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So I’m looking for a little advice on which direction to go next. I don’t want to put a bunch on money into this car because I plan on getting rid of it in about 6 months, but its my wife’s car and I’d like her to have a/c for the summer.
A/c system was empty for a year and a half or so. Following Eric’s directions I vacuumed the system and it held vacuum for days so I charged it with refrigerant and dye just in case, however, I could not get the compressor to turn on. After checking the wires going to the compressor I was getting 12v on BOTH the ground and the feed line. I traced that issue back to a loose ground nut, which fixed a lot of issues 🙂
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I will ohm the coil this tomorrow or Tuesday and check the codes, although I believe there are none. Will let you know how it goes!
I would test the compressor clutch coil with an ohmmeter. If the signal is getting to the clutch giving it 12 volts across the coil then the coil probably opened up which would be very high resistance. If this is the case, I would replace the coil. If it is not turning at all, it will likely be an open coil.
If the clutch turns the compressor but slips, I would replace the whole clutch.
If you suspect the coil you can test it by applying 12v to the wires and see if it engages. Not sure if there is a diode in that circuit (probably is) – make sure the polarity is right when you do it. If you get no response then you know it’s the coil. You can also do what Marc said.
I remember working on a 90’s era Buick way back and hooked up the refrigerant for charging but could not get the compressor to click on no matter what. Turns out there was a code set for low refrigerant. Once I cleared the code it all worked again.
Wanting to fix your AC and not wanting to spend a lot of money really don’t go together in my experience I’m sorry to say. If it were me I would check to see if the compressor clutch is getting a 12v signal to turn on for starters (BTW the ground for this circuit is the compressor mount itself so all it needs is a 12v feed), you said that the compressor does turn (which I hope you did with the engine off turning the front part of the compressor assembly). If the compressor spins freely and you’re getting that signal for it to turn on then as suggested perhaps all you need to do is replace the clutch, once you’ve done that recheck to see if it will work. Many clutch assemblies are shimmed so be sure to check it’s clearance when you’ve installed it and add or remove shims to get the correct clearance.
Success!! Thanks for your support. I was sure I was getting correct voltage to the compressor so I ended up replacing the compressor with a used one for about $62. Not too bad!!! Now on to the other other car with a broken a/c!
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