I am new to this forum and I have a 1971 f250 custom reg cab 360 4 speed. This truck has one of the dealer add-on air conditioners and I was looking for any information anyone might have about this unit. I posted some links for photos below.
1. First of all has anyone seen a dealer add-on unit like this one? I have searched the forum and found pictures of several different styles but none of them were this exact unit. It says "XLT" on the front and has a woodgrain style face. Was this made by ford or is this made by some other company? Is there somewhere on it that I might find make / model information? Where might I be able to find parts for it??
2. How does this unit come off the dash?? I need to take it out so I can get the radio out as the radio does not work.
3. It hasn't been warm enough here yet to really try out this A/C but I think it needs charged. The fan, controls and compressor all seem to function correctly but it was 25 degrees when I tried it a couple of months ago so I don't really know yet if it was cooling or not. I briefly pushed in the little valves on the compressor and I only heard a small amount of gas come out and then nothing so I think all of the freon has leaked out. This truck has been sitting for 10 years so that is no surprise to me. It has one of the old York compressors dated 1973. I would like to convert this unit to R134A since it is cheap and easy to get but I would like some advice before doing so. I have heard that I should change the drier and the expansion valve inside but I am concerned whether or not I can even get a expansion valve the would fit this underdash add-on unit. I dont know much about air conditioning and how it works so any help would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to get this unit working as I think it is kind of neat option that alot of trucks this age did not have. Here are the pics....
. First of all has anyone seen a dealer add-on unit like this one? I have searched the forum and found pictures of several different styles but none of them were this exact unit. It says "XLT" on the front and has a woodgrain style face. Was this made by ford or is this made by some other company? Is there somewhere on it that I might find make / model information? Where might I be able to find parts for it??
It is not Ford. Try an internet search
2. How does this unit come off the dash?? I need to take it out so I can get the radio out as the radio does not work.
You do not have to remove the AC to remove the radio. You can do this through the glovebox after removing the liner. It's not easy but I did it on mine
3. It hasn't been warm enough here yet to really try out this A/C but I think it needs charged. The fan, controls and compressor all seem to function correctly but it was 25 degrees when I tried it a couple of months ago so I don't really know yet if it was cooling or not. I briefly pushed in the little valves on the compressor and I only heard a small amount of gas come out and then nothing so I think all of the freon has leaked out. This truck has been sitting for 10 years so that is no surprise to me. It has one of the old York compressors dated 1973. I would like to convert this unit to R134A since it is cheap and easy to get but I would like some advice before doing so. I have heard that I should change the drier and the expansion valve inside but I am concerned whether or not I can even get a expansion valve the would fit this underdash add-on unit. I dont know much about air conditioning and how it works so any help would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to get this unit working as I think it is kind of neat option that alot of trucks this age did not have. Here are the pics....
Don't be surprised if you have to replace the compressor and condenser, especially if it's been sitting that long. Otherwise, the compressor valves will need to be changed (or adapted) to accept the 134A fittings. I did this to mine with a York compressor and it works great!
Spent hours upon hours on the internet. I can't find any info about this evaporator unit. I will try the glovebox idea for removing the radio- that sounds alot easier than removing the a/c unit. I don't know what to do about charging the A/C. I would prefer to just keep it R12 but R12 is very expensive and will only get more expensive as time passes as it is not being manufactured anymore. Not to mention you have to have a license to purchase it even from flea-bay.I have heard that converting these older systems to R134A does not always work well unless you upsize the condensor. How much difference in available cooling would there be if I just converted it and used the existing condensor? I have also seen around on the internet the"R-12 replacement drop-in" hydrocarbon refrigerants but I am skeptical of these. They sound to good to be true. I think they are essentially a propane/isobutane blend and are highly flammable. I have also read that most A/C shops will not touch one that has been charged with this for fear of contaminating their recovery machines and tanks. There is alot of conflicting information about this topic on the internet so I am looking for someone with personal experience that can tell me what the best way to go about this is. I just want my A/C to work properly without destroying itself and without spending a fortune on refrigerant so I want all the facts before I touch it.
I've done exactly what you want to do. My original system was r12 and I converted to r134. I replaced my compressor filled with Pag oil and the ac shop flushed the condenser with a cleaner, converted the fill valves with r134 compatible, evacuated the system and charged. It works great
I got the radio out. Turns out the radio works fine its just the speaker was bad. The perforated section of the dash pad is no longer there so my theory is the sun shining in on the speaker just disintegrated it. I got one of those dual voice coil speakers from LMC truck that is supposed to fit right in but it is different as far as how it mounts. I will have to drill holes in the dash in order to mount this new speaker. Does anyone make a speaker that is a direct replacement so I don't have to modify my dash??
Mach428- So what year/model truck did you convert to R134A? I was just curious if there would be any differences in the systems between yours and mine. If they are the same, and yours works good on R134, then I would think mine would too. R134 is definitely the safest, cheapest, and most readily available refrigerant there is for now. My only question would be how much efficiency would I lose if any?
Yea I probably could fabricate some sort of mount. You wouldn't happen to have any pictures or a sketch of what your looks like? The original bracket on mine just hooked in at the back of the dash and squeezed the speaker up against the dash and then had a screw at the front to hold it.
I guess I will have to keep thinking about the A/C and decide what I want to do.
The dealer installed A/C in my 68 was not used by the original owner for over 25 years. I had it evacuated, pressure tested, and charged with R-12. I was fortunate that it works great. $100. for R-12 and $60. for labor. I also installed one of the speakers u speak of. As has been mentioned I had to some grinding to modify the old mount, but it worked out fine.
May your sails stay full, and your knots not slip. Unless a slip knot.
Once I thought I was wrong, but I was wrong.
Life is a banquet, and every days a feast.
68 F-250 CS 390 C-6 P/S A/C front disc. 2nd owner.
2016 GMC Terrain Denali 301 HP V-6 AWD.
2009 Silverado Crew Cab, V-8, 4X4.
DD-727
DD-806
AE-35
LSD-39
AS-41
AR-8
I HAVE A UNIT ALMOST IDENTICAL TO YOURS, IT IS A FRIGI-KING...IT HAS A FRIGI-KING NAME TAG EXACTLY WHERE YOURS HAS XLT...WILL TRY TO FIND A MODEL NUMBER...
So I found out recently that the 66,000 miles shown on my odometer is actually correct mileage. I talked to the previous owners and the truck has not seen many miles. I was happy to hear that since I didn't know if it had turned over 100,000 or not. This probably means My A/C has not seen much use either which gives me hope for getting it working without spending a fortune.
Frigi king huh.... I will have to do some looking around on that. I'm concerned if I spend the money to convert it to R134A and it doesn't cool as well- then I am stuck with the bill and the same problem I had before. Does anyone have experience with the hydrocarbon r12 replacement refrigerants? My local auto parts store sells the Maxi-Frig 12a and he says that I can just put it in the system as it is and be fine. Is this true? Maybe I should just charge it with R12 at least the first time to see how long it lasts and what problems the system might have. This is what makes this hard. I don't know the history on this system and therefore don't know how long it has been since it worked correctly and what issues there might or might not be.
I got the speaker and radio put in. I installed one of the Custom Autosound USA-230 radios so I didn't have to cut up the dash. I ended up not using the factory mount bracket at all for the speaker. The dash pad area above the speaker was all gone already so I just put some machine screws up through the holes that were already in the dash and put nuts and washers on the top side to hold the speaker in place. It turned out just fine for me and I did not have to modify anything. The magnet on the speaker is up against the radio and almost against the ashtray frame but it fits and everything works just fine.
The plastic fitting coming out of the bottom of my evaporator unit for the condensate drain is broken off. It does not appear that you can take this thing apart. I tried taking the screws out on it but there is some sort of gooey / glue stuff coming out of the seams of the plastic that makes it look like it is permanently sealed. I was thinking maybe I could just super glue the fitting back on the bottom but I have my doubts whether or not it will actually hold.
So it might have been stupid but I charged my A/C with the Maxi-Frig hdyrocarbon refrigerant that my local auto parts store sells. Yes I know its flammable bla bla bla. It is supposed to be compatible with both R12 and R134A. Since my system was essentially empty, I figured I didn't have much to lose. The A/C works now but it is not as cold as it should be. The coldest vent temps that I can get are about 60 when it is 90 outside. Since this was a dealer installed A/C to my knowledge there is no label anywhere that says the exact fill amount for the system. So I was strictly using the pressure readings and the sight glass to fill the system. Is there any other better way to charge it if you don't now the exact fill amount? Anyways I think my expansion valve is either stuck or is plugged. I put three cans of the Maxi-Frig in and the sight glass was clear. The low side pressure was about 30 PSI but the high side pressure was about 250-260 psi. That seemed a little high to me. Could the expansion valve be causing my trouble or should I look somewhere else?
There are a few possible problems that could cause your current vent temps, the expansion valve being one of them. The pressures seem reasonable but if you want you can tap your expansion valve with the handle end of a screwdriver to see if that makes any difference and unstick it. I am also unfamiliar with how efficient the refrigerant you are using is. Its possible that the maxi-frig only does that good, I don't know. Its also possible you have too much oil in the system which could affect heat transfer. Lastly you may have something rewarming the air in the cab. If you have a lot of warm air sneaking in the cab, the AC won't be able to keep up and the vent temps will stay elevated.
Bill
1967 F-250 LWB 2WD 352 V8, 4spd manual, true duals, 122k original miles (currently being restored)
2024 F350 CCSB, darkened bronze
I did try tapping on the expansion valve but it didn't seem to help. The other thing that I noticed when I was adding refrigerant the low side pressure never changed much. It started out at 0, as the system was basically empty. I put in one can and the low side came up to about 25-30. As I put in the 2nd and 3rd cans it didn't seem to change the low side pressure much at all. Also I left if sit with the gauges on it after I shut the truck off and it seems to take a long time for the high and low side pressures to equalize. I let it sit probably 15 to 30 minutes and the low side had only come up to about 70 and the high side was like 150. How quickly should these typically equalize? It is hard to tell about the efficiency of the refrigerant that I put in. I did a lot of reading about it in different forums on the internet and some people claimed like 40 degree vent temps and were really happy with it and others said that it didn't cool worth a crap. So I am not sure on that. I did not add any oil to the system so whatever was in there is what is there. It is possible that a previous owner may have put in too much. The main reasons I went with the Maxi-frig is I could put it in with NO modifications. It is compatible with the mineral oil and is supposed to mix well with whatever r12 that might be still in the system. Plus it is cheap like $5 a can cheap. We thought we might have slightly overcharged it so we let a little back out and there seemed to be alot of oil that came with it when it was let out from the high side. Not sure if this is normal or not. We only let a little out and afterwards we saw bubbles in the sight glass on the drier. So if it was overcharged it certainly wasn't by very much. I am assuming there must be a leak somewhere or it would not have been empty but I do not know how fast because it might have been 20 years since it was last used. The hot air thing could possibly be an issue. There does seem to be some hot air over on the passenger side even when the heater is off. I did adjust the heater flow valve cable so that way it was for sure closing all the way when you turned it off. I think it helped but it still seems there may be some hot air coming in especially on the passenger side around the heater box. I guess I will try getting a new heater valve in case the one in there is leaking to much through. If that doesn't help I guess I will have to bite the bullet and open the system. Then I can check the expansion valve and see if I can find anything wrong. Is there anyway to test the expansion valve without taking it out? If I'm going to go the effort of opening the system I might as well replace the compressor seals, put in new oil, new drier, possibly bigger condensor, and new expansion valve if I can get one. Then back to the big question of what kind of refrigerant will cool the best for the most reasonable price. I imagine if I put in a larger condensor the R134A would cool just fine. My only question is will I have more trouble with the 134 leaking from the clamped hose connections? Would I need to change the hoses?
Sorry for the long rambling response but I really appreciate you guys reading it and letting me know your thoughts.
