Tools for Replacing Air Conditioning Compressor in a Ford Explorer

Series Summary

In this series of car-repair videos, our expert auto mechanic demonstrates the steps in repairing air conditioning system compressor in your Ford Explorer. He begins by showing you how to locate the parts of your Ford’s AC and describes the role of each of these parts in keeping you cool. Not sure what a compressor does? Ditto for the accumulator and the evaporator? Nathan McCullough explains the whole cooling process and tells you where it can go wrong. Think you've got a Freon leak, a faulty compressor or maybe just corroded lines? Then watch these videos to determine how to replace the air conditioning compressor in your Ford Explorer.

As you can see from these videos, repairing the AC is an involved process. And even if you do decide you don't want to attempt it on your own, you'll at least sound like you know what you're talking about at the auto shop when asking about air conditioner repair. And that alone should save you money. So watch this video to find out how to save money and stay cool.

Video Transcript

"Today we're changing an air conditioning compressor on a '96 Ford Explorer. In this step, I'm going to talk about the tools and supplies required in order to change an air conditioning compressor. What I have here in front of me is the stuff you're going to need in order to do most vehicles. You're going to want to have on hand a good standard and metric socket set. Make sure that you have both the half-inch and three-eighths drive ratchets. You will need to remove the serpentine belt and on most vehicles, it will take either the half-inch head or the three-eighths head ratchet. From there, I have a flat blade screwdriver. We're going to use this for removal of cold air intake components and any other screw style hose clamps that you're going to need to take off and my magnetic tray to hold all the bolts. I have a charging hose along with a gauge for recharging the system. And you're going to need to do a little bit of math to figure out exactly the quantity you need, but we have some R134a refrigerant. This specific vehicle takes one pound, fourteen ounces. So as you can see, these are sold in twelve ounce cans, so three is what we're going to use. And, of course a set of o-rings. Now most of the time you can buy these in a kit and it will come with most of the o-rings for most of the vehicles out there. We are going to remove the connection on the back of the air conditioning compressor, so once you have it apart, you're going to want to replace these o-rings. These are the tools and supplies required in order to change an air conditioning compressor."