Well, I recently refilled my a/c lines with refrigerant after a slow leak made the compressor refuse to turn on. I used one can of standard dupont R-134 (whichever it is) and a can of some other brand with "stops leaks" as a feature. the a/c is nice and very cold when it works.

i have been blowing fuses left and right. I am refererring to the "condensor fan" 15 amp fuse located in the fuse box next to the passenger side strut tower, which apparently keeps my compressor from turning on when blown. I tried raised amps thinking a heavy load of power is being used. 20 amp blow, 25 amps blow too. My guess is a nasty short resulting from grounding out, but Ive checked the whole harness and nothing visible. Im thinking maybe the corresponding relay is shorting out. I currently do not have a fan plugged in for the condensor fan (driver side). Also, my ac unit is very beat up. All buttons work (except for the lowest fan setting), but the face is in pieces.

So:
-Which relay corresponds to the "condensor fan" fuse?
-Could the lack of the fan have something to do with the compressor drawing too much power, thus blowing fuses? The setup was working in the past like this though.
-Could my garbage interior a/c unit be causing all this trouble.
-How could I tell if the fuse box itself is shorting out said fuse? Mind you, nothing else is goofing up electrically.

I appreciate all help. This car is well over 200,000 miles, and if you have an idea that seems extreme, let me know so I can check it out.

 

my car has been an electrical nightmare as well, and one of the things i have learned is to always check grounds.. i know that i didnt have one of my ground junctions screwed into the body of the car, and all kinds of jacked up stuff happend.

one thing though, is that if your pressure is too low in the lines, there is a pressure switch that will cut power to the whole system. i think that pressure switch might also cut power when pressure is too high.. so that might be your culprit. the manual can explain how to test the switch and under which circumstances it will disable the system. as for the condenser fan, you should be fine without it. im not sure that pressure switch would cause a fuse to blow however, but.. i would start there.

 

yes, actually a ground to the relay that I know turns the compressor on/off seems to be a little iffy, but since the compressor still turns on, I figured it was ok. I will try that out by temporarily hooking it up to the neg terminal on the battery, maybe the fuse blows out from a spike in power from improper grounding.

This may still not be the problem. If i could get more replies and ideas on this issue, I'd appreciate it.

 

The first two things I would check into are the condensor fan motor and the compressor clutch coil.

 

i've seen this b4. some times whenthe comprssor is old or used alot, the bell will become loose and grind it's way though the coil. when that happens it's a dead short to ground. u'll have to take the pully off and lookat the actual coil. if it's got a grind mark withwhat look like metal wires going though thats your short.

 

thanks for the idea, but wouldnt i be able to hear the compressor grinding and making tons of noise?

anyway, i would have to drain out the refrigerant to be able to take of the pully right? How can i take off the pulley once i take the compressor out of the engine bay? I've never taken a compressor apart, and my friend who has attempted repairing a compressor before doesnt know how to take the pulley off.

sidenote: could i use a sohc compressor from an eg civic, or would the lines be completely different?

 

anyone got some info on how to take apart the compressor so I may service it??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pendejon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anyone got some info on how to take apart the compressor so I may service it??</TD></TR></TABLE>
What do you need to do to it?

 

well, tomorrow I plan to take the compressor out, and I have a friend who says that the pulley will not come off of the compressor. Obviously, that is false, but I would like to know the procedure before hand.

thanks for any info

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pendejon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well, tomorrow I plan to take the compressor out, and I have a friend who says that the pulley will not come off of the compressor. Obviously, that is false, but I would like to know the procedure before hand.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
Remove the bolt and take off the clutch. Remove the c-clip and press off the pulley. Is the clutch coil bad?

 

im not sure, im going to inspect that as of today. but, from the observations i've made, it seems that the compressor is responsible for the blown condensor fan fuse.

i hope its just an electrical connection grounding out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pendejon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im not sure, im going to inspect that as of today. but, from the observations i've made, it seems that the compressor is responsible for the blown condensor fan fuse.

i hope its just an electrical connection grounding out.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Why dont you just check it with and ohm meter? Taking it apart is alot of work.