This happened on a long drive fwiw. The A/C works and blows cold air but suddenly, even though I had the fan on high, barely any air was coming out. The air that was coming out was cold though. I thought maybe it was the blower motor so I removed the Glove box and filter and the blower fan was spinning like a champ. All the fans and belts in the engine bay were spinning too. The A/C line was completely coated in thick, frosty looking layer of ice on the lines, which stood out and looked abnormal. I know this is not great information. Im not normally a mechanic but lately since the pandemic and everyone around here trying to make up for what they have lost by charging outrageous prices for thing I have had to be. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sounds like you are low on freon and that causes the evaporator to freeze up explaining the no air flow. With no air flow there is no heat transfer so the heat transfer happens in the engine bay and frosts over the lines like you see.

 

Hmm could be. Of those refill kits from AutoZone it was very expensive almost $70 it came with a meter. I had trouble with it because it didn't exactly fit over the nozzle properly so maybe I didn't refill it like I thought I'll have to check again. Thank you for your reply!

 

Go grab a set of gauges and a temperature pressure plot for R134a. 12 oz cans of freon are $7 or so. Do some diag with the gauges, add freon if needed, don't blow yourself up.

 

What gauges are you referring to? Any links? Can I get them at O'Reily or auto zone (or should I lol) TIA!

 

AC gauges, or sometimes called an AC manifold set. Some of the autoparts stores will loan them to you.

Something like this, I don't endorse this one and have never purchased it. Just an example of what they look like and the going rate for some lower end gauges.

Watch a couple videos on how to use them. If you open the high side while running to the can of freon you are in for a bad time. Like I said, don't blow yourself up.

 

Thank-you for all your recommendations! Its very appreciated! So seeing as I could kill myself doing this and knowing my clumsy ***, along with the costs of those gauges. I decided to take it to a shop. The local repair shop has an A/C service. They said the A/C was abouit half a pound low. I think I may have caused this when I tried to recharge it myself with one of these Avalanche recharge kits from Autozone. It did not properly fit on my line and so I think I might have drained vs filling. Either way they say they put a dye in it so if it does leak they will be more easily able to find it. They let the car run for a very long time and did not detect any leaks. It seems like its time for some part of the A/C to go though as its at 150k miles. Dreading this.

 

I'm having a similar problem. Air conditioning works fine when engine is cold, in the morning or when car has been sitting at a stop light, or even sometimes when slowing down.

However, after driving for about 15 to 20 minutes when engine reaches operating temperature will stop working. Upon checking the system was found refrigerant pressure is normal, compressor works and compressor clutch engages. All fuses and relays are good.

I read online it could be the "A/C low pressure switch?" Has anyone tried changing this and had success? I didn't see many videos online for this.

Also read it could be the compressor clutch, where it heats up and doesn't catch properly, and these clutches are known for having spacing issues?

Where should I start here? I don't want to replace the clutch if I don't know for sure it's bad.