So, I got a 89 2wd Wagon from my girlfriend a few weeks ago. Amazingly enough, everything works minus the A/C and the Power-steering. I'm not concerned about the P/S much, as I could use the workout, but the lack of A/C during the summer is enough to kill a man.

I got it inspected at a local Midas for free with this little discount card I had, and they said everything was fine, no leaks, but it could use a freon flush, and they figured that would fix the problem. So, they added two pounds of R12 and only charged me for a pound.

The guy said that it wasn't going to be cold instantaneously, since the A/C hadn't worked in years, but it would take some driving to get it all in working order. It's still not working and it's been a week and a half. I do plan on bringing it back there, but since he wasn't supposed to necessarily fix the problem, only diagnose it, I really have no ground to stand on with making him fix it.

My question is this: When cars normally use the A/C, it leaks out water, as I'm sure you all know. Mine doesn't. Which leads me to believe the compressor or condenser is faulty.... but the tech should have picked up on that, no? Everything works fine in the cabin, all of the panel switches work, and the A/C button lights up and everything, it's just not blowing cold.

Compressor problem? Condenser problem?

This is one of the few things that I'm afraid of tackling on my car due to lack of experience, and lack of parts, and lack of legally being able to work with R12.

 

is the compressor clutch engaging?

 

I have no earthly idea. To be honest, I haven't even looked at anything dealing with it personally, as I wouldn't know where to begin.

But, it all seems to work as it should, it's just not cold.

 

Look at the compressor with the A/C off, you can see that the middle of the pulley is not moving. Then look at it with the A/C on which is what engauges the clutch, the whole pulley should be moving now.

 

or you could tell by listening to the engine...
When the A/C compressor engage, you could here the engine idea change.

 

Make sure the condenser is clean. This is critical.
Make sure all the fins are straight and don't have rocks/bugs/**** in it.
If dirty you don't get good cooling back to the compressor it will overheat.
This kills valves. Also too much refrigerant does the same thing as you cannot compress a liquid.
If your compressor is dead the hi/lo gage readings will be equal.
This indicates bad valves.
The water that drips out is called condensation. This will not be produced if the system
is low on charge, has a bad compressor, or a dirty condenser.
Post pressures, air temp coming from vent and ambient temp.
I'm an AC tech. I need more info to help you




Modified by eda6 hb at 4:47 AM 6/25/2004

 

Any reputal place would have added some die into the system,and told you to come back a while later.The old r12 is to exspensive to play games with-just get it retroed to the new stuff.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lil Red CRXsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any reputal place would have added some die into the system,and told you to come back a while later.The old r12 is to exspensive to play games with-just get it retroed to the new stuff.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Use soap bubbles to locate a leak.
Apply bubbles where you suspect a leak, if that area blows a bubble that's where the leak is.
I know this sounds like BS, but that is the best way to find a leak.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eda6 hb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Make sure the condenser is clean. This is critical.
Make sure all the fins are straight and don't have rocks/bugs/**** in it.
If dirty you don't get good cooling back to the compressor it will overheat.
This kills valves. Also too much refrigerant does the same thing as you cannot compress a liquid.
If your compressor is dead the hi/lo gage readings will be equal.
This indicates bad valves.
The water that drips out is called condensation. This will not be produced if the system
is low on charge, has a bad compressor, or a dirty condenser.
Post pressures, air temp coming from vent and ambient temp.
I'm an AC tech. I need more info to help you
Modified by eda6 hb at 4:47 AM 6/25/2004</TD></TR></TABLE>
Holy **** dude, information overload. Honestly, I haven't looked at the A/C at all since posting this thread, was planning on doing it tomorrow now that I'm off for the weekend.

If you have some sort of messenger service, lemme know and I can get that detailed information to you once I know exactly where to look for all of this stuff.

To the person that mentioned the dye, they did in fact do that, and I've been meaning to go back and get it checked out, but being overloaded in school this week has killed me. I'll keep this updated to help anyone else out that may need this in the future though.