SuperSteve85
New Member
Back story: I've got a 2005 Expedition. King Ranch, 5.4L, front and rear AC controls. A year ago the compressor "grenaded" and I was busy and in a hurry so I took it to the dealer to get fixed. They replaced the compressor, drier, expansion valve, valve assembly and tube assembly. They DID NOT replace the evaporator or condenser. I asked if they needed to and they replied that they could be flushed and not replaced. I went along with it.
For the next 11 months the AC was ok. And by ok I mean mediocre. Cool, not cold. Would take a while to get cool. Not nearly as quickly as my F-150. At 11 months, I started my Expedition up and was hooking my camper up to it and and the pressure relief valve popped open, discharging all of the refrigerant. My rig had been running for maybe a few minutes when this happened. It was morning, maybe 70 degrees outside. I took it back to the dealer. They couldn't find the problem, filled it with refrigerant and said come back if it happens again. Four months later, it happened again. My wife had started the car, let it idle for a couple of minutes and the valve popped again. Took it back to the dealer. Took them two weeks and they decided that the expansion valve was plugged and needed replacing. They replaced it, flushed it, filled it, tried (and failed) to charge me for this service and gave it back to me two days ago. I started it this evening and 30 seconds later, pop. Same problem.
The fact that they said the expansion valve was clogged leads me to believe that this isn't a part failure, and what's happening is that junk is still stuck in the system and continually clogging it up. As I've been researching this, it seems to be a mixed bag of people saying the condenser/evaporator needs replacing when a compressor explodes like mine did. Does anyone out there have any ideas as to what's causing this? And if it is the condenser/evaporator, the best way to fix it? I know replace them, but how to get the rest of the junk out of the system, too? Why is this happening within a few minutes of starting and at idle? At this point I have very little faith in the dealership to get this right, but I also don't want to have to pay for it again. I'm also a decent mechanic so I can do some repairs myself.
Thanks!
For the next 11 months the AC was ok. And by ok I mean mediocre. Cool, not cold. Would take a while to get cool. Not nearly as quickly as my F-150. At 11 months, I started my Expedition up and was hooking my camper up to it and and the pressure relief valve popped open, discharging all of the refrigerant. My rig had been running for maybe a few minutes when this happened. It was morning, maybe 70 degrees outside. I took it back to the dealer. They couldn't find the problem, filled it with refrigerant and said come back if it happens again. Four months later, it happened again. My wife had started the car, let it idle for a couple of minutes and the valve popped again. Took it back to the dealer. Took them two weeks and they decided that the expansion valve was plugged and needed replacing. They replaced it, flushed it, filled it, tried (and failed) to charge me for this service and gave it back to me two days ago. I started it this evening and 30 seconds later, pop. Same problem.
The fact that they said the expansion valve was clogged leads me to believe that this isn't a part failure, and what's happening is that junk is still stuck in the system and continually clogging it up. As I've been researching this, it seems to be a mixed bag of people saying the condenser/evaporator needs replacing when a compressor explodes like mine did. Does anyone out there have any ideas as to what's causing this? And if it is the condenser/evaporator, the best way to fix it? I know replace them, but how to get the rest of the junk out of the system, too? Why is this happening within a few minutes of starting and at idle? At this point I have very little faith in the dealership to get this right, but I also don't want to have to pay for it again. I'm also a decent mechanic so I can do some repairs myself.
Thanks!
