dgdarien

I have a 2000 Civic and the AC developed a leak and stopped working. I replaced the discharge line/tube that was leaking, replaced the receiver drier, added in the recommended amount of PAG oil, put the system under vacuum and noticed no leaks, and recharged with the recommended 22 ounces of R134a.

I can see the AC clutch/pulley is turning but no cold air. Fan is running. Low PSI reads at around 90-100 and high PSI reads same.

Is my compressor dead? Or could it be the expansion valve?

mk378

That would be a bad compressor, it turns but doesn't pump. With expansion valve problems you still have some pressure difference between low and high. For example stuck closed the low will go way down even to less than zero.

You're sure the front plate on the clutch and compressor shaft is turning? It should click in and start when you press the A/C button, and stop when you turn the A/C off. The pulley of course turns all the time the engine is running.

NVturbo

X2 on a bad compressor. When I picked up my Del Sol, it was doing the same thing. Compressor looked like it was working but after a few days of ownership, you can clearly see the front plate was struggling to spin/turn. You can also see fluctuation in idle as well.

dgdarien

I was really hoping it's not the compressor. But I can see the clutch is moving fine without any struggle.

NVturbo

compressor is easy to replace, if you're handy with tools.

mk378

As the compressor has internal failure, it will almost always shed bits of metal into the condenser. These are very difficult to clean out, it is not worth trying. So the condenser should be replaced also.