hazlgreen

I recently had my compressor and receiver/dryer replaced (and upgraded to r143a). It worked for about a week, but now no cold air blows. The compressor seems to be engaging, and there is definitely r134a still in the system (doesn't seem to have leaked at all).

Is it possible that the temperature control and/or thermostat has gone on the fritz? One thing I noticed right after the repair was done is that I seemed to have no control over temperature anymore. It was either on and icy cold or off with no a/c. Turning the temperature **** had no effect while the a/c was turned on. Now that it won't blow any cold air, I've noticed that I seem to have no control over turning on the heat either. It seems to bring in air from outside the car, but not from within the engine bay when the heat is turned up. One last thing - I can get heat in the cabin when I turn on the defrost for the front windsheild, but that is the only way. No a/c, no heat without defrosting the front windsheild, and the compressor seems ok and is holding pressure.

Any thoughts?

I really want a/c again. Too swampy here to drive without it.

hazlgreen

bump

hazlgreen

Does anyone think this might have to do with a broken AC Temp Switch?

skene

I'm no expert by any means but I can think of a couple things that might cause that. Have you checked the plastic heater control clip under the dash area? If it breaks the heat does crazy things. clarks-garage has a nice writeup for how to replace that if that's what's gone.

The other though is what happend to me. If the control unit is fried or the heater fuse (17 i think) is blown then you can't control the temp, but you can still control the blower part and I think the defroster. When mine control unit went south it let all the magic smoke out and left that awful fried electronics smell in my car for a while. Easy enough to fix by taking it apart and soldering in a jumper to go around the fried traces on the board. Apparently the culpret was a bad compressor that overloaded the circuts when I turned on the AC.

I hope either of those help you out, it sucks not having AC in this area.

hazlgreen

I spent some time on the phone with Chuck @ Paragon Products and he is in agreement with your assessment Andrew. He also thinks it has to do with the Control Unit, but wonders if there might be two problems (control unit and something else - perhaps the compressor is not engaging). I'm going to verify that the compressor is engaging (it sure seems like it is, but I need to have someone in the car turning the a/c on while I visually check to see if the clutch is moving on the compressor).

I should have a better idea after today.

Thanks for your thoughts.

AznDrgn

If you see bubbles flowing through the sight glass the compressor is engaging and working or else you can normally hear the engine change speed a little and the aux. fan kick on.

hazlgreen

The compressor is definitely engaging (and the aux. fan too), but now I'm wondering if it is ok. I checked it in the evening, and saw it throw a couple really tiny sparks as the belt spun around it...

Needless to say, I turned it back off.

I've got to get this fixed. No air=too hot.