BLACK DEATH: WHAT A PAIN!!!

      What is black death? Well, it’s the worst compressor disease to hit our industry since the DA6 came out and was spitting ring material through the system! At least the DA6 Teflon “droppings” were something that could be flushed out easily enough. They didn’t use multi pass condensers then, or parallel flow condensers. The old tube and fin condenser although not as efficient as the others I mentioned, could be flushed with excellent results.

      Then, here comes the FX15 compressor with it’s own Teflon rings, being munched into the fine dust that seems to happen in these. The DA6 at least did it in chunks. Well, now you mix this powdered Teflon up with a nice hot oil and refrigerant and there is your black death. It’s an ugly sight to behold, especially when you know what it means to a customer’s pocket book! What is the problem, you might ask? Well we’ll attempt to explain in plain language in the following paragraphs.

      This material, known as black death, is not like normal contamination. As the system cools down, after the compressor grenades, the contamination bonds itself to the inside of the components in that system. Normal flushing appears to be cleaning out the system because you see some of the contamination come out with the flush. The biggest problem is that most of it is still inside that system, almost like a powder coating on a piece of metal. Because you see what looks like the contamination coming out in the flush, you assume that the system is clean. OOPS, it’s that old assume word again. It’s not!

      A regular flush gun, attached to your air compressor with even the best liquid flush, is not powerful enough to remove the “BD” from the components in most cases. Even a closed loop flush machine with normal flush isn’t enough sometimes. We’ll tell you what Ford does.

      Ford Motor Co. required all of their dealerships to purchase the “Rotunda” flush machine. This machine is manufactured by the Cliplight Corporation. They also make a flush that is powerful l(caustic) enough to actually break the “BD” down into a flushable material. My friends that were at a Ford dealership when this first started told me that they had to do these systems outside because the smell was overwhelming. That’s what they said. We never used one so we don’t have first hand knowledge. Ford dealerships do seem to be successful in flushing systems that have “BD”.

      We used to recommend filters in the suction and discharge side to protect the orifice tube and the compressor. This didn’t always work because the contamination was severe enough to plug up the filters. Man, that’s a lot of contamination. Ford did have a filter procedure that was actually labor intensive enough to justify changing components instead of doing the filter procedure! It was ok for Ford but the normal shop couldn’t waste an extra 2 hours with charge, recover, recharge, recover, recharge, etc.! To make a long story short, filters were not very efficient on a BD system.

      What’s the answer? Well, it came down to a firewall forward replacement. Because this was so prevalent, manufacturers lowered pricing on these parts so that you could buy the whole firewall forward kit for what a compressor and accumulator cost years ago. Everything except the evaporator core was replaced. It is the only answer in a high percentage of BD cases unless you have the same equipment Ford has. Oh, BTW, it is about $2500 for the machine (I haven’t priced it for awhile) and $45 for a gallon of flush. Each unit uses one gallon. The firewall forward replacement is only as good as the technician replacing it. I’m not really popular for telling the truth. That truth is that too many people doing this shouldn’t be, so, buyer beware. They don’t accept that some systems can’t be flushed and if the do replace everything they don’t finish the job. They would replace all of the components and leave the defective fan clutch that caused the meltdown to begin with. These systems are more than the compressor and accumulator. Fan clutches, electric fans, radiators, etc, are not what people consider part of the “A/C” system but are responsible for most of the breakdowns and lockups, in my opinion.

      Well, I’m not going to go into this any further but I hope you understand everything that I am saying. It really is important and the fine points are not found in many BD articles. If the firewall forward components (including any hoses with mufflers) are done and all the related components are functioning properly, the correct amount of oil and refrigerant is replaced, you should have a successful operation.

      Look, don’t be afraid to ask questions! If the people you are buying parts from don’t have the answers, you might look elsewhere. Now having said that, I will tell you a secret. ACsource.com is opening a new website that will be offering all of the replacement parts that you will need for your projects! It will be up, live, the first of the year. Right now, the only people that know about this are the ones reading this article, to the end. WWW.ACSOURCE.NET is the new site. It is not yet ready for purchasing but you can see what our plan is. We will also have support for your questions, for those who are ordering. Remember it isn’t ready yet but you can look. Have fun! Thanks for coming to our stores, we can’t do this without you. If you look at the store and think you have any ideas, call me at 602-971-1943. This is the only place you’ll find this phone number. It is for the purposes of hearing your ideas about our .NET store. Seeya later.

      Warren, Tammy and the ACsource staff.