AC woes... Any ideas?

[Squid4life]

So since the car sat for so long I lost my freon charge. I bought one of those bottles of freon with the gauge to see if I could cheaply make it work good enough to drive it to work a little cooler and it did not cool at all. The compressor kicks on then off, and cycles. It only stays on for about a second, the RPM's raise, then it unlocks and RPM's drop. Any ideas out there? AC is one thing I have never messed with...

[IrvJr]

One little can is not enough if the systems empty. And if you got it from the parts store its 134a and not r12 that came in the car. Has the car been converted to 134a?

[Squid4life]

yes, it was retrofitted to 134. The thing is the gauge reads where it should, as if it was charged, any more it will be over charged. The can is one of the BIG ones, like 3" diameter by 12". But the compressor won't cycle long enough to work.

[Big Mike]

Pull the wire conector off the low pressure switch and have a wire to jump the connectionon the wire harness.. Your compressor will cycle. Have the air on and see if it gets cold. You could have a bad low pressure switch. I just replace mine last week.

[27Skulls]

If the entire charge was lost, the best thing to do is pump the system into a vacuum. This is good way to check for any possible leaks and also remove all the air in the system. If it holds a vacuum, then just re-charge. Charging a system with air left in system eventually will cause problems. Short cycling is a definite sign of low or no charge.

[Squid4life]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

Pull the wire conector off the low pressure switch and have a wire to jump the connectionon the wire harness.. Your compressor will cycle. Have the air on and see if it gets cold. You could have a bad low pressure switch. I just replace mine last week.

This was MONEY! I jumpered it and wham, the compressor kicked in. The AC started feeling cooler. I guess either the switch is bad or the system was completely empty and had no vacuum so it would not kick on. I guess to replace the switch I will have to have teh system emptied, vacuumed, then charged.

Thanks again guys for all the help!

[54Rich]

If it was changed to 134, wonder if the low pressure switch was adjusted down? What is your low side pressure? Should be around 30 or so. Here is the instructions for the conversion.

AC 134a Retrofit

If you take it down and replace the switch, then replace the oriface ($3.00)

I've had nothing but bad luck with AC, my compressor leaks, twice! yep the original and the replacement. Both times it would hold 1/2 a charge. Low side was always 10-15, jumper the switch and it would blow cold, but will not run on it's own.

Waiting for compressor number three

[INEEDAGN]

Mine was doing the same thing. turns out the orifice tube was contaminated with what appeared to be rubber flaking off the flexible lines. just one or two little flakes was enough to screw it up. New orifice fixed it.

How ya been James?

[robk46]

I bought one of those blue bottles with the guage on it. It doesn't seat properly on schrader valve and give a false reading. I had to slowly push and pull on the end of the blue tube until I got a "low" reading on the guage. Then I pulled the trigger. You could also have a clogged orifice tube. I would check that before I charged it anyway.

[ckmm]

when it kicks on and off real fast that means its low and needs more the clutch shood stay on for awile when you first stat it .get the stuff from the auto parts store that has the dey in it find the leak . freon dose not get used up .so if there is none in your car u have leak the dey will show u where it works good i use it all the time .

[Just a Six??]

You dont lose Freon when you change that switch or the one on the lines behind compressor. They have a shrader type vavle so it wont leak out. No need to vacuum down just for the switches. I changed mine & didn't lose a drop! You may have a leak so I would have have that checked out after replacing the switch.

[ckmm]

If You Have To Add Freon You Have A Leak!!!

[Just a Six??]

Originally Posted by ckmm

If You Have To Add Freon You Have A Leak!!!

Pretty Much! My car sat 5 years & air was still cold!

[87Regal3.8SFI]

First off as I have found those cheapo plastic disposable gauges on cans of R134a like you see for sale at Wal Mart or Autozone are crap.

What you need is a good manifold gauge set that shows both the high and low side. Then you can see how much your suction pressure is as well as your head pressure.

Then as mentioned if the entire system leaked out you need to rent a vacuum pump and put the whole system under a vacuum for an hour. Again you'll need a manifold gauge kit for this.

Then you can put in the right amount of PAG oil and a few cans of refrigerant. Since it sounds like you have a leak I'd get a can of leak detector dye and put it in as well.

Then if it leaks out again, you can take a black light and see where the leak is.

I myself just did this to my car using this procedure. I put the system under a 29 HG vacuum for an hour and let it sit overnight with no droppage. It took 2 12 oz cans of R134a/oil mix and one smaller can to stop my compressor from short cycling. A quick check showed 30 PSI/200 PSI.

A week later it's back to short cycling again, but this time using a black light I was able to find specs of "UV lime green" all over the lower steering shaft/gear box area, which leads me to believe I have a leak at the compressor shaft on the R4 compressor.

[Squid4life]

Originally Posted by INEEDAGN

Mine was doing the same thing. turns out the orifice tube was contaminated with what appeared to be rubber flaking off the flexible lines. just one or two little flakes was enough to screw it up. New orifice fixed it.

How ya been James?

What's going on there? Same old thing here, just trying to be a beach bum after being gone for so long. Finally drove the GN to work the other day and on the way home it was a little hot outside and the AC was just as hot. How's things back there? Anything new and exciting?

About the AC, it blows a little cooler now but it needs to be professionally vacuumed down and then filled, after I find where it is leaking from...

[INEEDAGN]

Not much here. Got a 8 month old daughter now, and don't have time for much else. Don't know how long it's been since you visited the GWTRA board, but Shawn lives in malaysia and sold his car(s), Brian T lives in KC and runs the board, Brian J sold his car and is moving to great bend, and Nish is in Iowa I believe. The group has pretty much dissolved but the board is still functional and we still post there. You should too, you're one of the few that still owns a car.

Back to the A/C. Mine was cycling like it was low, but when we added some it started knocking, so with some diagnostics, a new orifice tube fixed it. It has a small leak at the rubber hose connections, and I have a set of NOS hoses, but they are worth so much I am afraid to use them, LOL. I add a can of R-12 every spring and it works fine. As long as I can keep scrounging R-12 for about a buck an ounce, It's not costing me enough money to justify opening the system. I still got 9 cans so I'm good for a while.

[daily driver]

If you change the switch and it is still not that cold I would not add any more freon with out knowing what the real pressures were for high and low side. Too much chance for system damage and there may be another problem like lack of circulation. Also I went through two different sets of parts store gauges that did not fit well. You will have to spends $75-$90 for good gauges IMO and then you still have to get the system evacuated via a pump to get all air and moisture out of the system before re-charge so that is some more $$$. If you are going to do that them you might as well pay some local shop to get it done since it should hold a long while and provided you do not want to have the tools for later. The orifice is $1-$7 cheap and it is a "must-change" so is the dryer ~$40 if you have to open up the system. I just went through all this -good luck