s2kJer

Hey guys...
Just hit 107 degrees in Phoenix today and guess what????

My A/C decided to take a crap 2000 miles out of Warranty at 38k...

Here is what it the symptoms are...
Compressor kicking on and off while on highway
Drive home was about 12 miles and it did it 3 times
Checked under hood and picked up on a strange smell and a hell of a noise when the A/C was on....

Anyone think the clutch may be bad on the compressor pulley or is it the whole dang compressor going out?

Slows2k

AC systems can be difficult to diagnose in person, they are impossible to diagnose online.

Take you car to a shop that has AC certified technicians and decent recovery equipment.

Squeezer

since its cycling like that, you have a leak in the system and haven't lost all the r-134a yet. whats happening is you have some r-134a in the system and when the clutch kicks on the pressure drops too low and the cycling switch shuts it off to prevent damage. So you need to find the leak. Usually its at the high pressure or low pressure valve taps, but can be the o-rings but I doubt its the o-rings since your car is still relatively new.

You need some special tools to do the work. You'll need a vacuum pump and set of a/c manifold guages. can get them at any auto parts store or harbor freight. you will also need an a/c compressor and the special tool to remove the valves and 2 new valve cores to put in (unless you know which one is leaking. take the cap off of the low and high pressure taps and look/listen for hissing)

Then replace the valve cores, hook up the vac pump to the guages and hook the guages to the low and high pressure taps, connect to air compressor, drain system, then put in the required PAG oil and r-134a. usually its one can of PAG oil (8 ounces IIRC) and 2 to 2.5 12oz cans of r-134a.

Ragingazn

s2kjer,
Mine's been doing that since i bought it used... I had Ceaser check it out and he said thats normal??
One dealership (tempe) said the same exact thing that Squeezer posted, and even when i bought it from the dealership certified (tempe) the service advisor (Edit) I had a bad experience there) said that it would not be covered under warranty b/c it was considered a maintainance item.

a little fyi i had all my windows tinted to 5% and i never turn the ac on full blast anymore. even with this damn weather we have.



Edited by slow to remove profanity

s2kJer

Update....
Now the A/C is not working AT ALL!
feels like compressor is still kicking on when I hit the A/C button but thats it... No cold air at all... Just noise under the hood by the pulley

Ragingazn

huh... s2kjer, nows the time to goto earnhardts and see if Lori can persuade them to goodwill it
Joe

s2kJer

No kidding... My baby is going there on Tuesday morning

Squeezer

so all of your freon has leaked out now. well there's still enough to cycle the clutch but not enough to cool down the low pressure side enough in the evaporator core. pretty soon your clutch won't even cycle on anymore as the pressure switch won't cycle it on to prevent damage to the compressor.

NiN

I would check all the fuses and relays first to make sure there are no blown fuses or bad connections... if problem still exists, then you should take it to a shop.

vader1

I agree with the diagnosis that you may have a compressor problem and probably lost your r134 but just as an aside..........

My last car (an MR2) would sometimes cycle off the air if the engine temp got to high. Only happened once because it was an extermely hot day and I was stuck in stop and stop (and stop) traffic with no airflow to cool the engine. It was meant to keep the engine from overheating. Not sure if the S computer has this safety feature, and I still don't think it is your problem but at 107 degrees if you were running it hard and then hit a traffic jam it might happen to some.