freestar ac compressor removal
 

Im kind of in the middle of removing the ac comprressor. I have it completely un bolted and the alternator out. Part of the alternator bracket is still in place. does the cooling fan and radiator also have to be removed to make room to lift the compressor out? any other tips on this project? Thank you for your help, Jon

Here is the short and sweet from the shop manual. This is for a 2006. Since I don't know the year, I just guessed at one. Sorry. The 2004 can be removed with radiator in place. Give me the year please.

Remove the radiator.
Remove the 2 cooling fan shroud-to-radiator bolts.
Remove the cooling fan and shroud assembly.
To install, reverse the removal procedure.
Install the radiator.

Its a 2005 with the 3.9. Fortunatly I was able to get the compressor out last night without removing the radiator. I kind of miss read the shop manual instructions. It said to remove the RH side radiator and fan shroud BOLT.....still have no idea why that bolt needed to come out.
Now I need to determine if the ac unit needs to be flushed or not. I have read that depending on what happened to the compressor, you may need to flush the system.

If the compressor exploded inside or the dessicant bag in the accumulator ruptured, the system needs flushed.

The compressor seams fine from what I can tell. I have no idea what the other part is your talking about or even how to pronounce it....lol. thanks for all your help

The dessicant bag is located in the accumulater and its job is to absorb stray moisture in the system as moisture causes acid and corrosion inside the system. If the compressor "SEAMS FINE", then why did you remove it? Any time you have a compressor failure, or the dessicant bag ruptured, the complete system will need flushed and certain parts will need to be replaced. Such as the condensor as they are non-flushable. If the compressor suffered black death or any other type of mechanical failure, the condensor will need to be replaced and I would also install an in-line filter on the high pressure side. Seak and you will find much information on A/C repair from me in various posting. Good luck.

I mean it seams fine as in there are now metal shavings or anything loose inside the compressor, but it is completely locked up .

If it's locked up, the compressor probably suffered..

1. The dreaded "BLACK DEATH"
2. Wear failure causing the pistons to sieze
3. Or in my case, too little oil from the factory for the dual system causing the compressor to wear and sieze. It also had rust inside of the compressor.

You really won't know unless you open the compressor up.

I suspect you will need to do a full system flush along with component replacements to do a proper A/C fix.

I replaced my accumulator, condensor, front orifice, rear expansion valve, flushed the front and rear evaporator, all lines and also installed an In-Line wilter w/sight glass. Even after all of that, It still took 2 "LIVE" flushes to get all of the metal particals and crud that was hidding in all of the nooks and crannies of the system.