I have a 2008 f150 5.4 litre. I realized the ac wasn't working so I went and bought an ac recharge kit. I filled it up and there was still no ac so I put some more. When I added more the ac compressor started smoking and it seemed like it was skipping. When I turned off the ac it stopped smoking and making noise. I bought a new ac compressor 450$ later. But now I heard that I could have added too much ac maybe causing the compressor to smoke. But isn't the compressor clutches mechanical? And I than emptied the system and obviously the compressor doesn't turn on cause no refrigerant in the system. Should I change the compressor or should I try to refill the old compressor and than see what happens? thanks

 

sounds to me like you need somebody that knows what they are doing to give you a hand..sounds like your compressor is shot... your system needs to be purged and a new dryer installed prior to you installing the new compressor.

 

I haven't tried refilling mine myself however those kids you can get to recharge yours, I've heard they're not the safest as you don't know how much oil to add to the system and how much to fill the system. My understanding is the recharge kits are based on pressure, not weight/volume. I realize the cost is much less but due to that fact, Honda charged me $125 to fill my civic and I think the refill kit was $50-60 at the time... I just let them fill it rather than take the risk (although I don't know what it would cost to fill ours).


I could be wrong but that's my understanding. This is an interesting link someone wrote a few weeks back that I happened to come across that might be useful:


https://www.f150forum.com/f4/ac-blow...y-cold-267418/

 

It would seem that by overfilling, the compressor locked up and either the clutch was slipping or the belt was slipping, thus the smoke.

 

That was my thread. This is exactly why you NEVER just add a can of gas to your system. Sorry you found out the hard way. I hope you get it figured out and fixed. Go find you a good mechanic. Ask around and trust me you will find one. Don't just look up stuff on the internet. Go talk to parts stores, and talk to the guy at the shop himself. Have your system checked out the right way.

Keep us posted on what you find