled a vacuum on it for 7 hours and then shut the gauges and let it sit overnight. It went from 29 in to 27 overnight. Thats good enough for me and could be because of the crappy HF gauges or any number of connection points of the gauges. I dropped 26oz of liquid in the low side and let it equalize. started the car in the garage and it was blowing ice cold air in the low 40's. fast forward a couple weeks I think and I still have sub par performance during driving and especially on hot days. and yet another issue cropped up yesterday on the trip to the drs office. the blower motor started surging and I could hear a relay clicking under the dash during the surging. its crazy . it comes and goes. this damn car hates my guts. right after my back got better and before these problems, I changed out both rear shocks, both stabler arm end links and both struts. it needed them in a big way. I get one issue fixed and it throws 2 more back at me. I hate this damn car and it hates me. its mutual. I had forgotten what a true pain in the ass that orifice tube was to get to. I had to fab up a couple of stubby wrenches cut and bent from full size wrenches to get down in there. I dont ever want to change the damn thing again.

so, as you are driving the car you can certainly feel the air temp change when the compressor kicks off. sometimes its blowing mid 40's air and the next thing you know its blowing 70's air out of the vents on 95 degree days. clearly the system has the capability of calling correctly.I'm thinking this could be a multitude of things like the head or suction pressure switches, relay or bad ground somewhere or amount of air being moved by the electric fans. im thinking of forcing the fans on all the time with a relay to see if that has any effect on the issue. who the hell knows. but now this blower surging thing ? Ever hear of the blower surging and what may be causing that ? best I can tell from reading, the blower resistor would not cause a surge but neither would the blower relay.. I have google and binged a surging blower on a Ford Focus and come up with nothing.

[bevis]

next set of pics. it only let me put in 3 at a time

[tbirdtbird]

That is some nasty crap on the OT.
Long thread, don't recall if comp ever failed, if so condenser may not have been changed out, which is a must.

As far as cooling, there will be others here that understand the wiring behind the condenser fan coming on.
BUT FOR ME PERSONALLY I would never run the comp without the fan coming on, NEVER. And we wire them all like this. Others will take me to task but part-time fans won't haul the freight. It sure cannot hurt anything!!

[JohnHere]

The cause of the surging blower fan could be the relay, the blower motor itself, or faulty/corroded wiring someplace. I don't think the issue has anything to do with the blower resistor or refrigeration system. It just decided to rear its ugly head at this time for reasons not known. I would start by direct-wiring the blower motor to the battery as a test. If it still surges (it'll run at full speed), then you'll know it's a bad motor. If not, then it's on to more involved electrical troubleshooting.

The deposits on the OT screen suggest that there's still debris inside the system that wasn't eliminated with the first round of parts replacement. Its source could be the evaporator, which I think you said earlier wasn't flushed. It's a real pain, I know, but the evaporator and all other flush-able components will have to be removed, thoroughly solvent flushed, thoroughly dried, and reinstalled. The compressor should be flushed several times only with the appropriate PAG oil. You'll need to replace the accumulator again, too. You might also have questionable HPCO/LPCO switches. So I think I would replace them as well while the system is open.

[bevis]

That is some nasty crap on the OT.
Long thread, don't recall if comp ever failed, if so condenser may not have been changed out, which is a must.

As far as cooling, there will be others here that understand the wiring behind the condenser fan coming on.
BUT FOR ME PERSONALLY I would never run the comp without the fan coming on, NEVER. And we wire them all like this. Others will take me to task but part-time fans won't haul the freight. It sure cannot hurt anything!!

When I changed out the compressor 2 years ago ( 2000 ) miles ago, I changed out the condenser, OT, accumulator but did not flush the system.

[bevis]

The cause of the surging blower fan could be the relay, the blower motor itself, or faulty/corroded wiring someplace. I don't think the issue has anything to do with the blower resistor or refrigeration system. It just decided to rear its ugly head at this time for reasons not known. I would start by direct-wiring the blower motor to the battery as a test. If it still surges (it'll run at full speed), then you'll know it's a bad motor. If not, then it's on to more involved electrical troubleshooting.

The deposits on the OT screen suggest that there's still debris inside the system that wasn't eliminated with the first round of parts replacement. Its source could be the evaporator, which I think you said earlier wasn't flushed. It's a real pain, I know, but the evaporator and all other flush-able components will have to be removed, thoroughly solvent flushed, thoroughly dried, and reinstalled. The compressor should be flushed several times only with the appropriate PAG oil. You'll need to replace the accumulator again, too. You might also have questionable HPCO/LPCO switches. So I think I would replace them as well while the system is open.

I have been experiencing the mysterious Ford Focus alternator light intermittently that comes and goes and I caught it on once with a meter close to me and the alternator was putting over 14 volts to the battery. I don't know what the hell is up with that light unless its a connection or ground issue. And now I'm wondering if the regulator inside that alternator could be going crazy and jacking the voltage causing the blower surge. I drove it yesterday and it didn't do it. Im sure its going to be like most 12vdc wiring issues, a bad or loose ground somewhere.