2012 Ford Escape AC Troubleshoot

[BigRigJake]

Hello from South Carolina,

Had a decent leak in the system a while back, then the compressor clutch tore it's self to shreds (Literally. It was like driving with a burning tire under the hood until I removed it). Anyhow, I've since replaced the compressor with a moderately used one. I was a little hesitant when the part was brought from behind the counter at the place of purchase, because the ports were uncovered. But I am a man of faults, and a savings of roughly $60 was enough for me shrug it off.

While I was in there replacing the compressor, I replaced every seal and o-ring accessible in the engine bay, as well as the dryer line. Felt pretty proud of my savvy at this point! While charging the system, I did have to jump the compressor at the fuse to force the clutch. Dumped 1.5lbs of refrigerant in and checked my values. They looked almost normal while the clutch was engaged...Roughly 30psi on my low, and 100ish on my high....70 degree ambient. Well the clutch shut off momentarily every few minutes and I noticed my pressures completely reversing! 120 on my low and 50 on my high. I tested with my AC turned off and found that as it sits inactive, my low side creeps to higher psi while my high side creeps to lower psi. I thought maybe I allowed too much liquid to go in at once while charging and froze up the expansion valve. I let it sit overnight and checked my pressures again with the car off. Low side was still holding most of the pressure, while the high side was low. Started it up, ran the ac, same results. Pressures seem to level out while compressor is running, but they fluctuate too much.

At this point, I'm over my head. Is my compressor just leaking pressure past the inner seals and pistons? Is my expansion valve shot? Did I screw something up by jumping the compressor? Let me know your thoughts. For the time being, I've relieved the pressure in the system so that the low side doesn't get above 50.

[bohica2xo]

Did you pull a vacuum after you put the system back together?

How much oil did you add to the system?