You can drive it indefinitely without the clutch plate. The compressor pulley is an idler pulley.

A receiver and an accumulator serve different functions, a receiver will mess us the ability of an OT/accumulator combination to regulate evaporator feeding. If you want to switch to a TXV later, add the receiver then. There is way more going in a TXV than you've implied. Superheat setting doesn't a...

You don't need to buy anything until you want to get the AC operational again. If I'm understanding your answers, what you have now is a non-AC Suburban, compressor is locked up, but the compressor pulley is just fine, it acts like an idler pulley until you engage the clutch. Lots of people have an ...

What seized? Was it the compressor or was it the compressor pulley bearing? Basically: does it squeal the belt only when AC is engaged or whenever the engine is running?

That's a good vacuum, can't usually get lower because of old automotive hoses.

No problem, I'll build you a special system like that, how much are you willing to pay?

I'm kinda late to this conversation, but why do you think a condenser is your biggest bottleneck? What are the pressures?

You are just low on charge, maybe a tiny leak. You should have about 72 psig at that temperature, your Focus ECM reads the ambient, reads the high side pressure, algorithm says you are so low on charge that there is only vapor in your system, it will not try to engage the clutch. Recover what exists...

I agree with B52, but it might also be too cold outside, what was the ambient air temperature when you got those pressures?

How the oil exists depends on where it us in the system. In a liquid line it is in a sort of solution, a leak of liquid R134a is leaking also oil. In the discharge line it's an incredibly high velocity high turbulence mixture of liquid oil an vapor R134a, a leak of R134a also leaks oil. In the sucti...