Theyre full of it. Never take your vehicle there again. Follow tomw0's advice which is exactly what I would want to see. If the pressures are right, I would be looking at the pressure switches (unlikely) or a worn clutch assembly (much more likely). Usually pressure switches work or dont, but I've seen stranger things.

As for leaks, use refrigerant with uv dye (and only uv dye- no stop leak crap) and borrow a UV light to try and find the leak. You will likely need to evacuate the system, replace the part, have the system vacuumed, then recharge by weight. Recharging by PSI (using gauges) can work, but charging by weight is the right way. When my truck sat for 8 months it slowly leaked pressure until it was short cycling like yours is- I hooked up my hi/low gauges and charged using the cheapest R134a I could get- its still working fine 3 years later. Basically unless the leak is big enough where you're losing all your refrigerant multiple times in a season, generally its more cost effective to just throw a can of R134a at it once a year.

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2002 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab, 2.3L Duratec I4, 5-speed manual, 4.10 gears, ~100,000 miles
Power nothing with air conditioning; crank windows for life!
Throttle cable mod, retained accessory power mod, 2006 thermostat w/resistor mod
Headlight relay harness, Philips xtreme-vision bulbs
P235/75R15 Michelin LTX M/S2s

I'm the OP, just thought I'd update:

My idle RPMs still drop & fluctuate a bit sometimes when I stop, but I found out my AC refrigerant leak is coming from my compressor. A nice mechanic looked at it with yellow glasses and a special light and there was green dye already at the seam of the compressor. He said if it were him, he'd just keep recharging the system whenever it got low instead of paying $800 to have the compressor replaced. I would be fine with that if it were not for the fluctuating idle RPMs which are clearly linked to the AC system.

So? I'm pretty sure I'm going to replace the compressor myself. It's 200 for a new Motorcraft compressor from RockAuto, and then about $100 for vacuum compressor/manifold gauges/PAG oil from Ebay...

ChrisFix has a couple really good videos about replacing AC compressor and pulling vacuum & recharging. Doesn't look all that hard, so I'm thinking I'm going to do it myself, but just haven't pulled the trigger on a new compressor yet.

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Awesome, can’t wait to hear how it goes. FYI, I found a good deal on A/C gauges and vacuum pump combo on Amazon


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2003 Ranger XLT Supercab 3.0L 2WD Auto

2014 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide

Just updating my thread to state that I think I solved my dropping/fluctuating idle by lubricating the mechanical part of the IAC valve. Now the idles seem smooth and stable, but I'll know for sure when I drive it more this coming week.

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