Recently, while driving my car, I turned the air conditioning on with the A/C button, and the air was not cold. It had been working fine last year during the summer. I think this may have been the first time I turned it on this year. The fan works, and I hear a click from the area of the compressor when I depress the button to turn the system on, but I don't see a drop in engine rpm. I checked the 20 amp fuse that says a/c, and it was ok. It seems as thought the compressor clutch is not engaging. Has anyone had a similar experience, and does anyone have suggestions as to what I might do next, in order to diagnose it? Any help would be great. Thanks Scott
The click usually means the clutch of the ac compressor is engaging, but it must not be compressing anything if the rpm does not drop, so looks like your system leaked the coolant, but still has enough charge for the compressor to kick on, it would not kick on at all if the system was completely discharged. Is the system the modern r134 type, or the older Freon r12? Not sure what the t used, the changeover was in the early 90's for most manufacturers. I am assuming you have a 134 system. First get some ac gauges and check the pressure to see if the system is in fact low. The best way to do this is go to Walmart and get a can of 134 with a built in gage. You might just need a top up if the system has been intact for a long period of time. The gage will tell you if you are low, and if you top and up and tings work, that means you are ok if it holds and blows cold, and if it leaks down again, at least you will know the system is fine and it is just a leak somewhere. It could be just a loose fitting or one of the fitting o rings degrading over time. But you will probably go to a shop who will inject a uv dye and detect where the leak is.
My 85 QV has an idiot light on the warning panel when the AC fluid (freon) is too low. However, the symptoms you are describing are similar to what I experienced when I got low on freon. Turns out my compressor is leaking -- we put some of that AC system dye and found the leak. My plan is to to replace my compressor with a cheap Chinese SD508 clone that I bought for $115 (new). While the cheap clone is in there, we will have the original compressor rebuilt, and replace it when the Chinese compressor surly fails. Sid
Mine did the same thing starting summer driving in FLA, hot, must have A/C. Mine took a pound or so of R12. Make sure you check with engine at 2000 RPM per the manual, high and low pressures listed there are not at idle like most cars. Surprised my A/C tech, he thought the pressures listed were high, but at 2000 RPM they make sense. Check the temps coming out of the center vent, should be around 45F or lower. And get a "Vent Wedge" kit from Ron, makes a huge difference to be able to get some air on your face and chest and off your knees, lol! Alden
