Hello, folks! New to the club and eager to learn from your experiences!
I just purchased a beautiful '05 Taurus SEL with everything; 24V DOHC, leather, sunroof, MACH stereo and bucket seats. And....a dead A/C system. The car has 127K miles, but looks and feels like a three-year-old car with 30K miles. It runs fine and doesn't overheat, or appear to have any engine problems.
After looking around at compressors, I see there are a lot of choices; Global, Omega, Four Seasons, Motorcraft and others. Some of these companies are selling U.S. remanufactured units and new units from China.
Since the compressor is so hard to get to, I want to do this swap out right the first time, and NOT be doing this again in 6-12 months. And yeah, it looks like I will be doing the job myself, saving the $50-100 per hour most shops want. (One local shop quoted $1900 to do the compressor, accumulator, orifice tube and condenser.)
So, I'd like to ask all of you two things:
1. What brand of replacement unit have you had good luck with, and which brand(s) would you recommend I stay away from?
2. If you have done this job yourself, what is the easiest way to get that compressor out of the car? Since the cooling fans have to come out, and the condenser will be replaced, I am thinking it might be easier to go ahead and remove the radiator and have it flushed (due to age and mileage) and remove it out the hole in the radiator support. Has anyone done it this way?
Thanks in advance for any opinions or 'lessons learned the hard way' that you are willing to share.....or admit to!
Joe
I just purchased a beautiful '05 Taurus SEL with everything; 24V DOHC, leather, sunroof, MACH stereo and bucket seats. And....a dead A/C system. The car has 127K miles, but looks and feels like a three-year-old car with 30K miles. It runs fine and doesn't overheat, or appear to have any engine problems.
After looking around at compressors, I see there are a lot of choices; Global, Omega, Four Seasons, Motorcraft and others. Some of these companies are selling U.S. remanufactured units and new units from China.
Since the compressor is so hard to get to, I want to do this swap out right the first time, and NOT be doing this again in 6-12 months. And yeah, it looks like I will be doing the job myself, saving the $50-100 per hour most shops want. (One local shop quoted $1900 to do the compressor, accumulator, orifice tube and condenser.)
So, I'd like to ask all of you two things:
1. What brand of replacement unit have you had good luck with, and which brand(s) would you recommend I stay away from?
2. If you have done this job yourself, what is the easiest way to get that compressor out of the car? Since the cooling fans have to come out, and the condenser will be replaced, I am thinking it might be easier to go ahead and remove the radiator and have it flushed (due to age and mileage) and remove it out the hole in the radiator support. Has anyone done it this way?
Thanks in advance for any opinions or 'lessons learned the hard way' that you are willing to share.....or admit to!
Joe