My '97 Crv is blowing cold air intermittently. It is really nice and cold when it works, and my refrigerant pressure is fine. I have noticed that when it blows warm, there is a chug-a-chuga noise coming from either compressor or clutch, can't tell for sure which.
Could this be a problem with the compressor? Would it blow cold at all if the compressor was blown, or is it the clutch that is acting up?

Thank you in advance for your excellent reply.

 

Does vehicle speed affect the intermittent cooling?

 

Does not seem to.

 

It's most likely the clutch. If the compressor was not working, you would have no A/C at all.

 

Also, if it was intermittent at low speeds but cold at high speeds, it would likely be fan related.

 

Which fan?

 

Condenser fan. At high speed the air going over the condenser and radiator is enough to keep pressures low enough. When you slow down that air movement goes down, causing head pressures to go up, possibly opening the high pressure switch, causing the compressor clutch to disengage. It's a safety device.

With the car parked and idling, check to make sure that the condenser fan actually comes on. If not, there's your problem. Also, if the condenser fan isn't coming on, there's no way to properly check to see if the pressures are right.

If you have a condenser fan that's not coming on, and you checked pressures and determined they were "good", I guarantee you that your charge is way off.

 

Either fan could be culprit. My radiator fan wasn't spinning, and my condenser fan was pushing instead of pulling. Needless to say, I had no A/C at idle.

 

Is the CRV setup like the Element where the condenser and radiator are sandwiched with the condenser in front, or is it like the Civic where both are half size and sit next to each other?

 

They're sandwiched, full size.

 

Wonder if the fan is my issue then, I don't have cold a/c, it'll take a few hours for it to get really cold. When it's not so hot out or early morning it's cooler, but lately it's been 100 here & it barely blows cold. The clutch comes on, I checked the freon, was low, added some. Was going to just get the a/c serviced but being it's colder in cooler temps has me thinking it's something else