On my way up to the Grand Canyon a few weeks ago - my A/C stopped working right outside of Phoenix. I was finally able to set some time aside to diagnose it and fix it this weekend.

Hooked up my new A/C gauges and the high side reading was unbelievably high – hanging around 400 PSI. Normal operation should be around 150-250 so this indicated I either had a blockage in the system or my expansion valve had failed. Given the fact that my A/C was intermittent beforehand I had a sneaking suspicion that my expansion valve had failed.

Ultimately though, at 234k miles I decided to buy once cry once and get the whole system replaced. I bought a new Denso compressor, condenser & expansion valve along with a Dayco Idler pulley, A/C Delco Drier & a Murray evaporator. (Would’ve gone Denso on both of these but was short on time). Started disassembly on Saturday morning and would’ve been done that day had Amazon delivered my compressor on time. Nonetheless I got it on Sunday and wrapped it up. Here’s a few pics documenting my install:

Pulling the evaporator:




Man that thing was gross! Good thing I was replacing it anyway. Here's the failed expansion valve, along with the rusty bolts connecting it to the evaporator. I cleaned them up with a wire wheel before installing.



New condenser & drier




I don't have any pictures of installing the compressor, but I found it really easy to remove. Everywhere I read online said you should remove the PS pump to get to it. I'm happy to report that you do NOT have to remove the PS pump! Disconnect your transmission cooling lines (don't have any since I have a manual) and remove the two 12mm bolts holding the power steering hard lines in place. Once you've done that the compressor can come right out the bottom. This made the removal/install much easier.

All in all the job was not very difficult at all and the results are fantastic - my truck now has a alternative use as a freezer.