With spring in the air, it was time to pull out the toys and have some fun. With plans of taking the Opal Opalescent '96 to Carlisle and then on the Hot Rod Power Tour, it was imperative to try to get the AC to work. It last worked probably sometime late 2019 as it has been literally sitting around since the start of the pandemic. I've moved it a time or two to make room in the garage for other projects but for the most part it hasn't really been used. I do remember feeling somewhat despondent when I moved it one time and noticed the AC wasn't working but it wasn't on the front burner, so we simply shrugged it off as needing to be recharged when the time came.
No problem except the one shop I had trusted before to work on my vehicles had closed their doors last year so I was forced to try to find another shop I would put trust in to work on my fleet. Not an easy task, especially when you have heavily modified vehicles such as mine. So I embarked on the journey as a "let's see what these guys can do" thing. So I called and setup an appointment for a state inspection and AC service.
After an hour or so of the car being in the service bay getting worked on, the service tech informed me the car passed inspection but they were trying to figure out why the compressor wouldn't run. OK, I thought, something simple like the cycling switch. They'll figure it out.
Well, not so lucky. After another hour or so they determined the VCRM was the culprit. Not a problem, I'm sure I have a spare I informed them. I would see if I could find time to work on replacing it or worst case I would return next week with the spare for them to change out. As it turned out, I managed some time over a couple evenings. For the life of me, I couldn't manage to access it from the top or underneath, so I bit the bullet and pulled the front bumper cover to be able to access it. I couldn't tell any difference after the removal and replacement but I made an appointment to return to the shop and have them finish the work.
So now in the second session, the service tech asked me to come take a look after an hour or so. He had diagnosed a wiring problem where there was no continuity between the VCRM and the AC clutch. I referred to the EVTM which I brought along and compared it to the schematic he was working from. There was some discrepancies but regardless we still could not establish continuity.
The day was fast ending, so the decision was made to put everything back together and I would try to further troubleshoot the issue or if I couldn't find the time, bring it back to them and allow their tech to continue the search.
The oddity to me was the path the wiring takes from the VCRM to the AC clutch. The wire routing goes from the VCRM to the drivers corner of the firewall where it jumps back to the engine harness and routes to the AC clutch. So the troubleshooting route will be to ascertain the specific wires at the harness connections and attempt to determine whether the fault lies between the VCRM and the harness connection(s) or the AC clutch and the harness connections. Should be fun.
My thinking is to start at the AC clutch harness pigtail. Knowing the issues with different Ford harness pigtails, such as the alternator, crank sensor, cam sensor, etc..., it seems logical to me the AC clutch harness pigtail wouldn't be any better. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of a backup plan, like cutting and splicing a pair of wires from the VCRM to the AC clutch?
To be continued...
No problem except the one shop I had trusted before to work on my vehicles had closed their doors last year so I was forced to try to find another shop I would put trust in to work on my fleet. Not an easy task, especially when you have heavily modified vehicles such as mine. So I embarked on the journey as a "let's see what these guys can do" thing. So I called and setup an appointment for a state inspection and AC service.
After an hour or so of the car being in the service bay getting worked on, the service tech informed me the car passed inspection but they were trying to figure out why the compressor wouldn't run. OK, I thought, something simple like the cycling switch. They'll figure it out.
Well, not so lucky. After another hour or so they determined the VCRM was the culprit. Not a problem, I'm sure I have a spare I informed them. I would see if I could find time to work on replacing it or worst case I would return next week with the spare for them to change out. As it turned out, I managed some time over a couple evenings. For the life of me, I couldn't manage to access it from the top or underneath, so I bit the bullet and pulled the front bumper cover to be able to access it. I couldn't tell any difference after the removal and replacement but I made an appointment to return to the shop and have them finish the work.
So now in the second session, the service tech asked me to come take a look after an hour or so. He had diagnosed a wiring problem where there was no continuity between the VCRM and the AC clutch. I referred to the EVTM which I brought along and compared it to the schematic he was working from. There was some discrepancies but regardless we still could not establish continuity.
The day was fast ending, so the decision was made to put everything back together and I would try to further troubleshoot the issue or if I couldn't find the time, bring it back to them and allow their tech to continue the search.
The oddity to me was the path the wiring takes from the VCRM to the AC clutch. The wire routing goes from the VCRM to the drivers corner of the firewall where it jumps back to the engine harness and routes to the AC clutch. So the troubleshooting route will be to ascertain the specific wires at the harness connections and attempt to determine whether the fault lies between the VCRM and the harness connection(s) or the AC clutch and the harness connections. Should be fun.
My thinking is to start at the AC clutch harness pigtail. Knowing the issues with different Ford harness pigtails, such as the alternator, crank sensor, cam sensor, etc..., it seems logical to me the AC clutch harness pigtail wouldn't be any better. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of a backup plan, like cutting and splicing a pair of wires from the VCRM to the AC clutch?
To be continued...